Newbie here... where to start?

[herbm]

If you are getting a lot of wetness then it likely means either you are sweating or it is coming from the humidity. (I suppose it could be from drool if it is near your mouth -- sorry, but with some mask we all have to deal with such icky stuff.)

The idea behind humidifying the air is to keep your nose (and throat) from drying out, especially to the point of becoming congested (oddly, some people get congested from TOO much moisture as well as too little) so testing various humidity settings might be a good idea.

[Ghost1958]

Harleygirl I have the exact same machine you do. The Series 60 Remstar auto aflex ( model 560 vs the older 550.) Ignore the biflex etc that sleepy head says as its a glitch in Sleepy head. It on a few nights has classed my machine as bilevel biflex also, even though it identifies my machine correctly.

Couple of questions and a tip. Do you run the heated hose? Or do you have it turned off and running the System one humidity?

Go into the "secret settings" with you hose off. You will see System one humidity option but it wont show if you your heated hose is enabled and hooked up. Try both and see which you like best.

Also in those settings see if the option for Optistart is ON. What that does is let the machine calculate your best min pressure.

It will recalculate that starting pressure every thirty hours. Enable that and once it resets your min pressure go into the "secret settings and set your minimum to that pressure. If you dont set that as min the machine will start you at the new best pressure but it will then try to drop to the "preset" min pressure. Set it that once and unless it makes a major recalculation for starting pressure just leave it there.
Lot of folks dont know that option is on these machines but its pretty handy for getting a good min pressure and then narrowing down your max pressure setting.

You also have an option for Mask Check. enable that. Put on your mask and hit the ramp button. Itll run a 45 second test for leaks on your mask and give you a check mark which is good or a X which means you need to readjust you mask and run the test again.

Also unless the machine itself says its been running a large leak which is about 60cm total leak the machine will operate, treat and flag events just fine. Over that level, things get iffy. Low leaks are much better but it wont bother this particular machine much at all until its saying its in large leak. You can check that every am on the machine itself by dialing the info screen up and looking.

[harleygirl]

Hello all. I was looking over the results from my two sleep tests. First one was with the monitors hooked up. The second was with a CPAP machine.

Can any of you "numbers" folks please have a look and tell me what some of these stats mean? If I'm reading them right, it sounds like (according the numbers anyway) I only have a mild sleep apnea. Can a person be diagnosed as only having it mildly yet feel REALLY crappy physically from it?

Here are the numbers from the first night's test with the monitors:
Total Time Recorded: 8.49 hrs.
AHI (RDI): 14.0
Total Hypopneas: 120
Total Apenic Events: 18
Average SaO2 (%): 93
Lowest SaO2 (%): 82
O2 sats < 90% for 3% of test.

Here are the numbers from the second night's test with the CPAP:
Total Time Recorded: 10.18 hrs.
Corrected AHI: 8.8
Median CPAP level: 6
95th percentile CPAP level: 10
Highest CPAP level: 13

I can't get in touch with my Dr to find out what these mean because she is on vacation. When I initially talked to her she just sort of said "yep you have it, here's your mask, and in about 4 weeks your machine will arrive in the mail".
I'm one of those people who likes to know the why, when and how of things, which she sort of skipped over. Guess they don't have a lot of time to spend with every patient. (Kaiser).

Oh BTW I ordered and tried out the Remzzz mask liner which has helped a lot with the leaking and overall comfort of the mask. Thank you for that suggestion.

Thanks
Kim

[Galactus]

Can a person be diagnosed as only having it mildly yet feel REALLY crappy physically from it?

Absolutely.

One of the numbers people will do better on the numbers than I would as I am not yet ready. But yes to the above for sure.

[herbm]

Yes, you can feel crappy with fairly low AHI.

You can also feel pretty darn good (I did) with very severe AHI readings (47 for me.)

Get treatment if you are able.

[harleygirl]

AFib is serious but generally not THAT BAD, in and off itself. (It can cause or contribute to OTHER really serious problems and can sooner or later be VERY VERY BAD if left untreated. Conversely VFib kills right now or soon if you don't get immediately treatment, e.g., shock paddles.)

