I posted some time back that I had returned my CPAP machine to the supplier. I have found an appliance on-line, which fits inside the mouth and is covered by Medicare. It resembles a set of hinged dentures (shades of Geo. Washington!) and pushes the jaw forward, presumably to keep the tissue in the throat from closing the airway. I’m willing to give it a shot and see how it works. Since it doesn’t interfere with my nose and face, there’s hope.
In order to get this, I have to show proof that I have relinquished the CPAP and my GP needs to fax over copies of my sleep study. The first study was done in mid-October and the second in late November, and I had asked the pulmonologist to have copies of the report sent to me, as well as my GP. When I called my GP, they did not have the records in my file. I called the CPAP people and they had the report and would make copies for me to pick up this morning, which I did. I hand carried them to the GP and they, in turn made me a copy for my own files.
I’d love to know who the person in these records might be, because it certainly isn’t me. They have my name and my height correct, and the fact that I’ve never smoked, but that’s about it. According to this report I weigh 110 and have a BMI of 18.3. I weighed 120 when I graduated from high school, and a wee bit more than that now. Yeesh! They should be treating me for anorexia, not apnea! My blood pressure is listed as a full 10 points higher than it was that day, and I no longer have a heart murmur. Maybe it went away since July. I always carry a list of my current meds with me when I go to a new doctor, but not everything is on this report, and it states that I didn’t know the dosage of two of the drugs I take. (It was on the paper, folks.) The doctor’s report omitted a MAJOR drug allergy, and wrote that I don’t have Restless Leg Syndrome, which I have had for over thirty years. The medication I take for that is one of the ones that isn’t on the pulmonologist’s record. (Well, if I don’t have RLS, I guess I don’t need the medicine either, huh?)
That’s just the office visit.
The second sleep study, when I was wearing the CPAP, says it was “well tolerated”. I woke up with a screaming panic attack and wanted to Go. Home. Right. Now. If that is “well tolerated”, my friends, I feel sorry for the other poor souls who have to use this thing.
Could be worse, I guess. When I was in the hospital in July I told them I might drink two glaases of wine a week, and they put me down as having two drinks a day, and refused to correct it.
thisendoftheswamp 
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