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Sleep Apnea

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COOL BREEZE

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Just finished having a sleep study the other night. Halfway through, I was hooked up on the CPAC machine. I was asked afterwards if I thought my sleep was better.

The official results won't be known for another week. My guess is based on this test and the fact that I had respiratory failure due to low oxygen level I will be recommended to go on the CPAC.

I am already service connected for hypertension and cardiomegaly. Would I file this new claim requesting secondary to either one as sleep apnea?

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Mmmmmm.....something does not sound right in VA logic. If you cannot sleep at all with the Cpap I wonder if you have tried sleeping pills with it? The thing is with the copd and other problems there is a lot of stress on your heart and lungs. I would find the best doctor in your city who has a connection to a sleep lab and do the whole thing again. The waking up and snoring from apnea is bad and a pain,but the strain on your heart is the real danger since you already have copd. You need to see if the cpap is even working for you and the only way is for you to fall asleep with it on for a few hours. I am wearing my cpap but I am very sleeping when I wake up in the morning and I wake up many times at night.

John

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I now go through tricare to get all my referrals. Then I call VA and tell them I need an appointment because I know they have a different procedure. They want to use there own doctors to diagnose you . Then you can ask for any equipment, in this case the CPAC machine. You can get treated much quicker by going through your own insurance, if that is possible.

It can take 3-6 months to get a specility doctor from the VA. Normally I can get an referal and see actual MD within 3-4 weeks. In my case, I had the sleep study within 2 days of having the doctor sending the request in.

No need to die while waiting for the VA to get you an appointment. . Today's paper in my home town listed a Vet who recently died at the VA during surgery. The same almost happened to me at a private hospital as the VA never provided the healthcare that would have found I had other issues. I had told them repeately I had problems sleeping for years. I was quickly referred to this sleep study from my private insurance. Shame on the V A once again!

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With my CPAP I wake up once or twice a night without it I'm up every hour. When Kaiser did the sleep study they told me that I averaged 36 events per hour.

My first mask was a nose mask and I rarely had a problem with it but there were a few nights that I couldn't get my breathe and ripped the mask off during the night, now I have a nose mouth mask and so far it's working great.

Teac;

I think that there's a way for you to use oxygen with the CPAP but I'm not sure how it gets hooked up.

Cool Breeze;

You're right that it take a long time to see a specialist, I waited for three month for my appointment with the sleep clinic, I have Kaiser so I get most of my medical treatment thru them but with them I would have had to pay almost $900.00 for the CPAP machine which the VA gave me for free, the VA also gives me all of my CPAP supplies for free rather than me having to spend $200 every six months for a mask.

Rick

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Mmmmmm.....something does not sound right in VA logic. If you cannot sleep at all with the Cpap I wonder if you have tried sleeping pills with it? The thing is with the copd and other problems there is a lot of stress on your heart and lungs. I would find the best doctor in your city who has a connection to a sleep lab and do the whole thing again. The waking up and snoring from apnea is bad and a pain,but the strain on your heart is the real danger since you already have copd. You need to see if the cpap is even working for you and the only way is for you to fall asleep with it on for a few hours. I am wearing my cpap but I am very sleeping when I wake up in the morning and I wake up many times at night.

John

Yes.. I have considered another sleep apnea test.. however just the though of going through it makes me sick... I know I need to do something because I usually sleep in my recliner 5-6 hours a day because I am not sleeping at night. I am also trying to find a place that will review my medical records and determine if my asthma/copd and allergic rhinitis caused or made teh apnea worse... Of course I am over weight so that is another problem, but I've only been overweight for about 7 yeas and I had this problem back when I was in service. Of course back in 1986 when I retired no one knew anyting about sleep apnea, of if they did, it was never mentioned to me....Recently my doctor told me if I could lose weight my breathing, back, and knees would improve.. but that is eaiser said than done. He also told me my weight is my biggest medical problem....so who knows.....

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If would be nice if we could all get our apnea SC'ed but that is not the main thing. The main thing is to get it treated. I am having a pretty hard time with mine. With my Cpap I wake up pretty frequently. I get very dry even with humidifier. It seems when I get a good seal it makes my face very sore the next day. When I get it loose enough to not pinch I have a lot of leakage and I still wake up about 5-7 times a night. I am often very sleepy during the day. I want this to work so I will continue to see the doctor. I see both private and VA doctor. When I wear the mask I don't snore my wife tells me. I may have had apnea for a long time since I have had sleep problems for years and I did have sleep problems in the army. There is a particular instance where I went sort of wild from lack of sleep one time in the army and it is documented. I got no treatment, of course.

John

Are you on a full face mask or just the nose? I had terrible problems with TMJ and waking up with my mouth open and the air rushing out (so dry I couldnt swallow) Full Face solved those.

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Sorry about my post on full face versus just nose, hadn't read all the way through the updates on the thread at that point.

Another thing that is adjustable on the machines is somehting called "ramp" this setting uses a lower pressure setting at first and then increases it up to theraputic level. Last I knew my setting was 12.9 and at one time I think it was 14. I have never liked ramp up settings because I always feel like im not getting enough air so I shut it off and we go straight to full pressure. When I started using VA healthcare they issued me a machine and that machine also would dump the pressure on exhale. After ten years of full pressure all the time, it just was so strange i shut off that function also. That function also caused the noise of the machine to oscilate with my breathing and it drove the wife nuts. In the rare instance that I am not sleeping at home my wife has to turn on a small fan to make up for thier being no noise from the CPAP.

Reading through the BVA decisions on Apnea is interesting because they will point out no "in service" evidence of apnea, but in the rating schedule it clearly indicates someone can have apnea and be asymptomatic.

If denied, because I wasn't complaining I will argue that I had the medical indicators and the rating schedule clearly shows that the Veterans Administration anticipated/recognized that someone could have sleep apnea and not exhibit outward symptoms of it.

Best regards,

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