Sleep monitors.

jambo101

jambo101

Full time employment: Posting here.
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Oct 3, 2007
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My doctor was wondering if sleep apnea might be a cause of my chronic fatigue, the machine is a little box thats strapped around the chest that is also hooked up to a nose piece and a cup that goes on your finger and you go to bed with this thing strapped on and somehow they can tell all kinds of things about your sleeping patterns even if you only slept as little as 2 hours.
I was looking at the machine and there really isnt much to it but it cost $185 for 1 nights use,i was wondering if this isnt just a scam to get me to buy their $2000 machine that people with sleep apnea are supposed to use.:confused:
Any one try one of these sleep monitors?what did it tell you?
 
Can you do a sleep study? My buddy did and it didn't last long since he had something like 23 instances in 1 hour!

He now uses a CPAP machine.
 
Ask him to schedule a sleep study. It's a one night deal that your insurance should cover and should get you a lot of answers.
 
Idea: As a first step you can record yourself sleeping. Use a tape recorder or digital recorder or your laptop. If the mic picks up your breathing, you'll be able to hear whether you have episodes of apnea.

If that doesn't give you a clear indication, you can go on to something more expensive.
 
Look at fitbit. It supposedly can measure how much time you actually sleep each night, and the cost is a lot less than $2,000.
 
jambo101 said:
My doctor was wondering if sleep apnea might be a cause of my chronic fatigue, the machine is a little box thats strapped around the chest that is also hooked up to a nose piece and a cup that goes on your finger and you go to bed with this thing strapped on and somehow they can tell all kinds of things about your sleeping patterns even if you only slept as little as 2 hours.
I was looking at the machine and there really isnt much to it but it cost $185 for 1 nights use,i was wondering if this isnt just a scam to get me to buy their $2000 machine that people with sleep apnea are supposed to use.:confused:
Any one try one of these sleep monitors?what did it tell you?
Click to expand...
Jambo, the device sounds like a poor man's sleep study. Last time I looked into this, they were fairly sensitive for drops in oxygen levels (the finger clamp) and not so good for apneic (not breathing) spells for technical reasons. At best they are imperfect and almost any abnormality ends up leading to a "real" sleep study, or polysomnography.

An alternate approach is for your doc to do a careful history for things like morning headache, excessive daytime drowsiness, loud snoring, observed apnea by your spouse, etc. If there are enough symptoms and signs, just go straight to a full sleep study.

Check with your doctor to see if the latter approach is also available.
 
Jambo - the study or the one night machine may very well tell yyou that you have apnea. My mom has it and swears by her CPAP machine (she did the overnight study, stopped breathing several times a minute). If your doc is suspicious, take the test he recommends, or ask to see a specialist. Your docs will know your situation best.

R
 
Al, I think your recording method might be the evidence that disrupts the blissfully-ignorant harmony of quite a few marriages...

jambo101 said:
Sleeping hooked up to a cpap device is going to be a problem.
Click to expand...
It's not easy, but the number of people who swear by it indicates how much worse it must be to cope with apnea.

I wonder how much of sleep apnea is physical (birth defect or other airway issue) and how much is "lifestyle" (weight, smoking).
 
In college I had a roommate who snored. He didn't believe it, so I taped him. That tape was a big hit at parties.
 
jambo101 said:
Sleeping hooked up to a cpap device is going to be a problem.
http://www.cpap.com/productImages/images/Man-Sleeping-HC604-CPAP-Machine.jpg
Click to expand...


You get used to it. I was never a back-sleeper until I got the CPAP machine. Now I spend most of the night on my back. There are nights when I sleep all night hooked up, and there are nights when the mask hits the floor before morning. But I do know that the quality of my sleep is much better when I'm wearing the mask. I snore much less, too, which the SO greatly appreciates.
 
I have had my CPAP machine for two months and am finally getting used to sleeping with it. For the first six weeks it was taking me one to two hours to get to sleep. Now I fall asleep in less than 30 minutes. I rarely sleep on my back. I have a mask with nasal pillows that allows me to sleep on my side. I am alot less sleepy during the day and have fewer morning headaches.

When I go back to the Dr. for the three month follow-up I intend to ask him to send me back for a repeat sleep study using my machine and my mask to verify that the pressure setting is correct and is preventing the apnea events. My untreated study showed an average of 64 events per hour!
 
My doctor has been trying to get me into a polysomnography but its a 2yr wait at the sleep clinic so he got me to rent this machine for now.

If a cpap machine is called for what does it cost? and what does it cost to maintain?(oxygen bottles)?
 
Mom's insurance paid for hers. She cleans it and changes filters once in a while, but her first one lasted 8-9 years befor it finally gave out. Insurance paid for a new one (eligible every 5 years I think she said). No oxygen bottles required. I think CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure...it just blows air down your nose and or mouth, depending on your mask style....not much cost after initial outlay. The machine may cost a pretty penny if you aren't insured...unfortunately.

