Update: It turned out that the first home sleep study wrongly indicated a dominance of central sleep apnea. In fact, a second home sleep study and the lab sleep study showed almost exclusively obstructive sleep apnea, whereas the second home sleep study showed only mild OSA while the lab sleep study showed moderate OSA. As you notice from the thread, the responses and answers move away from the CSA topic to my general experience on this journey.
Hi,
This is my first post here. First, thank you for your patience and understanding.
Why I am writing
I was just this week pre-"diagnosed" with mild mixed sleep apnea and I am supposed to get a sleep study in the lab. However, that is here in Canada (yay universal health care) at least 6 months out.
Currently, I have a very hard time to deal with the potential outcomes, especially the implications of the central sleep apnea which, based on my internet research, first and foremost means there is an issue within the brain often caused by something else (more severe).
Yes, I am also the kind of person which over-evaluates negative/worst outcomes.
Backup Information
The respitatorist, with a tremendous lack of sensitivity, told me the machine used for the home study indicates mixed sleep apnea and for him the concerning part is the central sleep apnea portion of the mixed sleep apnea. Hence he is requesting a sleep study in the lab.
I was so shocked, I didn't get the results written down. However, I am picking up another home study device this weekend from another place to do another home test.
About me
I am 33 years old, male, BMI alright. My symptoms are waking up 4-6 times in a night, tiredness during the day and maybe moodiness. All the questions from the respitatorist (i.e. opioids, headaches waking up, strokes, head traumas, restless leg, heart disease) I was able to answer with no.
The only other thing I have is mild GERD and a speech disorder since I was able to speak (stuttering - however I am able to manage it most time). Doing a sleep study only came up when my allergy test results (mild to dust milds) were not reason enough for the allergy doctor to conclude the allergies are causing my tiredness and waking up.
Where you can help me with (maybe, hopefully?)
How concerned should I be regarding the central sleep apnea? I was expecting to hear that I need a CPAP, but hearing that my brain forgets to send signals to my lungs to breath was a bombshell and I am still shell-shocked....
Since I never had a stroke or not doing drugs, should I be very concerned about a brain tumor or any other brain illness or even a heart disease? Because from my research for CSA, those are the primary reason for that. If so, why didn't I get a referral for an MRI to rule out anything in the brain or already existing damage? Why do I have wait first 6 months for a lab sleep study? Should I insist for an MRI? Because if there is something wrong in the brain, then 6 months are a very long time and things might get worse and are curable. (yes I am panicking).
I hope you see with what I am struggling with. I know that you are not doctors and I don't expect a diagnosis. But maybe you can give me some feedback to interpret the CSA.
