Do I have Cheyne-Stokes?

[cisbrane]

I contacted my doctor's office last week, and they said they were still waiting for insurance company. It hadn't been a week yet so they said to give a full business week for a response. My insurance is on the slower side. They did say that in the request they noted the high amount of central apnea events registered by the machine. So at the moment I am giving them time. I will call again Wednesday as that would be the week point.

I have considered self-treating, but new machines need a prescription from what I can see. Unless I buy used from an individual of course. It does seem nice to have the DME auto send me supplies and then insurance covers costs... Though, maybe it's not as good of a deal than I think.

I have decided to give my doctors and insurance two months to figure out something that would work for me. If I'm really unsatisfied after that point I would consider doing this on my own. I just am trying to avoid high costs, especially since my deductible for the year was already met.

I will continue to monitor my data and see. I agree that inconsistent results are not acceptable, and I will push my doctor as much as I can.

Thanks for the help and confidence you all have brought me to discuss this issue.

[cisbrane]

Ok update on this saga... (Is there a way to change the title of this post??)

My insurance denied the new request for a sleep study. The doctor is supposed to setup a direct call with them to discuss.
However, my machine has been giving good readings all of last week. Usually about 1.8 AHI. All CA events. So, I think I will get denied again with assumption that the issue is resolved... I called to tell my doctor i'm still feeling really tired...

Although those numbers are down, I'm still feeling exhausted... really tired today, even though I used the machine for 6:26 hours and AHI 1.8. I almost fell alseep driving in and I'm dozing off at my desk. It didn't feel any worse than usual when I first woke up though. I am finding myself wake up at night with the feeling that I am not getting any air. I am not sure if I am breathing or not, but eventually I realize it's still connected and working -- I can hear it when I inhale.... So I know I am not actually sleeping for 6.5 hours straight. Also, In those episodes, I find I will stop the machine and disconnect my mask hose. Then fall asleep disconnected for awhile before waking back up and connecting it...

I looked over some of my flow rate graphs, and they seemed pretty normal, no long areas of periodic breathing from what I posted earlier. Will add that graph later this evening.

I am still waiting it out, but would ASV still help me? I'm just really starting to think my insurance will not do anything to cover it, and if I have to go out of pocket I really want to make sure I'm doing the right thing..

Lastly, my eyes are getting really, really dry. I already have issues with dry eyes at night, and it just seems even worse. But I can't feel any air leaking out... Maybe I need to use nasal pillows instead of a nasal mask? Or wear swimming goggles to bed :-/

[JesseLee]

I've heard of people using sleep masks at night to protect their eyes from leaks if they occur. I personally have not used them but have heard at least on one occasion of the sleep mask being excellent for guarding against leaks. Others like the cistaine gel eye drops to keep moist.

Edit: Systane, not cistaine. Thank you cisbrane.

[cisbrane]

Yeah I think a sleeping mask is needed. I already put a good amount of systane night time eye gel in my eyes each night. It was helping me get through the night before starting the machine, but now my eyes dry out much sooner. I turned off my ceiling fan and have a cool mist humidifier on my night stand running every night.

[cisbrane]

Ok so here is some data from last night. I can't tell if these are periodic breathing or not. I noticed several times I stop breathing,  but not for 10 seconds or more. Also, why is my pressure graph missing data at points?

[jaswilliams]

That looks like you suffer from complex apnoea with an element of CA/Periodic Breathing your Resmed A10 can do nothing to fix that discuss it with your doctor but at an AHI of less than 2 it is unlikely the Dr or any relevant insurance will do anything about it your numbers may improve over time as your body gets used to the APAP therapy

[Trichar66]

I had a periodic breathing of 4% last night. Should I be concerned about it? My AHI was 3.9 and no central apneas.