Diagnosed on June 18. AHI 26.8. What next?

[jamesbond007]

Well, here I am. Diagnosed with Sleep Apnea with an AHI of 26.8 on June 18th. The doctor's office hooked me up with a vendor for a CPAP machine. The vendor apparently will negotiate with my insurance (I live in the US. California specifically). I have a good insurance. What should I do next?

The doc said that the duration I was not breathing was as long as 30 seconds sometimes and O2 sat dropped to about 72% during those episodes. He diagnosed me with Moderate OSA.

What kind of questions should I ask the vendor?
What to look for in a CPAP machine?
Any specific brands/models that you recommend?
Any specific features that are an absolute must-have?

Please help. This thing came out of nowhere and caught me by surprise.

What should I do next? Am I going to die prematurely? I am 35 and I have a 4 YO. Wife is worried. I want to see her through college at least.

I am physically fit. Ride about 150 miles on my road bike almost every week during the summer. Ride centuries (100mile/160km) in a single day. Don't eat junk food. Don't eat processed food. No to minuscule amounts of added sugar. Heck, I don't even eat fruits because they taste sweet. I am 5'11", 183 lbs. I am in good health. I am worried now.

Thanks.

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.

Start here and read this.
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... -test.html

and this
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... -with.html

and this
https://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/
the machine info is lacking current model line but the basics are still good.

and this
https://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/what- ... me-part-i/

Tell wife not to worry. You are lucky and you caught this early and you have every chance of NOT developing any of the serious stuff that is normally associated with this health issue and living to not only see your daughter graduate college but get married and give you lots of grand kids and heck maybe even some great grand kids down the line.

You will want to monitor your therapy with data and software to make sure you are getting optimal benefits so a full data machine is a must. IMHO. If we are going to have to do this stuff we might as well do it the best we possibly can...no since in doing it half way.

The 2 most commonly dispense brands are ResMed and Respironics. Which one depends on the equipment supplier...usually who they got the best wholesale deal on.

Have you had the sleep study with the mask and machine to find optimal pressure settings or are they going to get you an auto adjusting machine and let the machine sort it out?

[zonker]

Well, here I am. Diagnosed with Sleep Apnea with an AHI of 26.8 on June 18th. The doctor's office hooked me up with a vendor for a CPAP machine. The vendor apparently will negotiate with my insurance (I live in the US. California specifically). I have a good insurance. What should I do next?

The doc said that the duration I was not breathing was as long as 30 seconds sometimes and O2 sat dropped to about 72% during those episodes. He diagnosed me with Moderate OSA.

What kind of questions should I ask the vendor?
What to look for in a CPAP machine?
Any specific brands/models that you recommend?
Any specific features that are an absolute must-have?

Please help. This thing came out of nowhere and caught me by surprise.

What should I do next? Am I going to die prematurely? I am 35 and I have a 4 YO. Wife is worried. I want to see her through college at least.

I am physically fit. Ride about 150 miles on my road bike almost every week during the summer. Ride centuries (100mile/160km) in a single day. Don't eat junk food. Don't eat processed food. No to minuscule amounts of added sugar. Heck, I don't even eat fruits because they taste sweet. I am 5'11", 183 lbs. I am in good health. I am worried now.

Thanks.

you have a four year old wife?? oh, sorry, just cleaned my glasses.

you have nothing to worry about once you get your machine and your therapy optimized. you've come to the right place to get good help. this will all be very mysterious at first and you may feel like you don't know what to do.

just keep coming here and ask questions as they arise. the experts here are happy to help!

good luck!

[DavidY]

Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset For Her is one of the top 2 choices for an auto PAP unit IMO. The Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset has one less mode than the For Her model. I have both...the for her model is my backup. Over two nights, I didn't find much difference with the for her model...will need a longer trial run in July.

The third unit for an APAP is the Philips Respironics Dreamstation Auto (DSX500). Note that there are lesser models under both Resmed and Philips Respironics brands which don't give good data to help one to self-adjust their unit's setting...primarily the minimum and maximum pressure range (out of the box the standard range is 4-20 cm H2O). 4cm is typically too low for most users to my understanding.

I personally would not accept no other models than the above three mentioned models. Resmed seems to be more popular than Philips Respironics at this forum.

