Should I continue treatment?

[richac]

I believe I have suffered sleep apnea for many years but I never got it taken care of.  I even went to the emergency room once for swollen uvular gland that i was swallowing down my throat I thought was an allergic reaction to the beer I was drinking the night before.  I now know it was just from too much snoring.  Because Its happened a couple times since then.

So about 5 years ago I did the overnight study due to trouble sleeping and always feeling tired. They said I had sleep apnea and I was supposed to go back for the overnight with a machine but I never went.   I felt like how could they know anything since I don't even think I slept during the study and I didn't trust the facility. I talked to ffriends with sleep apnea who said they gave up on their machine so I figured it wasn;t worth it.

But now 5 years later I feel my apnea is worst.  Now I can hear myself snoring.  And For the past 2 years I feel like I'm gonna have a stroke any day now.  I don;t sleep more then 2 hours and my heart is always racing.  I can't even barely move my eyes side to side sometimes without a sick dizzy feeling.  I can barely function now.  So I finally called the doctor.

Unfortunately my insurance company no longer covered me for an overnight but the doctor was able to locate my previous records and said it read as moderate sleep apnea but that because I've gained alot of weight since then its probably a little worse now.  So I used an autocpap for 3 days (which I barely slept with) and the doc prescribed 9.0 cm pressure.

So I now have a Dreamstation CPAP with Simplus full face mask.   For the past 2 months I haven't been able to fall asleep more then 2 nights for more then 3 hours.  The machine said good nights sleep and I felt I was under a sleep for at least 3 or 4 hours.  But  the problem is I felt worse then I ever felt before.  I almost couldn;t stand feeling weak in the knee sore chest heart racting.    I called the doc scared thinking the machine was suffocating me and she said I was probably waking up and not realizing it and to stick with it.   Well I'm trying but I still feel like I get more air without the machine.  I'm ready to give up.

I also have prostate and back problems which keep me up at night.  and have a hard time sleeping on side without mask leaking. I installed dreamapper app only to find out my machine doesn't show AHI or mask leak.  Also my insurance company is being charged for a resmed air 10 elite but they gave me a dreamstation cpap. Not sure if that matters but I'm ready to toss in the towel, maybe I just need drugs instead?

Thanks for Listening,

Rich.

[Gideon]

ouch! and welcome to the forum.

Can you tell us what your AHI is and has been?  I ask that because your machine provides little more information.

[richac]

I called up dreamapper tech support they said it doesn't provide ahi.

[DeepBreathing]

G'day Rich. Welcome to Apnea Board.

I guess many of us have multiple medical conditions (I have so many I don't bother listing them ) which does tend to confuse things when we start something new like CPAP therapy. It's sometimes hard to determine what is caused by the apnea and what is due to other causes. However your old sleep study did identify that you have apnea and loud snoring is a classical symptom. Apnea can also cause issues like heart arrhythmia, which is how I got diagnosed as well as being associated with all sorts of other conditions. If there's a chance of beating the apnea, it will probably do you good overall.

I'm not very familiar with the Dreamstation machines but the model number you quote in your profile is the bottom of the line. It's a fixed pressure machine and doesn't provide full efficacy data. 

Also my insurance company is being charged for a resmed air 10 elite but they gave me a dreamstation cpap.

You should definitely push for the Elite - this is still a fixed pressure machine but provides full data. Even better get the Resmed AutoSet or Dreamstation Auto. These are both good machines with auto pressure and full data. If there is any way you can get hold of a fully data-capable machine with auto pressure setting then I would strongly recommend it. That type of machine will make it much easier to optimise your therapy.

The feeling of suffocation is very common. I comes from two basic places: 1) Your set pressure is too low to give you the amount of air you need, or 2) the pressure is a bit too high and you can't exhale against the pressure. (This was the sensation I had when I started). There is also the possibility that your mask (I use a Simplus too) is slipping down and pinching your nostrils shut.

If you think the problem might be 1) insufficient pressure then that can be easily fixed by increasing pressure a bit. On the other hand the feeling of too much pressure can be attacked by lowering the pressure or increasing the flex setting on your machine (this drops the pressure a bit as you exhale).

Not sure if that matters but I'm ready to toss in the towel, maybe I just need drugs instead?

Sadly there's no drug therapy for sleep apnea. Your options are CPAP, some sort of dental appliance or surgery. My choice would be CPAP every time - it's relatively cheap, proven to work, non-invasive and is fully reversible if it doesn't work out.  On the down side CPAP does take some getting used to and up to 50% of patients give up. For those of us who can overcome the initial problems it's a life-saver. There's a big community of apneacs here who have been through these issues - we're all ready to help!

