Sleep Apnea...Proceeding after diagnosis

Hey XLS, did you talk with Watkins by any chance??? They are still looking, both for an instate deal and round trip to Dallas area, 4 day run. How's the machine treating you?

 

Glad you're doing good with the CPAP, hope you have continued success!!

Eastern Polk a bit of a ride for local for me but thanks!! I'm staying busy where I am, just a little crazy there for now, I'm guess it's trucking after all...

 

The transition at home seems to be working for you. I appreciate the thorough information. It will help others reading it whether they reply or not. Good luck with finding the right job.

 

That humidifier attachment costs almost as much as the CPAP machine itself. I've been on CPAP since 1998, and never had the need for a humidifier.

Anyone who has to pay for their machine out of pocket should tell the doctor that you don't want the humidifier.

 

I used the humidifier in the beginning and it helped but as time went by I was able to get used to not using the humidifier.

 

This has certainly been an interesting thread. There sure are some mighty strong opinions regarding this topic. Personally, I had enough symptoms in the past couple of years that I knew I had sleep apnea, but I was in denial. Each time I went for my DOT physical I filled out their little "sleepiness" questionnaire, the doctor looked at the back of my throat and passed me. But I was at my personal MD for my annual "real" physical and I was discussing my concerns with him. He convinced me to go ahead and get a sleep study done now on my terms. He made a good point that IF the DOT mandates this testing that I am going to find myself waiting in a long line with all the other overweight truckers in America for a study. He suggested I go ahead and get it done now and find out once and for all.

So I was referred to a place here in town that does the "at home" study. The total cost is $300. You go to their office the night of the study between 7 and 8PM and they wire you up with the equipment and send you home to sleep. The next morning, you take the machine off and return it to them. They can read the machine and tell right away if you are suffering from apneas in your sleep. And I sure was. I was then referred to a neurologist that specializes in sleep disorders to get an RX for the machine.

A couple of days later I got my machine. Its one of the newer automatic models, so spending a night in a sleep lab while they "dial in" the correct pressure isn't necessary. It has the memory card in it that records my history and it reports every day between 1 and 4PM via cellular. I can check my results on their web page or via their smartphone app. They started me with a full face mask and I kept having trouble knocking it out of kilter during the night causing a leak. For the 1st 30 days I can swap out masks as often as I like until I find one that works best for me, so I went with a nasal mask that fits over my nose. Lot less intrusive and I don't have nearly as much trouble with air leaks.

So what are the results? Well, at first I was a little disappointed and was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I guess I was expecting to wake up that first morning with some type of "tada" moment where I was feeling like a different man and that didn't happen. The first few nights were frustrating, but I stayed with it. But by the end of the first week I noticed some changes - my energy wasn't lagging in the middle of the afternoon and when I got home I wasn't dozing in my chair in front of the TV before bedtime. Now two weeks on the machine and I know it is making an improvement. Energy level is up and instead of dragging myself to bed, collapsing and falling asleep right away, I am still going strong in the evenings and I am having to force myself to turn off the TV and go to bed, even though I am not sleepy. I wake up and I am full of energy and ready to go. No more walking around in the AM in a stupor waiting for the coffee to kick in and wake me up.

Now that's just one guy's experience and your mileage may vary. But there are ways out there to find out on your own if you have sleep apnea before it is forced upon you by a DOT doctor. I figured $300 was a small price to pay to know once and for all. And if you live in an area where there isn't a sleep lab, there are companies on line that will FedEx you the monitor and you can wire yourself up (its not complicated) and you FedEx the monitor back to them for a diagnosis.