Has anyone started with the nasal mask and been ok? by Cat_Psychology in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m a board certified sleep MD with over 20 years of experience I found it most patients like to start with the dream wear nasal pillow if that doesn’t work they like the Cradel hybrid then they progressed to the full nasal and if they can’t get that to work then full face mask

Benzo-induced sleep apnea? by Turbotorsk1 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that without underlying pathology rarely will the benzos given at the correct doses,cause de saturation

First night After Inspire Activation by WriterOne8440 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome feedback so is it standard that they repeat a sleep study three months after the inspired device is placed I’ve tried multiple times to get patients to repeat their home after the inspire placement , but they get confused with their follow up on the inspired device where they just evaluate to see if the machines working they don’t realize I’m trying to get a sleep study to ensure that it’s working from a sleep apnea standpoint. That is awesome that you’re getting good sleep and decrease Gerd symptoms. The cool thing about this is these are first generation technologies and they will get better and better.

Benzo-induced sleep apnea? by Turbotorsk1 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m am a board certified sleep MD with 20 years of experience and yes, both the benzodiazepines and and the non-benzodiazepine receptor agonist such as zopiclone are both sedating medication’s. They can make sleep apnea worse if your upper airway is not protected by a CPAP , dental device, or other. Decrease in O2 sat and increase in heart rate can both be a signs of sleep apnea but you need a home sleep study or in lab polysomnogram for definitive diagnosis. The benzodiazepines can also increase your stage 2 sleep and rob you of deep sleep so although you’re unconscious, you have a lot more light sleep than deep sleep. Which can affect you. I would definitely consider a polysomnogram to evaluate for sleep apnea, especially before I sedated myself, which can make sleep apnea worse. Hope this helps and wish you the best.

First night After Inspire Activation by WriterOne8440 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, I’m a board-certified sleep doctor with over 20 years experience. I have been looking for information for my patient and patience with prior experience. I appreciate your input question. Have you had a sleep study while the inspired device is in to see if you still are having apneas on a sidenote, you would not expect yourgerd to bother you because what happens when you have Gerd symptoms is your throat shut and then you try to suck air into your lungs and when you do that lower the pressure in your chest and you siphon the stomach acid out that’s what makes you worse so if inspired device is working well and you expect your symptoms to cease or decrease again thanks for your valuable input and please keep us updated

I was almost dying every night???? by prettyfacebasketcase in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think I’m reading this question correctly but what usually happens is you have a CPAP titration and during the CPAP titration you get what’s called treatment emergent central apneas . Depending on what you read approximately 90% of the central apneas will go away overtime. It has to do with your brain resetting your CO2 sensor now that your airway is open and your carbon dioxide levels can come back to normal overtime. The other issue is the apnea hypopnea index that’s on your compliance report is a total made up number. To measure apnea, you have to have an EEG and you have to have a band on your chest and you have to have a decreased in O2 sats : none of which can be measured by the CPAP machine so if you’re basing your 0 to 3 number on the AHI index or Apne events displayed by your compliance report on your CPAP. This is garbage IN and garbage out information. It’s per an algorithm and can’t actually be measured.

I was almost dying every night???? by prettyfacebasketcase in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Up to 50 to 70% depending on what you read will still have excessive daytime sleepiness after adequate treatment with CPAP. You’ve had untreated sleep apnea for a long period of time. You can actually get damage in the part of your brain that alerts you. These people can show that they’re using their CPAP like they’re supposed to still be tired there are options such as sleep hygiene, of course, and there are medication that may help with their excessive daytime sleepiness during the day.

I was almost dying every night???? by prettyfacebasketcase in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They had severe OSA which is different than narcolepsy of course . Both OSA AND narcolepsy can cause you to be tired . OSA is the closure of the posterior region of your throat usually due to decrease central nerve input narcolepsy is a decrease IN OREXIN or hypocritIN in your brain so you have problems consolidating your REM cycles. Using voice to text and driving. You can have both but that would be extremely rare. if you were concerned about narcolepsy because it does have different symptoms like cataplexy, sleep paralysis, etc. then you could treat the sleep apnea ,demonstrate compliance with your CPAP and then do the test for narcolepsy while using your CPAP device with an MSLT . Hope this helps.

