01-18-2020, 03:17 PM
Introduction - New Member
Hello, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 20 - 25 years ago. The whole experience was horrendous. I had no idea what a sleep study was or what the "cure" would be. I knew something was wrong because I could barely drive without major concentration and effort to not fall asleep. I thought the cure might be amphetamines or oxygen at night and this would fix my problem. Well was I ever wrong.
The sleep study was in a room that was way too hot, lit up to a twilight level and I slept on something like an examination table. It was miserable but apparently i slept enough for them to prescribe me a CPAP set up. I believe the CPAP was sent to the house and I gave it a very short try and said never again I'd rather die! I remember the pressure being very high, or to me it seemed high, and it was very claustrophobic. I'm not sure of the time frame or how i figured it out but i learned to sleep on my stomach or side and the symptoms went away.
Over the years I traveled a lot and found a hard bed helped things out. Eventually, I started sleeping in a recliner. I believe I get pretty good sleep in a recliner but a high back recliner is not always available in hotels or when visiting family. So for this reason I decided to go back to get a sleep study.
I had my sleep study Dec 18, 2019. I was super stressed and anxious given my past experiences. I had not tried to sleep all night in a bed for years and knew I only got a good nights sleep in a recliner. I was happy to see the room looked like a hotel room, i could adjust the temperature, bed firmness and lighting level. There was a recliner available if i wanted to use it. I started the night off in bed and moved to my side and even my stomach for a while. It took me forever to get on my stomach with all the wired but i finally fell asleep. I woke up a while later and asked to use the recliner. I slept some more in the recliner and was then woke up by the tech and told i met the requirements for CPAP. I stayed in the recliner and was given a nasal pillow mask and to my surprise it did not seem so bad. At first it seemed i did not get enough air and had to pull the pillows away from my nose and take a deep breadth. I did this three times or so but eventually fell asleep. Sometime later I woke up and could not go back to sleep. As it turned out it was an hour or so after my normal wake up time. I was very tired the rest of the day and probably should have went home and napped in the recliner as I caught the cold from hell that has me still suffering post nasal drip and a cough. I picked up something in that darn hospital.
Despite this cold that happened the day after my study I'm still determined to make CPAP work. I have not gone to the DME yet and may not. I have a High Deductible medical plan and it seems the DME charges more with insurance than without. A brief phone conversion revealed it would cost me $530 down and then $80 for 15 months with insurance and about $1000 total if I didn't use insurance. I know the Resmed Airsense 10 autoset was the CPAP they had in mind, but I have no other data on what was included. This seems ridiculously high to me so now I'm looking at online vendors. I have the sleep study results and my prescription being mailed to me.
Right now based on what i have read on this board I plan to buy the Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset, Heated Resmed Climateline air hose and most likely a Resmed p30i nasal pillow mask along with filters and a smart card. My hopes is to startoff in the recliner and then work towards getting used to sleeping on my back in a bed. Sorry for the long post.
The sleep study was in a room that was way too hot, lit up to a twilight level and I slept on something like an examination table. It was miserable but apparently i slept enough for them to prescribe me a CPAP set up. I believe the CPAP was sent to the house and I gave it a very short try and said never again I'd rather die! I remember the pressure being very high, or to me it seemed high, and it was very claustrophobic. I'm not sure of the time frame or how i figured it out but i learned to sleep on my stomach or side and the symptoms went away.
Over the years I traveled a lot and found a hard bed helped things out. Eventually, I started sleeping in a recliner. I believe I get pretty good sleep in a recliner but a high back recliner is not always available in hotels or when visiting family. So for this reason I decided to go back to get a sleep study.
I had my sleep study Dec 18, 2019. I was super stressed and anxious given my past experiences. I had not tried to sleep all night in a bed for years and knew I only got a good nights sleep in a recliner. I was happy to see the room looked like a hotel room, i could adjust the temperature, bed firmness and lighting level. There was a recliner available if i wanted to use it. I started the night off in bed and moved to my side and even my stomach for a while. It took me forever to get on my stomach with all the wired but i finally fell asleep. I woke up a while later and asked to use the recliner. I slept some more in the recliner and was then woke up by the tech and told i met the requirements for CPAP. I stayed in the recliner and was given a nasal pillow mask and to my surprise it did not seem so bad. At first it seemed i did not get enough air and had to pull the pillows away from my nose and take a deep breadth. I did this three times or so but eventually fell asleep. Sometime later I woke up and could not go back to sleep. As it turned out it was an hour or so after my normal wake up time. I was very tired the rest of the day and probably should have went home and napped in the recliner as I caught the cold from hell that has me still suffering post nasal drip and a cough. I picked up something in that darn hospital.
Despite this cold that happened the day after my study I'm still determined to make CPAP work. I have not gone to the DME yet and may not. I have a High Deductible medical plan and it seems the DME charges more with insurance than without. A brief phone conversion revealed it would cost me $530 down and then $80 for 15 months with insurance and about $1000 total if I didn't use insurance. I know the Resmed Airsense 10 autoset was the CPAP they had in mind, but I have no other data on what was included. This seems ridiculously high to me so now I'm looking at online vendors. I have the sleep study results and my prescription being mailed to me.
Right now based on what i have read on this board I plan to buy the Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset, Heated Resmed Climateline air hose and most likely a Resmed p30i nasal pillow mask along with filters and a smart card. My hopes is to startoff in the recliner and then work towards getting used to sleeping on my back in a bed. Sorry for the long post.
