Sleep Study results - advice please?

[54isanopendoor]

I had an overnight sleep study in 2014 & dx'd with Apnea.
Used a Cpap for a few years then lost a lot of weight & was asked to return it.
Recently I've been aware of 'snorting myself awake' & much daytime sleepiness.
Had another overnight sleep study & just got the results (after 2 months).
Dr who phoned was nice but it was very quick & I wonder if I asked all I should?

She said: only 7.6 incidences of breathing pauses /hr so no Apnea but + snoring.
Will refer for a mandibular positioning device (£500-800, I have to pay for it!)
'but only if it is disturbing my partner or embarassing me'. I explained that my husband walked out & I need my sleep as I have 2 disabled teenagers to care for. She then said she wouldn't recommend the device until I'd tried an anti-depressant. I said I wasn't depressed just very tired & need decent sleep.
She then said that she thought I was 'very sleep deprived as you have a much higher incidence of slow wave sleep & a lot more dreaming than we would expect from someone your age' (I'm 55). She asked if I was on HRT & said if not then I should take it & that she will prescribe me Trazadone.
I'm not great at thinking on my feet (very tired!) & the call was only 5mins so I'm not sure if I should have asked anything else?

Bump.

can anyone advise how I can improve my sleep quality please?

Was it one of the studies that you take the machine home? I found them useless, they kept saying I didn’t have sleep apnea. I then moved overseas and had one done privately where I was in a clinic overnight and they found I wasn’t actually sleeping properly, yes I wasn’t having many incidents but I was taking hours to transition from the first rem state to the second and then it was time to wake up. So I wasn’t going through the 7/8 rem cycles a night like I needed to. Things were so bad I had to stop driving.

I was prescribed a Cpap machine which improved my sleep a lot. However when I returned to the uk the nhs wouldn’t accept my sleep study, insisted on doing their own which I knew wasn’t in-depth enough. I ended up going overseas and buying a machine. I finally got one on the nhs after exaggerating my symptoms. I didn’t lie exacting just listed the symptoms that happened before I bought the 2nd hand machine overseas.

i wouldn’t have pushed for an nhs one but I can’t afford to travel overseas to buy a replacement when the time comes and I can’t afford to replace the parts of the one I bought as they are expensive here.

For me it wasn’t just the sleep apnea it was a combination of things, the Cpap machine is one of many treatments I’m on, but every consultant I saw said the same thing, it’s no point doing X if my sleep isn’t under control as it was key to making my other conditions manageable.

Without the machine the only thing I can think of is looking at sleep remedies, if you don’t want sleeping pills from the GP try herbal, the sleepy time rescue remedy works wonders on my DCs. I have a friend who swears by the bodyshop pillow spray. I’ve tried the BS lavender essential oil, it’s ok.

Years ago when I broke up with my first H I was struggling, I started a bedtime routine, early night, burned a really nice sleep mix of essential oils, it was lavender, camomile and something else. I’d also drink camomile tea a couple of hours before bedtime. I use to like listening to music at night and had a nice CD that would relax me. I didn’t have DCs at the time though so could afford to put the effort into it. It really did help.

I also find white noise good for helping me sleep. I got use to listening to it when my DCs were babies and find it’s actually helpful for me.

Also could you be peri? I have several friends who have had their sleep quality improved with HRT when they found the right treatments for them.

Good luck x

@AliceMcK thank you for taking time to post such a helpful reply x

I was NHS dx Apnea years ago. I lost a lot of weight & they decided I was cured (no further study done to support this, just they decided...) so had to return Cpap

Had a home study kit sent 2 years ago: 'inconclusive' so waited 18m for an overnight sleep study. Then waited 2m for results.
the person was nice but when discussing splits she said: 'only if disturbs your partner' & I spluttered & said that exH has walked & left me with 2 ASD kids.
She then decided that Trazodone was the answer: 'as it's also an antidepressant plus your age you need HRT'. I am of course willing to try anything that might help as I'm aware I'm very very sleep deprived. I have some other issues (anaemia, low B12, D etc for which I am prescribed NHS drugs) plus mobility probs but all of these are made worse by lack of the elusive good quality sleep.

I get you @54isanopendoor i have other health issues but they were being made worse by my sleep issues. The problem is the NHS put a lot of onus on weight with OSA but when I was overseas and went privately they said weight is an issue but loosing weight won’t necessarily cure OSA as some people are prone to it regardless of weight.

I know my Cpap isn’t a magic fix all but without it I won’t sleep as well which then triggers my other issues and I end up in a vicious circle.

Could you not call back and say, ok now I’ve had time to take on board what you have said, I don’t agree?

With me I was mentally prepared for the sleep study to say I was fine and insisted on a face to face with a Dr, I had my overseas results with me, as I had at every appointment and I explained again that it wasn’t the number of incidents I was having that was the issue. After pushing I got the machine.

With the snoring yourself awake, have you tried an anti snore mouth guard? I originally bought one for myself but DH ended up using it, it works wonders for his snoring.