Cpap machine and surgery

The anesthesiologist will probably want you to have had a positive test with the sleep clinic before he will allow the operation.  They are responsible for your breathing/heart beating thingy during the operation and in recovery.  

I am very claustrophobic and the mask was always an issue with me staying awake because there was a mask trying to kill me on my face...  the doc who ran the sleep clinic prescribed an anti anxiety med for me and I slept like a baby.  Am not, due to my weight loss, for the first time in twenty years or so having sleep apnea, so no CPAP, mask trying to kill me or anti anxiety med.  

Good luck, I would find a company thats going to allow some testing of masks.  

I had the sleep clinic appointment, two sleep educator appointments (to set me up and then to read my results). Two appointments with Medigas and finally the Sleep Doctor.  I too was told they'd need 6 weeks of results before surgery.

I have been using a CPAP machine since July and don't seem to be having any issues with it or the mask. I haven't noticed much change in my sleep patterns, I still have to get up in the middle of the night to pee.

When I went for my second sleep study, having used the CPAP with a full face mask for about a month, the technician insisted I use a nasal mask, a wee triangle for my nose only. It felt awkward and strange, unlike my comfortable full mask and I got the most awful welt on my face for some inexplicable reason.  Which kind of mask do you have?  It might make a big difference.  And if the machine is giving off a burning smell, that doesn't sound good either.  Is there a warranty on the purchase?

When I spoke to the doctor at the sleep clinic after my 2nd sleep study, I asked him if there would be an issue sleeping in the hospital bed - on my back after surgery, not being able to sleep on my side.  I don't have many apneas sleeping on my side,  apparently they would be much worse if I slept on my back. The doctor wrote me another prescription for an APAP machine to use in the hospital when I have my surgery.  It apparently monitors and self-adjusts to whichever setting is required.The company I bought my CPAP from will lend me the APAP for a week so I can use it in the hospital.  I was pretty impressed that they would do that free of charge.  They're called FPM Solutions.

My surgery is in November, so I haven't gone for my pre-op appointment yet, but don't you speak to someone like the anesthesiologist at that time?  I think they will need to know how you breathe when asleep so they can provide the best care when you are unconscious. So I think they will want to know how you are managing with the CPAP machine.

best of luck getting it sorted,

MJ

A Shopper's Drug Mart's Home Health Care Centre (the Markham store) also kindly lent me a CPAP machine for 6 weeks for free until they could determine for sure that I didn't need an APAP machine.  I ended up buying the CPAP I was using.  Medigas, on the other hand wanted to rent me the same machine that SDM lent me for free......

Odd about your titration study - what if you were a mouth breather?  I was told to bring my mask and tubing to the study.

Jenn.  :)

About the license part.... the sleep Dr. Is obligated to report OSA to the Ministry for your license. So compliance is usually a good idea.

Sounds like you need to have your machine checked. It should not have any smell, especially a burning smell. I really don't want to criticize your pharmacy but, you really should find a place that will allow trials of masks. They also have licensed respiratory therapists are experts in this field. My company is proresp, they have a number of locations. There are many places like this out there, I hope one is near you? This is a regulated industry so rates for machines/accessories should be very comparable.

Its imperative you use your machine regularly as they will check your chip, literally when you go to surgery you bring your cpap, they check your chip, if you haven't been using it your anesthesiologist may cancel your surgery. My brother in law is an anesthesiologist and has often canceled surgeries once they see the cpap report.

 

I think if your machine is giving off a burning smell, something is wrong with it... it isn't a FIsher Paykel is it?  I've heard bad things about the reliability of their appliances from a friend and Consumer's Reports magazine.

About the driver's license issue, the York Regions Sleep Disorders Clinic gave me a sheet to sign that said, in effect, that if I was not compliant with my treatment, only then would my sleep apnea be reported to the Ministry.  I asked one of their secretaries more about that and she told me that that would only happen if I didn't show up for appointments, failed to call them back, etc..

About the SD card/chip in the machine, when I went to a Shopper's Drug Mart Home Health Centre to buy a new mask - the old one lasted about 16 months - the respiratory therapist wiped out all the data on the card because she said it was getting full because I was using the machine a lot, and it holds about 2 years of data.  That happened well after my surgery, so I don't know if they really do check the SD cards/chips, but the sleep clinic doctor certainly didn't bother.  No one ever mentioned at TWH needing to be compliant with using the CPAP, maybe it was just a given?  I was just brought to my room from recovery (they kept me an extra 4 hours due to having sleep apnea), and my machine was sitting there beside the bed, assembled with a little adapter to allow it to pump oxygen into the mask.

At the Shopper's, they have power recliners to test out the fit of the masks before you buy them.  I love my ResMed Series 9 Elite with humidifier and my full face Resmed Quattro FX mask.  The very first night I used them, I got 5 hours of sleep on the machine and woke up absolutely refreshed, it was like nothing I'd experienced in 20 years.  I just can't tell you what an incredible difference that machine makes.  I don't love wearing a mask, but it does make such a difference in the quality of my life and now that I've lost some weight, it is going to be turned down.  I used to have severe sleep apnea, but now I no longer snore if I nap on the sofa without it, so there is some hope!

Some people do have much more trouble adjusting to wearing their masks - the respiratory therapist told me that getting so much time on the CPAP at first was quite unusual, but you will need a very good fitting mask after surgery, while you're recovering in the hospital.  It would be almost impossible though to get too much time on the machine without a mask that fits.  If you are using some kind of nasal mask, you might consider trying a full face mask.  There's plenty of leeway in the fit of my particular mask.

I'm sorry that you seem to be having every trouble that might crop up with your CPAP machine and mask.  A faulty machine and ill-fiting mask are awful.  I guess you'll have to go back to the medical outfitters to hopefully exchange the faulty machine.

Good luck!

Jenn.  :)

I had a sleep study done and the results showed that I needed a CPAP machine.  The sleep doctor is up on charges of incompetency so my GP sent me to another and he gave me a prescription for a titration study at home.  I went to ProResp and got a machine loaned to me for 7 days.  It had the little nose mask. 

I woke up feeling worse than I ever have.  I did manage to keep myself hooked up to it for every night except one where I only kept it on for about 5 hours.  I hated it!!!! I had headaches, foggy and lethargic throughout that week.

I go next week to find out my results but I'm not sure if I would be able to handle having to use a CPAP machine every night.

So good luck to you!!!

I have never heard of a titration study at home.  How do they wire you up with 32 some odd wires, breathing detector bands around your chest and an oxygen saturation meter?  Most importantly, how do they monitor you during the night and remotely vary the pressure on your CPAP machine to find your optimal pressure?  You need a respiratory therapist to reset the pressure and a titration study tests your sleep on at least 4 different pressures.  Are you sure this wasn't a preliminary screening study for sleep apnea which can be done at home, and not a titration study which can't be done outside of a lab? 

Jenn.  :)

 

Yep it is actually called a auto titration study.  No wires and such like a regular sleep study.  This machine is similar to a regular CPAP machine but it monitors thru its internal computer what your pressures and such are like during the night.  Then you take it back to the place you borrowed it from and then do a print out and send it off to the doctor where he writes up a script for a CPAP machine. 

I had the option of doing this in a clinic overnight for one night or do the study at home for 7 days and I chose the at home because I felt it would be a more accurate reading and I would be more relaxed in my own environment. 

The first time I did a sleep study it was thru a clinic with all the wires and such and did not get much sleep.