My doc was very worried when he found AFib and immediately referred me to a cardiologist but that took a couple of days and she let me go a couple of MONTHS while testing. We did an echo (25% ejection fraction which is less than half of what it SHOULD be at about 55%), then a cardiac stress test, then scheduled and did a cardiac catheterization (which was negative for any blockages).

After all that, she gave me an antiarythmic pill which converted my AFib in about 1-3 days (could have done that to start with if you ask me.)

Likely I had the AFib for a year based on looking back at the symptoms, maybe longer.

I had it one more time when we completely stopped the antiarythmic (I now take a half pill a day for maintenance until we try to stop it again.) This likely lasted for a week or so without any real excitement.

BTW: My ejection fraction was treated (strengthening my heart) with carvedilol (correg) and the amiodarone (the antiarythmic) and is now back at 55% or better where it belongs.

The antiarythmic drugs are generally pretty toxic but I tolerate it with NO ISSUES at all, same for the high does of carvedilol.

"AFib"? Now I'm really confused. Did I miss something here? Do my numbers suggest AFib? And if so, what is it?
Thanks

[PaytonA]

If they did an EKG with your sleep test, that could suggest atrial fibrillation. Other than that, I know of no other sleep test data that would suggest atrial fibrillation but that is just my opinion.

In my case it was just the other way around. My primary care physician sent me to the emergency room and into the hands of a cardiologist. It was determined during my testing and treatment that the most probable cause of my atrial fibrillation was sleep apnea and a sleep test was arranged for me. The sleep test confirmed the apnea so I became a happy hosehead.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[allydib]

I might be in a "pre-newbie" stage. I am a 68 year old retired male. I spent two nights in a sleep clinic who referred the results to my GP (who has the smarts, manner and communication skills of a rock).
The results of the first visit stated "these findings confirm a diagnosis of severe obstructive sleep apnea with severe hypoxemia".
The results of the 2nd visit were "patient should be on CPAP at 10cm of water with humidification."

My GP hands me the written reports and tells me someone will call and schedule a visit to "set you up". My ONLY insurance is Medicare. I hear nothing for 2 weeks but suddenly get calls from two different companies. Both had an ESL rep on the phone so it was difficult to ask questions and/or understand answers.

My shrink had told me that with Medicare, the machine & mask should be free, but after "trying" to communicate with these two reps today, it doesn't sound like it will be.

Can anyone/someone contact me and refer me to a web site that might be most helpful in answering this basic question -- i.e. my out of pocket costs?

Should I be contacting sleep supply companies myself? Of course, I don't even know what the right questions would be.

Any and all help/advice would be greatly.

[surferdude2]

Hi allydib and welcome!

Here's what I'd do:

1. Go back to your doctor and request a copy of the prescription he has issued. If it doesn't specify any particular device or pressure setting, ask him to please state on it you need an Auto Titrating machine.

2. Then if you need to find your exact cost, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and ask them what what it will cost you to get a CPAP machine from a registered DME supplier that accept Medicare assignment. Your cost will usually be 20% of the total amount that they allow the DME supplier to charge. First you must meet your calendar year deductible as you no doubt know so that may have some small effect on your cost. It is my understanding that Medicare pays one specific amount for CPAP machines regardless of what make or model you get.

3. Armed with that information (and the script) you can personally go to any supplier and very possibly get a CPAP machine that same day. That assumes you have a DME dealer in range of your location. Tell them you want a ResMed S9 AutoSet or a ResMed S10 Auto and you'll be getting a good machine.

These are my opinions based partially on personal experience and some on what I have learned from reading posts from others. Stick around and see if it stands up to critical analysis from those who have been exactly in your position and can guarantee the validity of all that I have said. In other words. YMMV

PS. If you don't get any further response on this thread, start one of your own and you'll likely get better/more attention.

[herbm]

I think the AFib post might have gotten added to the wrong thread.

My apologies.