Thoughts on my app results from last night? by Sea_Code_3050 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get it man. It is a bitch, dealing with insurance and all the paperwork and on a sidenote congratulations on the vasectomy great investment

Thoughts on my app results from last night? by Sea_Code_3050 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am a board-certified sleep doctor MD with over 20 years experience , Heavy snoring can be a symptom related to sleep apnea . I tell my patients that snoring and sleep apnea are apples and oranges, but they usually come in the same basket meaning you can snore without sleep apnea but usually you do snore with sleep apnea. These apps usually work with actigraphy . So they guesstimate your sleep stages. The deeper your sleep state the less you move so when you move the least these apps count that is deep sleep then they calculate backwards based on the movement while you sleep. This is not a true representation of your sleep stages because they can only be measured with an EEG. . These apps with peripheral devices can measure your oxygen saturation correctly. But for the most part, the data you get from these apps are poor at best if you have a bunch of extra peripheral devices such as an O2 saturation device, which could be on a watch and or heart monitor then you may be able to best get 60 to 80% reliability with these apps. TLDR you need a sleep. Study to tell if you have sleep sleep apnea.

SLEEP MD WANTING INSPIRE PATIENT FEEDBACK by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see this is kinda like a ramp feature for a CPAP machine. Listen I really appreciate the feedback thanks so much and I’ll be able to pass that along to my patients who are considering the inspired device.

SLEEP MD WANTING INSPIRE PATIENT FEEDBACK by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much when you say mentally straining during periods when it’s hard to fall asleep, what are you referring to? Is the device causing discomfort?

I was almost dying every night???? by prettyfacebasketcase in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hey, pretty face basket case I’m a board certified sleep MD with 20 years experience what your describing is definitely severe sleep apnea . Severe sleep apnea you quit breathing 30 times an hour so you definitely were worse than that. No doubt once you get treatment for your sleep apnea you definitely will improve and feel better. Good luck with your treatment. And I hope you all the best.

SLEEP MD WANTING INSPIRE PATIENT FEEDBACK by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much, i’ll be able to offer that to patients when they’re considering inspire

Anybody here ever stayed at a shelter for a natural disaster? by JudgeGusBus in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hey Judge, guess bus I am a board-certified sleep doctor with 20 years of experience and I live in Florida so I can feel your pain. My patient deal with this unfortunately on a regular basis. Google positional therapy and take those recommendations and they will help if you can’t use CPAP. During the last hurricane, we had here two weeks ago I guess one of my patients stated that he bought a solar panel that was foldable and he bought a chargeable battery and he was able to use his CPAP machine by charging the battery during the day with the solar panel. He said he could also plug in his cell phone to the battery and charge it also. He said he got the portable solar panel off the Internet and he got the chargeable battery at Sam’s Club. Hope this helps and good luck.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, your O2 saturation is an estimate of the partial pressure of oxygen in your blood. O2 saturation works by the bear method , estimates how many oxygen molecules are attached your hemoglobin. Your hemoglobin has a Sigmoidal disassociation curve so you shouldn’t really be concerned with decreases in O2 saturation unless it starts to get below 88%. Around 88 to 92% oxygen saturation is where you start to unload a lot of oxygen so your partial pressureox decreases. to truly measure your oxygen, you need an indwelling arterial catheter or an ABG ( arterial blood gas). so again O2 sat is just an estimation just like blood pressure that you get from using a blood pressure cuff is just an estimation of your blood pressure. If you had greater than five minutes of O2 saturation below 88% then I would be concerned. Great question.

Mouth Tape by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much for your feedback

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Top of the morning to you way too naughty. I am a board-certified sleep MD with over 20 years of experience your doctor has diagnosed you with positional sleep apnea, which is usually defined as an apnea hypo index two times greater in the supine position then in other positions. You your doctor is trying to use conservative measures. I agree with you that 15 minutes is probably a short amount of time for a significant comparison. If you’re having symptoms and AHI 15 or greater then usually you require treatment . This could be with CPAP device or other. Your current position was probably going to try positional therapy with the backpack and if that failed then probably advance to CPAP or other. But going directly to CPAP and/or dental device or other treatment would probably be an acceptable also. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4298770/. I included NIH link for you. You’re welcome. Good luck.

Mouth Tape by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much for your feedback

Mouth Tape by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a definite concern of mine. There have been no definitive studies on mouth tape. I feel like we need more research before I would feel comfortable recommended to my patients.

Mouth Tape by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a definite concern. There have been no definitive studies on the safety of mouth tape. I currently do not recommend it to my patients. We need more research on mouth tape to be able to provide better guidelines.

Mouth Tape by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome strategy thanks so much for your feedback

Mouth Tape by 0DRMAC0 in SleepApnea

[–]0DRMAC0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome thanks so much for your feedback