[Diagnosis] Concerned about misdiagnosis

[PaytonA]

Aisha,
In addition to all of the comments about masks, I will add one of my own. When trialling masks it is important to give each one the best shot that you can. Sometimes a mask may work just right after putting it on and making a few adjustments but often it takes some time to learn about the particular mask and its foibles.

One for instance is ockrocket talking about his eson mask. I am not doubting anything that he said. His comments about adjusting the upper straps so that the forehead stabilizer is a fingers width away from the forehead works well for old Ock but how you adjust it is dependent on the amount of drop off from your forehead to the bridge of your nose. If there is not much drop off you may need to do as Ock does. If there is a lot of drop off, you may need to tighten the forehead stabilizer up against your forehead.

A lot of little things go into fitting a mask at times so that it does not leak and you can help yourself by analyzing what you are doing and what happens as a result.

I say this because I have had plenty of mask problems early in my relationship with my CPAP. I was helped by finding a Respiratory Therapist that knew what he was doing and got me into the right mask, but I still needed to make some adjustments on my own. I am still making some adjustments at times 3 years later.

Good luck with your therapy and keep going for it.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[trish6hundred]

Hi Aisha,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I know CPAP therapy can take some getting used to, but I encourage you to stick with it.
I wish you good luck on your CPAP journey.

[Aisha]

Thank you so much steve

I think that will definitely be my next mask choice. I can see that it looks like it is a lot less likely to get pushed around if you sleep on your side. Thank you so much for your help.

[Aisha]

Thank you for the information about RLS but I am not trying to diagnose myself with anything. I simply stated that I went to the doctor because I SUSPECTED RLS or something similar. It is not my job to go to a doctor and tell him what I have, it is the doctors job to run the tests. My point was that I did not even think the monitors would have been able to look for such disorders. They only looked for apnea and found what they wanted to find.

Again to those who gave information about programs, again I appreciate the information(I really do) and if I ever do get to sleep using the machine I will definitely use them. But as I originally said I can not sleep using cpap. but looking at statistics that are taken when I am wide awake is useless. Of course It will show no breathing problems. I was awake and breathing personally fine.


I honestly think I am going to seek a second opinion about Apnea. I am really starting to believe the office I went to is a scam office.

I am by no way saying sleep Apnea is not a legitimate condition, I definitely think it is. But I do believe that the doctor I was referred to is intentionally over diagnosing Apnea to sell an over priced machine to people who have insurance to pay for it. The fact that they sell the same machine online for the same price as the 1st payment they charged my insurance makes me really wonder. I get that they have to provide medical support to meet the insurance companies requirements but that is also billed separately.

Though my insurance was cheapskate when it comes to the in office testing, they pay for the CPAP at 100%. I will try the mask that was suggested because my insurance does pay for one a month but if that does not work I am going to return the machine at my 3 month appointment and get a second opinion.

Thank you again.