[DeepBreathing]

I called up dreamapper tech support they said it doesn't provide ahi.

That appears to be the case for your machine.  All the more reason to push for the Elite or Auto. What they're doing (billing for the Elite and providing a POS) sounds very much like insurance fraud.

[richac]

Yes I did actually read on here how to increase pressure. I forgot to mention I increased pressure to 9.5 a week ago.  I also put the cflex all the way up to 3.  Not sure if its helping. Maybe I should try 8.5 instead?

I will call my insurance company and tell them they are being wrongly billed and see if I am covered for an auto machine.  So does this mean the doctor can't even get the ahi? lol, how are they supposed to track my treatment?  I will also call home healthcare provider and see why they gave me a diff machine and demand the air 10 elite so I can have full data.  Tks for the tips.

Hampton Home Health care they are called.  They seemed iffy when the guy failed to show up to my house on the scheduled monday appointment.  I kept calling them too that day and failing  to reach the cpap department.   Then I had to wait for the guy on Saturday and he had an attitude problem like he was upset he had to come.   I'm starting to wonder if they gave me a bad machine.

For some reason I have problems even getting people to pick up phone in the sleep medicine departments iat every office in my area.  Its like the people that work in sleep medicine offices around here are usually asleep themselves...lol

[Gideon]

OK,
it is time to get heavy handed, 

Also my insurance company is being charged for a resmed air 10 elite but they gave me a dreamstation cpap.

To deliver 1 product (dreamstation cpap) and bill for a different product (resmed air 10 elite), is fraud! And when the billed product is more capable than the product they replaced it with, it is worse.  Replacing it with a more capable product MAY be acceptable, but not a lesser product.

They may respond with that these 2 models are the same "billing code" (they are) you can respond that so is the "ResMed AirSense 10 (A10) AutoSet" (it is the same billing code) and THAT is the machine I want.  (trust me, it is the best of the xPAP machines)

[Sleeprider]

Getting the CPAP was a terrible move, especially on the part of the doctor who knew you needed ongoing titration. There are auto machines available at very reasonable prices, and not sure what your costs are through the DME, but if your co-pay exceeds $600, you should give them back the machine, and we can tell you an alternate cash source. Even on Craigslist you can often find very good data capable auto CPAP for under $300.

Would love to help you resolve this problem and help you find a good machine that will auto adjust to your needs and provide efficacy data so you would know the reason you're doing this is valid. Let us know how we can help. We know a few things about the DME and insurance scam, and how to get better results.

[richac]

OK,
it is time to get heavy handed, 

Also my insurance company is being charged for a resmed air 10 elite but they gave me a dreamstation cpap.

To deliver 1 product (dreamstation cpap) and bill for a different product (resmed air 10 elite), is fraud! And when the billed product is more capable than the product they replaced it with, it is worse.  Replacing it with a more capable product MAY be acceptable, but not a lesser product.

They may respond with that these 2 models are the same "billing code" (they are) you can respond that so is the "ResMed AirSense 10 (A10) AutoSet" (it is the same billing code) and THAT is the machine I want.  (trust me, it is the best of the xPAP machines)

lol tks.  They never even pick up the phone, ever.  I just  called my doctors office  they said they would call for me too.  I have a doctors appointment monday I will discuss this with her too.

[richac]

Getting the CPAP was a terrible move, especially on the part of the doctor who knew you needed ongoing titration.  There are auto machines available at very reasonable prices, and not sure what your costs are through the DME, but if your co-pay exceeds $600, you should give them back the machine, and we can tell you an alternate cash source.  Even on Craigslist you can often find very good data capable auto CPAP for under $300.  

Would love to help you resolve this problem and help you find a good machine that will auto adjust to your needs and provide efficacy data so you would know the reason you're doing this is valid.  Let us know how we can help. We know a few things about the DME and insurance scam, and how to get better results.

I don't have good insurance anymore is the problem, so I have to take what doctors I can get

I called my insurance company but held off on filing a complaint just yet,  but they transferred me to case worker who gave me a number to some other 3rd party called aim?, whose number doesn't do anything.  I literally call the number and nothing happens just silence lol.   I asked the case worker on the phone what that is he said its the people who deal with the machines.

So thats when I left another message for equipment home care company and called my doctors office.   SO frustrating.  If they give me problems maybe I should indeed file a complaint on them.

Another interesting fact is this same company called me with a recorded survey.  Leaving messages on my home number even though my cell is listed. I finally called the number back, When the machine asked if I am having problems preventing my therapy I said yes.  And then the recording said ok call you in another couple months hahah.  I kid you not.