RE: Severe Apnea - Advice Needed
(08-26-2016, 08:38 PM)Dreams of Green Wrote: Is there ANY danger I am missing of letting him start treatment before diagnosis? .............
^^^ Anyone? ^^^
That's really a question for a medical professional, but a search on CPAP contraindications provides several relevant hits.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
08-26-2016, 10:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-26-2016, 10:28 PM by Dreams of Green.)
RE: Severe Apnea - Advice Needed
Thanks folks. As I've indicated we're doing everything possible to get the diagnosis done with a medical professional, and I am simply asking for the knowledge of other laymen here. He is going to be spending some nights at my house so we have every opportunity to have him try and nap with my CPAP before ordering one and see how it works. I can't help but joke it shouldn't be too hard - he falls asleep out of nowhere all the time.
Can anyone answer my question about mouth breathing? When watching him fall asleep it has not been easy to tell if he is mouth breathing. If he wears a nasal mask for a few hours and his AHI's are low and his oxygen remains high, I guess that's as good an indication as anything of whether a nasal will work until he gets a diagnosis?
RE: Severe Apnea - Advice Needed
If he is mouth breathing and you are in the room, you will likely hear the air coming out of his mouth. And he awakes, he will complain of an extremely dry mouth. As a part-time mouth breather, you will know.
RE: Severe Apnea - Advice Needed
You could look for large leak using sleepyhead. When caused by open mouth, the leak tends to be high; and "flat-tops" on the graph.
RE: Severe Apnea - Advice Needed
Thanks a lot both of you.
RE: Severe Apnea - Advice Needed
My case was similar. I was diagnosed with severe apnea with an AHI score of 59 and was desaturating into the 70's.
I first hired a pulmonologist. He told me: "Untreated, this is fatal -- but if you persevere with treatment, in six months you'll fell 10 years younger". (He was wrong, I felt 20 years younger).
My general practitioner when he saw the sleep study said: "The fact that you have apnea is incontrovertible. Desaturating into the 70's, your blood can clot. If the clot goes to your brain, you have a stroke. If it goes to your heart, you have a heart attack."
It's now 3 years later. Wow, what a difference. I love that machine. It's so nice to feel alive again. And the snoring goes away the first night. Tell your friend how much better life can be.
I had a minor heart ailment (Bigeminy). After two years of therapy, it went away.