Once you get a unit, the next key component is the mask....have three choices...nasal pillows, nasal and full face. Pillows is the least evasive IMO. Then nasal. There are only a few pillow models. There are many nasal and full face models. Get fitted for a mask for comfort. There is a good likelihood that you may need to go thru a number of different masks before you find one that you like and can handle or bear with.

Good luck.

Dave

[jamesbond007]

Thanks for the reassurance that I will not die early.

I was feeling a little shocked due to the diagnosis when I wrote the post hence I wrote some gibberish that made you feel like my wife is a 4YO. lOL.

Anyhow, I took a split study. The second half where they put me on a CPAP machine, they made me try a mask that covered my nose and mouth (Not sure if this is called a full mask) which I didn't like. Then I tried a mask that covered just my nose which I liked.

I remember the doctor mentioning 8cm - 12 cm on the prescription.

[Cardsfan]

You can do a little reading about different masks and machines at www.cpap.com. They are our sponsor for this forum. Get a copy of your prescription from the dr. You can use the prescription at multiple suppliers at the same time. Most of us order from several places depending on sales prices online vs local vendor prices. You are lucky to get a diagnose early rather than suffer for years undiagnosed like some of us. I got lots of help here when I started a few years ago. Wonderful support.

[jamesbond007]

I think I am going to with the Philips Resprionics Dreamstation. Is it good? It's an Auto CPAP I am getting.

[mottzzz]

Hi, James Bond.
Welcome to the group and everything CPAP.

I'm 42 and was diagnosed with apnea and first given a CPAP when I was 35. I'm 5'9" and at the time was in general good health. I'm athletic and like to work out and stuff, but I haven't been as committed as you are. Don't sweat it too much, like others are saying. I'm guessing you probably snore, like I do. Your wife will be glad when that's not happening. And I'm guessing you have some sleepiness during the day, so that will go away as well. Getting on it now will improve things for you over the long haul. CPAP can be a bit of an annoyance, but it's not so bad if you have a head gear that you don't mind so much. For me, I'm using the pillows right now. I used to have the piece that covered the whole nose. That bugged me too much and I got out of the habit of using my CPAP for about 2 years.

[palerider]

I think I am going to with the Philips Resprionics Dreamstation. Is it good? It's an Auto CPAP I am getting.

second best machine out there.

[mottzzz]

Man. I've had two machines and I didn't get to pick either.
My first was Fisher and Paykel... I think the model was Sleep Style 200 or something like that.
Now I have ResMed AirSense 10

[palerider]

Man. I've had two machines and I didn't get to pick either.
My first was Fisher and Paykel... I think the model was Sleep Style 200 or something like that.
Now I have ResMed AirSense 10

That's because DMEs don't bother to tell people that they have a choice, and people don't educate themselves before signing up for hundreds of dollars in obligation.

[mottzzz]

Fortunately, I'm plenty happy with the machine that I have now

[FaethSilverwolf]

The Dreamstation is a good machine that is what I use. The only down fall is it doesn't give you very much info on the screen display, and the Dream mapper software doesn't give you all the info that it could so I have the program called Sleepy head which gives me alot of information.

[jamesbond007]

I have another update. I called up my insurance and asked them the terms of my coverage for CPAP machines. They looked over it told me that I am 100% covered, including accessories, as long as I use it every day. So I cancelled the hospital appointed vendor and going with the insurance appointed one. Should get my machine some day this week. The doctor had written on the prescription to get a ResMed AirSense 10, Nasal Mask, Some software lifetime subscription (Don't remember which)m heated humidifier etc...

I will update once I get the machine.

[zonker]

I have another update. I called up my insurance and asked them the terms of my coverage for CPAP machines. They looked over it told me that I am 100% covered, including accessories, as long as I use it every day. So I cancelled the hospital appointed vendor and going with the insurance appointed one. Should get my machine some day this week. The doctor had written on the prescription to get a ResMed AirSense 10, Nasal Mask, Some software lifetime subscription (Don't remember which)m heated humidifier etc...

I will update once I get the machine.

excellent! you're being proactive already, which is always a good sign.

only other comment i can make is that "software lifetime subscription" prolly isn't going to be as useful as the free Sleepyhead software available for down load. it's what most everyone here uses. the big advantage of sleepyhead is that you will be able to post graphs here to inable the experts to help you along.

but i'm putting the cart way ahead of the horse. for now, we'll see what happens when you get your machine and start trying to get used to it.

good luck!