R
 
I think I need a sleep study before leaving the military. I swear I have the problem. I have very poor sleep - unless I take a heavy dose of benadryl (diphenhydramine) 50 mg. Hate having to depend on meds to sleep, but I feel much better the next a.m. (little hangover effect, though).

I blame the lack of good sleep on work related stress - so I guess I'll do my own sleep study when I ER and have a carefree life in less than 8 months.
:D
 
jambo101 said:
My doctor has been trying to get me into a polysomnography but its a 2yr wait at the sleep clinic so he got me to rent this machine for now.

If a cpap machine is called for what does it cost? and what does it cost to maintain?(oxygen bottles)?
Click to expand...

I just got the Explanation of Benefits from BCBS for my CPAP. The supplier billed BCBS for $1455. BCBS paid them $1309. My out of pocket comes to $145. My insurance will pay for replacements once a year if needed. The machine itself is supposed to last at least five years. The mask will probably need to be replaced each year. I think the retail price of the masks are around $200 but BCBS will pay most of that.

As far as maintenance goes. I just take the tubing, mask and humidifier reservoir into the shower with me once a week and use plain liquid soap to clean them.
 
I had a sleep study within the last month or so. I didn't have enough episodes to qualify having sleep apnea - I was considered borderline. So, the pulmonary people sent me to a ear, nose and throat surgeon to see if there was a surgical procedure he could so. I wasn't thrilled with that. Anyway, after the surgeon scoped my throat he said that there wasn't enough of anything wrong to perform any type of surgery (I was happy with that).

The next step is to go back to the pulmonary people since they did say to come back if the surgeon couldn't help. The pulmonary people said that they might be able to find me a slightly obsolete, used C-Pap since my insurance wouldn't cover a new one based on my borderline apnea. Might even shell out for a new one.
 
Check out cpap.com. They are great people to work with, and have a lot of FAQs, and maybe even a forum.

I usually replace my mask every 6 months and the headgear and hose once a year. The last time I got a 10-foot hose and that's great. I can turn over in my sleep easier with the longer hose.
 
oma said:
I think I need a sleep study before leaving the military.
Click to expand...
You might want to talk to that Tricare ombudsman about how difficult it is to get a sleep-lab referral when you're retired. I bet it's a lot easier to do it on active duty, and it could even involve a disability rating.
 
Thanks for the suggestion - Nords. Spoke with my colleague MD today and he said he'd set me up. Evidently the German physicians here give you a monitor that you take home and the machine screens you - if you're positive, you do an inpatient study. They also send you to an ENT to determine if there is some mechanical/structure cause for apnea. While talking to my MD, he said I could get the works before retiring - including cardiac stress test. Maybe I'll also get a colonoscopy while I'm thinking about it - get everything done before May 09 when I get my clearing papers.
 
oma said:
Spoke with my colleague MD today and he said he'd set me up. Evidently the German physicians here give you a monitor that you take home and the machine screens you - if you're positive, you do an inpatient study.
Click to expand...
That is a medically sensible strategy, and probably much more cost-effective than the way it is often done here (direct referral for a comprehensive study - the simple version has good sensitivity, just happens to generate quite a few false positive).
 
oma said:
Maybe I'll also get a colonoscopy while I'm thinking about it - get everything done before May 09 when I get my clearing papers.
Click to expand...
I agree with getting everything done the sooner the better-- any problems may take extra months of consults & treatment to resolve, and it's much easier to do it on active duty than to start all over again with Tricare.

But that comment about military colonoscopies seems to have blown out my humor, irony, & sarcasm circuits. While I'm hoping that they can reboot soon, I'm gonna have to defer further comment to REWahoo...
 
Results are in and just as i thought it seems i have a bad case of sleep apnea,seems i stop breathing 88 times per night:rolleyes: potential cure? a $3000 vpap machine that this sleep clinic conveniently sells:rolleyes: My spider senses are tingling,i just dont see $3k in this stupid little machine ,i could buy 3 laptops for the price they want for this little machine and all it has to do is pump air into a mask!!! :confused:and i'm only going on their say so that i have a sleeping problem in the first place.:confused::rolleyes::duh: how do i know this place isnt just a scam to get people to buy useless little plastic boxes for $3000.?
The only reason i give this place credibility is my family doctor for 30yrs and my Diabetic doctor at the diabetic clinic both recommended i go to this place as a possible solution to my chronic tiredness.
Fortunately insurance covers the cost.
 
Jambo - don't forget to tell us how you feel after a few nights, or a month or so with the cpap. Betcha you'll feel better....
 
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