sleeplessswimmer

It’s not entirely logical to me either. I’ve had some abdominal and rib soreness off and on the past few weeks and I thought for sure it was related to OSA. You know, struggling to breath against the resistance of a restricted airway. But if it’s all CSA as this sleep study says then I don’t know. Also a bit odd to go from 4 obstructive and 3 central apnea’s on home study and now having all central apnea’s. To me anyway. I’m sure I’ll spend some time googling this over the weekend and maybe come up with some plausible explanations for some of this.

I appreciate the feedback. With respect to machines, I wonder why they suggested CPAP or BiPap? Seems strange. The machine you suggested is about 3500 here. Wouldn’t want to be replacing that too often!

Looking at it a different way, it seems if I could totally eliminate the supine position from my sleep I’d have a very normal ahi. Maybe that’s the first step to take?

I think I’ll talk to my gp this next week and see if he might send me to a cardiologist. Honestly, not knowing where this is coming from is what scares me the most. Well, that and allowing this apnea to terminate my existence while I’m waiting on a diagnosis and treatment from my medical team. And having to wait weeks to discuss with your sleep doc isn’t good for impatient people like myself!

Also, the report suggested I do another study, titration for CPAP or BiPap. Naturally they would suggest this, at $6500 per study. I think I’ll have met my out of pocket max so the money isn’t a big issue now I suppose. Truthfully it’s not a great experience anyway. Very clinical, uncomfortable to sleep connected to all of the wires, etc. Can I push for an auto BiPap? Would that be out of the realm of reasonable, assuming I’m going to be using a machine?

Thanks!

No attempt at auto CPAP yet.

So I wound up having an in lab Test. Slept pretty poorly as I rarely sleep on my back at home now with a fanny pack and tennis balls to hel/remind me, and also took a Benadryl to make sure I would sleep (sleep tech approved this).

18 central, 28 hypops for an ahi of 8.

No RERA. Longest Apneic event 17.2, mean 13.1.

Longest hypopneic 76 seconds mean 30.

Minimum O2 of 91%.

EEG normal.

Intermittent sinus bradycardia and sinus tachycardia. I’ve had some palpitations recently and switched to a new bp drug. Valsartan from hctz.

Sleep efficiency at 73 percent. 47 awakening, 194 stage shifts and 1 rem sleep period.

Most centrals on back. 14. 1 on left and 3 on right.

Most hypopneas on back. 20 back, 7 left and 1 right.

Any thoughts? I’m troubled by the centrals. Wondering where this came from all of the sudden...seemingly.

Thanks for the input. I recall waking during the home sleep study and finding the belt around my chest slightly loose. I think I had set it up too close to my arm pits. Perhaps that looseness resulted in the system not detecting breathing effort/movement via its strain gauge.

I don’t understand why sleep studies cost what they do. My sleep doctor shared my sentiments which surprised me. Even a home sleep study through our local hospital is $1200. That’s absurd.

So far I’ve had no luck with finding anything truly economical and am thinking I might just have to buy a new one and if it’s not the treatment I need or it doesn’t work out, just sell it, likely for a fraction of what I paid.

Thanks for the input on machines. I’ll keep that in mind.

I do have an appointment with a sleep apnea dentist in two weeks so will be curious to see what he suggests. I think the appliances are between 1-2k from what I’ve read but it seems they would be less frustrating to use than a pap machine. Of course, if you spend the money and it doesn’t solve your problem, then what?!

I checked out the RERA information and it sounds like what might be getting me. As an in lab study will be all out of pocket for me right now ($4500) my doc suggested just trying an APAP for a month. My concern is that I’ve read some comments here indicating that an APAP can make centrals worse, and I had 3 of them per my sleep study. Should I be concerned about this or just assume the doc knows what’s right?

Any suggestions on which machine? Resmed or Phillips?

Thanks. I’ll take a look at that.

It seems I’m an odd case. Insignificant number of occurrences but some of those I do have are severe enough to really impact my sleep. I’ve not found a similar patient while digging around online so far.

No mention of rera in the report. Thanks for commenting.

Not sure if it matters but this was a home study over two nights. My first night I slept terribly. Maybe 2-3 hours and then awake for another 3 or so. They had me keep it and try again which yielded a 5-6 hour sleep window.