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Permalink Reply by Mary Z on March 12, 2011 at 11:58am

Todd, see your family practice doctor with a list of symptoms and tell him/her that you think you have sleep apnea.  If anyone has observed you stop breathing during the night that is good info to have.   You need someone to order a sleep test. Your family doc can do this or just order the test. If your insurance doesn't require a referral perhaps you can go right to a sleep physician. After a sleep test if you have Obstructive or central sleep apnea

they will discuss it with you and if treatment is apropriate they will order a machine.  You might start investigating what machine you want if you should need one.

What exactly are your symptoms?  Do you snore? Have excessive daytime sleepiness?

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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on March 12, 2011 at 5:34pm

Todd, if that is your phone number you may want to reconsider and delete it as you will be swamped with lots of junk calls.

 

I asked my primary care doctor and she ordered the test for me.  She is not well versed in sleep disorders (she has a relative that does use a cpap but she tells me I probably know more than she does).  In our area it takes about a month or six weeks to get scheduled for the sleep test and then about that long for the titration. 

Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Henning on March 12, 2011 at 6:25pm

Well, in my case it was my wife who observed that I often do not breathe at night. She sleeps very lightly. Personally I have always believed that I slept very well.

 

I spoke with my former doctor about it and actually he laughed a little of me. He knew nothing about sleep apnea.

 

I read a bit about it online, and could recognize some of the symptoms of sleep apnea.

 

Then I contacted a sleep center, and underwent a sleep test. Within a week I was on xPAP.

 

Subsequently, I have chosen some operations that have cured me of sleep apnea.

 

Of course I have changed my doctor, but I'm sure that many doctors still do not know much about sleep apnea.

 

Henning

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Permalink Reply by Clare on March 13, 2011 at 3:02pm

Hello Henning: That's very interesting that you have been "cured of sleep apnea", Congrat's.

If you do not mind my asking,  about how long ago was your procedure/ operation that cured you?  

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Permalink Reply by Ernestine Webster on March 14, 2011 at 1:21am

this sounds like my doctor, i  said something to her for several months and she acted like she did not hear me, then one week before my next appointment i made a sleep log and took it with me to my next appointment and about at the end of my appointment with my medical doctor i told her i had something to talk to her about and i needed for her to hear me, so i thought finally i thought she is going to listen to me, i told her out of 7 nights i got 17 hours of sleep total and on a few occassions none at all so she wrote me a prescripton for a generic for a sleep aid so i thought i will try that and wow , oh boy did i sleep good for about a month, slept all nights then the pills got so they did not work anymore so i stopped taking them , now i am back to square one. finally broke down and made an appointment with a sleep speicliast tomorrow ,not looking forward to it but feel i need to go     
Henning said:

Well, in my case it was my wife who observed that I often do not breathe at night. She sleeps very lightly. Personally I have always believed that I slept very well.

 

I spoke with my former doctor about it and actually he laughed a little of me. He knew nothing about sleep apnea.

 

I read a bit about it online, and could recognize some of the symptoms of sleep apnea.

 

Then I contacted a sleep center, and underwent a sleep test. Within a week I was on xPAP.

 

Subsequently, I have chosen some operations that have cured me of sleep apnea.

 

Of course I have changed my doctor, but I'm sure that many doctors still do not know much about sleep apnea.

 

Henning

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Permalink Reply by Henning on March 14, 2011 at 2:35pm

It is almost two years ago now.

 

I have subsequently had two follow-up sleep studies. The first one approx. 4 months after my last surgery, and the last one around a year later.

 

Both times it shows that I am completely cured of my sleep apnea.

 

If you are further interested you can read my story here on the site.

 

Henning

dreamy Kat said:

Hello Henning: That's very interesting that you have been "cured of sleep apnea", Congrat's.

If you do not mind my asking,  about how long ago was your procedure/ operation that cured you?  

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Permalink Reply by yogariffic on March 15, 2011 at 11:42am

Lurker, here.  :)

 

I was supposed to go years ago because a sleep doc told me 2 different times I needed a sleep study because of how tired I was all the time. I never went. 

 

Last year, I was being treated at a sinus/asthma/allergy clinic for sinus problems. The ENT was looking at pictures of my sinuses and said that my throat opening was really small and did I snore. he said I might have sleep apnea. My dad and brother both have it and both wear CPAPs. So I went to a sleep doc and he said I needed a sleep study. So I had it done. He said I have minor sleep apnea- enough to need a CPAP and the rest is history. Been using it since September of last year.

 

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Permalink Reply by Ernestine Webster on March 15, 2011 at 12:38pm

how are you doing with the cpap ? i have fought doing this for over several years but after i got laid off from a job i loved doing it got much worse i knew i needed to do something , tried talking to my doctor several times about my sleep disorder and she never really would listen to me so i took the situation into my own hands and called a sleep doctor and now i am thinking about changing medical doctors after the sleep study   

yogariffic said:

Lurker, here.  :)

 

I was supposed to go years ago because a sleep doc told me 2 different times I needed a sleep study because of how tired I was all the time. I never went. 

 

Last year, I was being treated at a sinus/asthma/allergy clinic for sinus problems. The ENT was looking at pictures of my sinuses and said that my throat opening was really small and did I snore. he said I might have sleep apnea. My dad and brother both have it and both wear CPAPs. So I went to a sleep doc and he said I needed a sleep study. So I had it done. He said I have minor sleep apnea- enough to need a CPAP and the rest is history. Been using it since September of last year.

 

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