hypertension Sleep Apnea

[COOL BREEZE]

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?

[john999]

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

[COOL BREEZE]

It kind of scares a bit from reading from the posts here. Its supposed to help, however it has its drawbacks. Lots of folks(even my relatives) get diagnosed and refuse to use the machine. I guess you will just stop breathing some night and it will be all over with. And just to get it adjusted right, is a work in progress, I had it just quickly and correctly for my sleep study, however they are the experts. Hopefully I will be given some training first.

[Computer Tech]

The important thing is to get your sleep apnea treated and that means getting and using the CPAP machine, not using the machine can lead to other things such heart failure or death, my buddy's niece died because of untreated sleep apnea.

Getting mask adjust just right is a pain,if it's too loose you have leakages and the machine can't do it's job, too tight and you end up red marks on your face, even when they've adjusted the mask for you when they gave it to you may find that when you get home and hooked up that you need to make adjustment. Another thing that been recommended to me by a number of people is that you wash your face before going to bed, apparently the grease and oils on our skin will affect the fit. John if I use a nose mask I don't have a problem with dry mouth but I hate having to use the chain strap but if I use a nose and mouth mask I do wake up with dry mouth.. With my machine I've gone from waking just about every hour to waking up once or twice during the night although there are times when I wake up more often, when that happens I find myslef having to take a nap during the day.

Rick

[COOL BREEZE]

I also have to see a pulmonary specialist. Not sure if this for something else, or if this goes with being diagnosed with sleep apnea. Perhaps I had multiple new conditions from my latest stay in icu.

It will be a week or so before they have the final results. Normally they don't hook you up to a CPAC machine during a sleep study unless the technican that was observing you noticed something unordinary.

[Computer Tech]

Getting hooked up to a CPAP during the sleep study usually depends on what kind of study it is. My sleep study for the VA was a Holter monitor that I wore to bed one night then sent back to the VA, a week later they called and made an appointment to pick up a CPAP machine, that was in August. Next month I'm supposed to have an appointment with the sleep doctor who I believe is a pulmonary specialist. Now sometimes you do a sleep over sleep study where you spend the night at the hospital or sleep clinic being monitored, I understand that if that is the type of study you get they may wake you up during the night and put you on a CPAP if you're having sleep apnea events.

Rick

[Teac]

When I had my sleep study , it was conducted at Randolph AFB. The procedure was to connect me to a bunch of wires using some red gel in my hair and stickers on the rest of my body. Then they monitored my sleep, not only with the wires connected to my body but with a camera. I was told that I woke up due to apnea 56 times.

I had to return to the clinic three weeks later, and this time I was fitted with a mask and monitored using cpap. I lasted 4 maybe 5 hours.. I did not sleep at all... it took all my will power not to rip the mask from my face.. which in the end I did. Not only did I rip the mask from my face... I went home at 3: AM.

A month later the va issued me a cpap machine. I tried 4 or 5 different mask each with the same result, as long as I had the mask on I did not sleep at all, I could not even fall asleep. I finally determined waking up durning the night was better than no sleep at all. Of course another problem with me was when I took the mask off, I was not getting my oxygen either which I need 24/7....

The doctor at Randolph insist that my apnea is not secondary to my asthma/copd.. but she never took the time to look at any medical records, or explain to me what it could not be secondary. This was two years ago.

I am just now considering an IMO from a private sleep clinic.......