Sleep Study

[Spiky Bugger]

@southernlady Feel free to move this where it would do the most good.

Mr. Sue had a sleep study. (Some of you will also be required to find out if you have apnea.)

What we learned:
1--He is EXHAUSTED. The average time it takes your brain to "decide" to start falling asleep is 10-12 minutes. Mr. Sue's brain took only 0.3 minutes...18 seconds!
2--He gets almost no REM sleep. The average bear moves into REM sleep at 90-120 minutes. Mr. Sue took a little over FIVE HOURS to get there. It was almost time to get up!

A sleep study is a royal pain in the ass. I have had three of them. BUT sleep apnea can kill you...sleep apnea can help you qualify for bariatic surgery, bariatric surgery can "cure" the sleep apnea, and it's an overall good idea.

Also, it helps explain why the man you've been married to for 42+ years is suddenly a cranky, forgetful SOB. (He will wear that CPAP to bed if I have to duct tape it on his head.)

 

[DSRIGGS]

I feel for your husband as I couldn't wear that fucking C-pap for anything. My apnea was horrible but that thing choked me and I tried but couldn't do it... Different masks, different C-pap machine.. Just couldn't work. After years of not using I got another study and went on bipap which I was able to wear but I still felt less rested than if I didn't use it. I still used until the DS but haven't since. My wife says I hardly snore at all anymore and I do wake rested.

Hubs may need bipap if he can't wear it. Just a thought. Please be nice to Mr sue. We are gruff on the exterior but really teddy bears inside with feelings.

 

[bearmom]

I've had both an in clinic sleep test, and an at home one. Bleck. Never could deal with that stupid machine. It had a pressure of 17, so it forced my mouth open, then after adding another strap under the chin to make that impossible, I could feel air escape through a tear duct. Also, that much pressure made me fill up like a balloon - I had trouble exhaling against it. I had surgery so it became a moot point, but if he has issues making it work insist on a bipap.

Poor Mr Sue. I sure hope he feels rested when this get sorted out.

 

[southernlady]

@southernlady Feel free to move this where it would do the most good.

Mr. Sue had a sleep study. (Some of you will also be required to find out if you have apnea.)

What we learned:
1--He is EXHAUSTED. The average time it takes your brain to "decide" to start falling asleep is 10-12 minutes. Mr. Sue's brain took only 0.3 minutes...18 seconds!
2--He gets almost no REM sleep. The average bear moves into REM sleep at 90-120 minutes. Mr. Sue took a little over FIVE HOURS to get there. It was almost time to get up!

A sleep study is a royal pain in the ass. I have had three of them. BUT sleep apnea can kill you...sleep apnea can help you qualify for bariatic surgery, bariatric surgery can "cure" the sleep apnea, and it's an overall good idea.

Also, it helps explain why the man you've been married to for 42+ years is suddenly a cranky, forgetful SOB. (He will wear that CPAP to bed if I have to duct tape it on his head.)

Leaving it here...it applies to pre-op and even post op WLS as well as normies.

Glad you got him into be tested. We suspect my daddy had apnea but he would not have been successful at using a cpap. And we didn't have any proof, just a suspicion. And since he was living alone at the assisted living place, no one would have made him.

Okay, while bariatric surgery usually cures sleep apnea, it doesn't always. Mine actually reappeared after my DS (I had a UPPP LONG before my DS). It was very mild but it also pointed out that I had a defect that wasn't helping. My windpipe was too tight. That's how I ended up with jaw surgery as I just could not handle the cpap. And my dh still has his cpap...granted the settings are much lower but he is still a "hose head".

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I've had both an in clinic sleep test, and an at home one. Bleck. Never could deal with that stupid machine. It had a pressure of 17, so it forced my mouth open, then after adding another strap under the chin to make that impossible, I could feel air escape through a tear duct. Also, that much pressure made me fill up like a balloon - I had trouble exhaling against it. I had surgery so it became a moot point, but if he has issues making it work insist on a bipap.

Poor Mr Sue. I sure hope he feels rested when this get sorted out.

