Archive for the ‘Dr Visit’ Category

I have been waiting to do another post till I had a chance to go in and have my follow up appointment with the doc.  I just had that yesterday.  This was the follow up appointment that my insurance requires in order to fully cover the CPAP.

It went well actually.  The doc said my numbers were all going in the right direction.  Since I am still snoring slightly (though nothing like I was), we bumped the pressure up a couple of notches.  All I will need to do though is after a couple of weeks drop the data card off and have the doc review it.  She will call if there are any changes to my perscription, but from now on I only need to go in annually.

So all in all, the CPAP is going great.  Still some adjustments going on, but overall far more rested on the average day than I used to be.

Well I dropped my data card off on Friday and am waiting to hear back on it.  Seeing as yesterday was the 4th business day they had it I called up.  They hadn’t heard from the doctor yet, so I checked into that.

Called the Sleep Doctors office in Fargo, they hadn’t received any data for review, but I was able to give the gal on the phone some base numbers.  (I reviewed a copy of my stats and had a few numbers to provide.  They would also be contacting the Jamestown office to get the full report.  My numbers haven’t been as good as when I first started, but my AHI (the key number) is less than half of what it was during my sleep study.

The gal from the sleep clinic said that an AHI of 8.8 (normal person should be under 5) and still snoring slightly was of concern, though is good I am doing much better.  What the doctor will probably do is review the reports and then order the pressure be bumped up a little.  I also have my follow up visit with the doctor in a month.  I have to have a follow up visit within 60 days anyways for my insurance to cover the machine.

Soooo now waiting to hear back from someone as to what the plan is, but treatment is still going fairly well.  Haven’t taken an evening nap since starting CPAP treatment and dream a lot more, which to me indicates hitting REM sleep far more than I used to.

In this part we will be looking at how sleep apnea is diagnosed.

Part 3 of 5 – Sleep Apnea Education series

Today, lets look at how sleep apnea is diagnosed from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

How Is Sleep Apnea Diagnosed?

Doctors diagnose sleep apnea based on your medical and family histories, a physical exam, and results from sleep studies. Usually, your primary care doctor evaluates your symptoms first. He or she then decides whether you need to see a sleep specialist.

These specialists are doctors who diagnose and treat people with sleep problems. Such doctors include lung, nerve, or ear, nose, and throat specialists. Other types of doctors also can be sleep specialists.

That is how I finally came to my formal diagnosis.  I went to my primary doctor for chronic sinus infections which tend to compound my already bad snoring problems.  She then referred me to an ENT specialist who had me get a sinus CT scan.  Surprisingly, (to me at least) the Sinus CT scan came back 100% normal.  (I was anticipating sinus surgery.)  From there we discovered I had two issues instead of one.  Allergies causing sinus issues and possible sleep issues.

For the now unrelated snoring issues the ENT specialist signed me up for a sleep study.

Sleep Studies

A sleep study is the most accurate test for diagnosing sleep apnea. It captures what happens with your breathing while you sleep.

A sleep study is often done in a sleep center or sleep lab, which may be part of a hospital. You may stay overnight in the sleep center.

The sleep study was interesting and was something I was able to do right in Jamestown.  Consulted with a sleep specialist from Fargo and set up a date/time for an overnight study.  (She also ordered a thyroid blood test to check for issues there, but that came back normal.)  For the overnight stay, the staff was really friendly and helpful.  Got hooked up to something around a million sensors (ok not quite that many), read a book for a while, and then went to sleep.

Sometime during the night I met whatever the criteria is to try CPAP treatment.  They first tried a full face mask, but leaked too much air.  (Possibly because of my goatee.)  So switched to a nasal mask.  In the morning when unhooking me I was told I will get a diagnosis from the Dr, but I did seem to do better on air.

Short version of the what happened next is eventually the sleep Dr reviewed the results and prescribed CPAP treatment for my now diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  (This happened after visiting the original ENT specialist who confirmed the diagnosis, but apparently I didn’t need to see.

See other Education articles on Hosehead Life.  (Including all 5 parts of this Sleep Apnea Education series.)

Finally met with the doctor and got the diagnosis. Officially diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). (Hence the new blog, thought it might be helpful to both myself and others to blog about this.)

This diagnosis probably will not come as a shock to anyone who has (or tried to) sleep in the same vicinity as me. As a result I have spent the last few days trying to learn as much as possible about OSA, what CPAP machines do, etc. The Sleep Apnea Support forums have actually been a lot of help on this one, along with many people on there asking questions.

One of the things I learned this weekend – I never asked for specifics on the results of my sleep study.  I have no idea what my numbers came back as.  Since I am going in to the clinic to get set up with a CPAP, I did call and confirm I will be able to get a copy of my results (and prescription) from them.

So there is a lot to learn.  Should be interesting keeping track of it here.  I decided to start a new blog instead of folding it in on my personal site as it is a very specific topic and might be of help to someone else.