Sleep Machine

So after waiting on pins and needles to find out if we could get Carlos' sleep machine before the deductible rolled over - we got it!  It was down to the last minute but the home health equipment place came out last Friday and got him all set up.  Apparently he only has to wear to 4 hours a night at a minimum.  I wasn't available (was soaking in the tub) when they came so couldn't ask why that was.  He has been using it but does take it off in the wee hours of the morning.  He says he feels a little more awake in the morning since using it but whether that's related to his imagination or truly an effect from the machine, remains to be seen.

Sleep Study Follow-Up

We met with the sleep doc to follow up on his sleep study on Tuesday.  We found out he was having an average of 51 'events' per hour.  Wow!   No big surprise - Carlos has sleep apnea, but not the kind most people think of.  He doesn't have the obstructive kind, where the airway is collapsing during sleep.  This blocks airflow so one experiencing this would wear the CPAP mask, which would blow air into the airway to force the collapsing tissues open.  So what does he have?

Carlos has Central Sleep Apnea.  This apnea is related to the brain's signals to the muscles that stimulate breathing.  Apparently this is pretty common in those with congestive heart failure.  Up until 2-3 years ago there was no treatment!  Now there is a machine (very expensive according to the doc) that can treat this type of apnea.  It's called adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV).  So he had to go do another sleep study so they could get settings configured.  Carlos said he slept very well.  He was quite surprised.


The doc is gonna get the study results signed off next week so we can get the machine before the end of the year.  Our deductible starts over at that time :p