Yes, Ma'am. I have a Bi-PAP, which I no longer need. (But might need again if I don't drop 5-10 pounds.). And the new ones are MAGIC. They measure everything and reset themselves (within a preset range) while you sleep. I think the secrets, for many but not all of us, are a good mask and self-adjusting settings.

Mr. Sue is now a poster child for apnea...narrow jaw and he did have a deviated septum and a nasal polyp or two...but he had surgery to take care of those two. And he's a former smoker, with a cardiac history and his spine is collapsing, so he is getting shorter and even at what was a decent weight before, his diminishing height (he's about four inches shorter than when we met) has moved his BMI into the "obese" category.

His apnea is positional...as in, I could Super Glue tennis balls to the back of his jammies and the problem would be solved. Until I started finding the jammies on the floor. (He says that's where all jammies belong anyway.). His apnea is mild enough that he might benefit from a dental appliance...but since his orthodontic retainer was always MIA in the morning, we figured the CPAP might work better. It should only kick on when he is on his back...and if that wakes him up, he can just roll over and solve the problem.

@southernlady I thought I was careful when I said it CAN "cure" apnea...but I'm glad you 'splained it better. I don't want people to think I'm promising them something.

 

[southernlady]

@southernlady I thought I was careful when I said it CAN "cure" apnea...but I'm glad you 'splained it better. I don't want people to think I'm promising them something.

You did use quote marks around it but not everyone knows what that means, esp when they are looking for cures.

 

[Amey]

I have severe obstructive sleep apnea.... My AHI was 30.5 in my sleep study. However... I can't wear the damn mask either because I'm severely allergic to the silicone in the masks. I break out in a horrible rash and my skin peels off my face wherever the mask touches. I have tried 4 different masks, liners, gel cushion barriers (made of silicone pfft), creams and salves. I can still feel my face on fire within an hour of wearing it and I wake up looking like I've been huffing red paint from a mason jar. The sad part is I actually did sleep better when I started using it. So... Now the machine has to go back because I'm not 'compliant' using it and my insurance won't pay for it anymore.

I'm currently appealing through the Dept of Insurance for DS surgery. My insurance policy is whacked in that it basically says WLS is excluded except as a last resort to treat a weight-related covered condition that cannot be managed or controlled by best practice medical treatment. Apparently Blue Cross thinks that means I should have apnea surgery to avoid WLS surgery... And my pulmonologist even says I'm not a candidate for apnea surgery and due to my severe morbid obesity and severe obstructive sleep apnea and my anatomy that it would do nothing for my apnea. Oh... And I should try masks without silicone. Ummm yea... They don't exist. Hoping and praying the Dept of Insurance will overturn my denial so I can get 'treatment for sleep apnea'.

Larra and Diana say they have never seen such a ludicrous requirement for WLS. They are angels.... I could never have navigated this appeal without them!!

Sorry for ranting..... Just saw the apnea thread and had to throw in my 2 cents.

 

[southernlady]

@Amey rant all you want!

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I've had both an in clinic sleep test, and an at home one. Bleck. Never could deal with that stupid machine. It had a pressure of 17, so it forced my mouth open, then after adding another strap under the chin to make that impossible, I could feel air escape through a tear duct. Also, that much pressure made me fill up like a balloon - I had trouble exhaling against it. I had surgery so it became a moot point, but if he has issues making it work insist on a bipap.

Poor Mr Sue. I sure hope he feels rested when this get sorted out.

My Bi-PAP's original settings were 18 and 5. But that was what I needed, so it worked.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Also, it helps explain why the man you've been married to for 42+ years is suddenly a cranky, forgetful SOB. (He will wear that CPAP to bed if I have to duct tape it on his head.)

I'm so glad Mister Sue got the study and now can be fixed. well, you know what I mean. Life is too short to have cranky in the room with you.





(what the hell, I've forgotten where the quote button is)

 

[southernlady]

(what the hell, I've forgotten where the quote button is)

Just highlight what you want to quote/reply....and an option will appear asking which one you want. Reply is easiest as it goes ahead and sticks it in the post. Quote means you have to hit the "insert quote" option under the reply box.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

...


(what the hell, I've forgotten where the quote button is)

As my mom used to say at times like this, "That's how it starts!"

 

[JackieOnLine]

you don't have to tell me that!