RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
(11-18-2017, 04:11 PM)Boodmaster Wrote: I’m in the EXACT same boat as OP. 2 months in, AHI of 30, ALL central. On the ResMed Aircurve 10 VAuto. It’s doing nothing. I’m just pausing my breaths up to 40 seconds and it’s destroying my life. Gonna call Monday to beg ASV. I don’t have a backup timer, so obviously nothing helps. 10 / 4 pressure. Practically 0 apnea’s of all kinds, except central. 31, 165lbs, 6’0”.
Boodmaster, welcome to the forum. The same advise I have offered to Joseph applies to you. Complex and central apnea is really tough because you will have to jump through some hoops, and it can get expensive. Please feel free to start your own thread so we can follow along on your journey, and help where we can.
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
Thumbs up. Thank you.
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
(11-18-2017, 02:00 PM)Josephdfco Wrote: I'm also very, very worried about my wife. She is 48 years old, in menopause, but has been a terrible sleeper for many years (very shallow, easy to wake up, and often has a difficult time getting back to sleep). She's been under tremendous stress, is depressed and anxious, and has been crying a lot lately. I think that her lack of good sleep (she never feels rested) is exacerbating her stress and depression, maybe it's even a big causal factor. She doesn't snore, as far as I can tell, but I can't help but wonder if she might have sleep apnea nonetheless. I'd love to have her get a sleep study. It will be costly, because we still haven't met her deductible, but that's not a deal-breaker. I'd pay anything to get relief for her. We even spent $6000 on a Tempur-Pedic mattress, the best we could find, but it only helped a little. Who can she go to to get a referral? Right now, she doesn't have access to a primary care doctor because of some sort of insurance battle.
Someone on this forum went through an online company called Rested. They evidently do all the consultations etc. online and have some kind of package deal.
I know nothing about that company, don't know if they use licensed physicians, licensed sleep specialists....I know NOTHING. It would be wise to do some credentials digging if they look like they might work for you.
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
Cheap and easy way to get your wife a sleep test?
Hook her up to your CPAP! Just do a night with SleepyHead running!
Then you'll have an idea whether she needs help or not........
And if it does look like she needs CPAP, you can get one at the famous online sales behemoth.
Or....... you can get her a formal sleep test!
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
Thanks all! Unfortunately, I have no insurance, so I'm entirely at the mercy of the VA. What exactly do you recommend I say and do to persuade the VA doc to get me on that machine? Also, what settings do you recommend I use for my wife, to get a readout for Sleepyhead or Resmed? I'll also go down to 7.6 on CPAP as you recommend. Thanks!
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
I don't know about the VA but Tricare doesn't cover ASV's. You might want to check into the VA rules regarding ASV's.
11-18-2017, 07:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2017, 07:13 PM by Sleeprider.)
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
Joe, you should be treated better for having served our country. 
Give your doctor the facts. "I have tried the BiPAP and have an AHI over 38 and it is all central apnea. I have been told by people that are informed in these matters that this suggests complex or central apnea, and is best treated by ASV (adaptive servo ventilator). They suggested I try fixed CPAP pressure. That reduced my apnea to just over 18 per hour. I should not have to live like this. I want to sleep again and not worry about dying in my sleep. Can you help me find something that works, or do I need to look elsewhere?"
That is a yes or no answer. If he can help you, go with it. If he hedges or says no, I have a solution that might give you your life back. Yes, I will write your congressman and senators on your behalf...let me know. America becomes great again by ensuring its veterans are properly cared for. If you are in good health, the solution should be obvious. If you have complications we have asked about, please let us know so we can give realistic suggestions that will work for you.
For your wife, the suggestion to put her on your machine is not a bad one, but we can't do this until your situation is resolved, and frankly, this is a forum, and we're not in the diagnosis business. We can help you work with the doctors and insurance, and improve your results, or your wife's, based on our experience. Right now, she has no diagnosis or professional evaluation. That puts us in a blind guess. If I was in your shoes, I'd get the sleep test evaluation by Supplier #30. If you include the State of your residence in your profile, I might be able to suggest something more local. Supplier #30 sells a professional evaluation of a good home study test, and I'm pretty sure they will come back with a professional recommendation. The lack of insurance is not a show-stopper. I have purchased machines off Craigslist, and great alternatives are available on Amazon and elsewhere. We just need to know what's needed, and the beginning of that is a professional evaluation of the problem. In your case, the solution (so far) is wrong, but I think your doctor probably knows that if you present with complex apnea, he is going to change the prescription to ASV or at least bilevel with timed backup. Surely, the forum is not that much smarter.
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
Follow up to my earlier post. I saw a statement on another board where someone said the VA supplied him with a ASV machine.
11-19-2017, 09:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-19-2017, 09:08 AM by Josephdfco.)
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
Thank you, Sleeprider. I will definitely follow your advice. I plan on calling them first thing Monday morning. I was thinking that maybe I could email them my screenshots from Sleepyhead, too. By the way, here's last night's data after lowering the pressure to 7.6. It was another miserable night. I kept on waking up, and I now have that Godawful headache that feels like your eyeballs are going to shoot out of your head. Making matters worse, I'm finishing up a postbaccalaureate certificate in pre-health (pre-med), and I'm taking some very intense classes that demand a high level of functioning, and I can't think when I feel like this! I can't concentrate, and my memory is shot.
Last night's data.
RE: New patient. Have been having horrible nights.
If you use a pc rather than a Mac I would suggest getting rescan, look in the members only section to understand how to obtain. This is resmed software that the medical profession will have seen before. Run som reports from that, it’s not as easy or clear as sleepyhead but good enough to provide summary data and graphs for you health professional.
Jason
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