Sleep Apnea Treatment

Question by Sapphire: Looking for a Polysomnogram – Sleep Apnea FREE STUDY!?
I am a disabled F/T student & not working. My healh plan is Kaiser HMO, but they CONTINUE to decline a Polysomnogram study req. My primary care doctor told me on 8/23/07 to give it till October 07 & if symptoms continue, she will consider MY REQUEST of referring me to UCSF sleep lab, but DECLINED on two occasions. I am very frustrated with Kaiser & my overall care. Apparently, Kaiser only does the over night pulse oximeter testing that I already had done & does not perform over night studies, known as Polysomnogram. I have been having severe breathing problems, esp. at bedtime. My oxygen continues to drop several times at bedtime (i.e. 86-88%) This is not normal for me, let alone anyone. COULD ANYONE REFER ME TO A POLYSOMNOGRAM FREE SLEEP STUDY. I have been looking on www.clinicaltrials.gov and www.clinicalconnections.com for several months, but no luck. I live near S.F. CA, but willing to travel somewhat to do this study. Pls, adv, as I have been in/out ER several time

Best answer:

Answer by Just Me
I really dont know where you could get a free sleep study. Have you tried checking with the Mayo Clinic?? That may be a good place to check into. Some sleep labs will actually workout a plan with you based on hardship, but its something you will have to look around and see what kind of deal you can work out. You can try working something out with local Sleep Centers, you may be surprised at what they are willing to do. Healthcare is tough, you would think sometimes a person health is more important than money, but unfortunately our country doesn’t work that way. Good luck in your quest and best wishes.

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by Atheist Nun aka GenaneF: Just looking for an outsider’s viewpoint…are my husband and I incompatible/drifting apart?
Or is this normal crap from 5+ years of marriage?

Breif synopsis:

My husband and I have been married for about 5 1/2 years now, and at first, we were so into one another and in love. It seems this novelty wore off when we went through a bout with difficulty conceiving our only child together, about 2 years into the marriage. Things just haven’t been the same since then.

Now I realize we have little in common anymore. From music tastes to food tastes, and all points beyond and in between, we are as far apart as two people could have drifted. I daydream of meeting a man with passion, fire and drive. I feel so tapped out in this “arrangement” with him. I feel like I’m his mother and not his wife. I work part time, and he works full time. But, I do EVERYTHING. And, when I say everything, I mean wipe the baby’s ass, Cook breakfast, cook dinner, cook lunch, dust, mow the grass, clean the floors, do the laundry, arrange appointments for the kids and pets, remember said appointments and keep them, deal with my combat PTSD, handle own my VA appointments and counselings, vaccum, help my son with his homework, shop, pay bills, deal with contractors and basically I parent both kids alone for the most part ( I have an older son from my previous marriage).

I feel like a single parent of three kids instead of a married woman with 2 kids and husband. To his defense, he does have severe back problems and sleep apnea. I don’t expect him to move mountains up in here, just to help me, and do something more than sit on his ass at the computer playing PC games and twiddling his balls soon as he gets home, and/or watching HOUSE or CSI while I scurry about like a little crackhead doing everything. It’s making me so sick. My only true love is gone forever, and his memory haunts me like a ghost…but I just remember that those days are gone. Now I’m stuck with this lazy oaf who makes me so miserable… somedays I just want to run away with all my savings to Canada or Belgium or Japan or something and start over. Then I think about my kids, and it is like a bitter reality. I’m so unhappy.

He doesn’t stimulate my mind. Ever. He is so mundane and predictable and the only things he gets passionate about are WWE wrestling and beer. Ugh. The way he smells even irritates me. I’ve kept myself up while he’s just fell to the wayside and when I try and wear sexy things he’s rather rendez-vous with the Serta and the mink blankets and start calling the hogs. I haven’t got any good rest in years because of his sleep issues and his snoring, even the night I had the baby in the hospital, he slept on the guest pullout and SNORED all night. Ok, now I’m rambling but I’m so at my wits end.

I cry in the shower and bathroom every day almost and probably drink more than I should. I don’t know i something like this can be fixed. What do you think??? Honestly, if I could give my force to another so that they could live, like some poor kid with leukemia whose parents pray for them to recover daily…I would. And I would expire in their place, because my life just sucks so bad. I’m not even scared to die anymore.
Let’s think..you can shove off and troll someone else.
He just (praise the heavens and stars) got a CPAP machine a few days ago, and so far, things are well on that front.

Best answer:

Answer by Gourmet Flossie
I think that the best outside that could help you would be a therapist, it sound as though you are badly depressed and you need to get right down to the reason of it. I suggest that you go on your own, at least for a few sessions before marriage counselling.

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I took my daughter to the doctors the other day regarding her excessive snoring as it was so bad I could hear her while I was downstairs with the tv on. There has also been periods where she seems to be struggling to breathe and we assumed this was because she has extremely large tonsils. She advised this could be sleep apnea and was referring her to the hospital to get her tonsils and adenoids taken out. Has anyone else been through this? My daughter is 7yrs old and fit and healthy otherwise.

In September I was diagnosed with COPD (Emphysema) then I had open heart surgery (CABG) in October, 5 bypasses were put in. I found out at that time I also have Idiopathic Intristital Pulmonary Fibrosis (IIPF). I have since been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). On Monday I had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (Galbladder removal). I am only 47 years old. My question is why is all this happening now? How much more can I expect to happen? How long can I expect to live?