At last...

[MrJones]

So I had my appointment with the consultant today and i've been officially diagnosed with Sleep Apea!!! yay and not yay at the same as i'm happy i've been diagnosed and that i'll be put on a cpap trial but i've been told i must inform the DVLA as i'm a driver!

anyways hoping to hear sometihng by the end of next week!

[Tigers Fan]

Beware!!

The forum is full of info on OSA and DVLA. May I suggest you read carefully before acting - you may be able to avoid having your license suspended.

TF

[MrJones]

Got my appointment back its next Friday to pick up my Trial CPAP machine!

So i think things have gone pretty quick for me really!

End of November I got my appointment with the Consultant for the 8th Jan then a week later I got a letter saying I had to pick up an Oximeter 3rd December.
couple of days later i had another letter confirming the appointment on the 8th Jan.
Went to the appointment last friday saw bloke as per first post and yesterday got an appointment for next Friday (22nd) to pick up my CPAP!
The appointment letter was dated the 8th so they pushed it through quick!!!

all in all i'm pretty happy with speed of things!

[ElleCee]

Hi,
I guess I was really lucky, I went into hospital Thursday last week with chest infection and bad asthma
On Monday this week one of the doctors mentioned OSA to me.
Tuesday I was given an oximeter to wear over night on my finger. Wednesday morning Doctor came back took meter off, went away and came back hour later with CPAP machine. Used that machine over night as it adjusts flow to your needs so he used that to calibrate my own machine also had to wear oximeter again.
Thursday morning he came back, took it all away and returned with a machine for me to take home.
Whilst all this is going on I have had IV antibiotics and nebuliser for asthma and infecion so I also got a nebuliser machine to take home
Discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon.
OSA doctor want to see me in 3 weeks.

Saying all this, I have been to my GP so many times over last 10 years because of tiredness, shame it wasn't picked up before now.
Nice to know there are others around. Having read the posts, the advice is really useful.
Thanks!

[James @ Intus]

Great result Elle, just goes to show the postcode lottery that still applies. It's still bewildering why GPs don't know ore about this increasingly common and rather devastating (in many ways) sleep disorder.

[silvercarper]

Its taken over 25 years to be diagnosed with sleep apnea. The trouble now is how to cope with these lost years in my life.

[MrJones]

Went to Taunton today and picked up my Resmed S8 CPAP machine with nasal mask thingy!

looking forward to sleep tonight to see how it goes

any first night tips?

[ElleCee]

Hi Mr Jones,
Welcome to the club!
I have only had mine 1 week so still a newbie myself.
I found the first night good, I managed to sleep and only wake up once!
For some reason I found that my body felt free-er, It's hard to explain but I felt comfortable for the first time in years.

I did make one mistake though and that was to prop myself up on lots of pillows and the second night I was awake with an awful bad pain in my tummy, due, I found out, to swallowing too much air.
Next night I slept with one pillow and the problem has gone to a great extent. (I still get wind but it isn't painful, just embarassing!) I also turned down the humidifier a notch because my mouth was wet and I think that made me open it more, hence swallowing more air.

Having said all that, last night was my worst so far, I kept waking every 30 mins so, I hope that was a one off.

Good luck for tonight.
Let us know how you get on.
Regards
Lorraine

[MrJones]

Thanks Lorraine

well the first night was not so great I'm determined to get used to it though!

I think I managed to sleep an hour, then I had to give up.

One thing I need to check though is how tight should I have the nasal mask?
I thnk last night part the problem was it was too tight as I had to adjust it when I lied down on the bed. I had red marks round my nose.

plus its difficult getting used to not breathing through my mouth coz if i do there is a pressure imbalance.
anyway I'll do some more adjustment when lieing down and perhaps i can make it more comfortable.
I tried sleeping on my side as thats how I usually get to sleep and that didnt work although i do have memory foam pillow with a dip along the middle that might help from what i've read here.

any further tips would be great!
I'll post up what mask i've got in case that matters.

[MrJones]

Ok so last night was much better!

I slept the whole night without going to the toilet, i woke up several times just to change position but certainly the memory foam pillow helped a lot!
According to my partner i did still snore but not very loudly and when i stopped snoring i was still breathing! this morning i woke up and felt really good!

My chest feels a bit tight though, which is either down to the asthma (mild) or the gym as i've just start going!

so i'm wondering whether the pressure needs to be put up some more to counter act the snoring.

any comments would be helpful!

[ElleCee]

Hi Mr Jones,

Like you I have also got asthma which was only diagnosed in the last couple of months so it is hard for me to tell which symptom goes with which problem.
I can't wait to have more energy so I can exercise and perhaps lose some weight.

If you find out how to rectify the mask problem please let me know because I am almost at the point of giving up. I have tried it loose and not so loose, I get marks on my face and during the day it feels like I am wearing it when I am not. My eyes are getting dry because of the leaks. Now I am wondering what I did right in the first week that has changed this week. I am using the full quattro mask and have ordered some liners to see if that helps.

regards
Lorraine