Here’s the deal on that. People presenting in asystole with an unknown downtime have a survival rate that is near zero. The current thinking is that since resuscitative efforts will most likely be futile, it’s best to spare the family the additional trauma of starting and stopping resuscitation in the field, or even worse transport to the hospital where they would most likely be pronounced on arrival. Also, in asystole, resuscitation is usually terminated if there are no changes after 2 rounds of ACLS meds (epi, atropine) and successful ET intubation and ventilation.
However, asystole with a short downtime, v-fib, pulseless v-tach, and pulseless electrical activity will all get worked up, so you should always to CPR until a cardiac rhythm diagnosis can be made.
Everybody: if you have a spouse or kids, get life insurance, I don’t care how young and healthy you are! A FOAF’s young husband dropped dead in his garage of an undiagnosed heart problem (John Ritter sort of situation), and she was left destitute.
If you think you might need one, most insurance companies require a sleep study to indicate the need for a CPAP, which isn’t a cheap piece of machinery. Usually your blood oxygen level has to drop below a certain level, although there are one or two other indications that can be used as well.
There is also surgery available to prevent the occlusion that causes the apnea. It’s not fun, but it’s permanent. You don’t have to pack the CPAP for vacation or try arranging a vacation rental at your destination.
Asking your doctor to order a sleep study is a good idea if you’re a heavy snorer, especially if someone has reported pauses followed by snorting or choking.
Our situations are quite different, jayjay. All I have to do is put the mask on and hit the START button on the CPAP machine and I’m off to dreamland - it’s become a major “sleep trigger” for me.
You might want to make an appointment with your respiratory therapist to find a mask that you’re more comfortable with. It took me a couple tries to get one that lets me just stick it my on face and drop off to sleep.
Well, I haven’t had insurance in a few years, so I’m basically making do with a three-year-old mask that isn’t in the best shape anymore. I just started a real job with real benefits, so when I actually get a doctor’s appointment, that’s going to be a topic of discussion.
My mother actually paid for this last machine for me outright after the previous one’s blower died. About $675. :eek: Thank Og for moms!
I too would fall asleep at stop lights, at work, etc. I’m positive I was a major hazzard on the road. I didn’t go to the dr. until I started waking up in the middle of the night in a heavy sweat, and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest.
Jayjay, (and anyone else that can’t afford to upgrade their equipment right now) go into your breathing clinic’s office and tell them your situation. I was unemployed for an extended amount of time. I talked to the therapist at my sleep clinic’s office and she sold me masks and harnesses for next to nothing. It was the one’s that they’d used for training new patients, then they sterilized them for that purpose. Furthermore, I take Advair which is quite expensive. My PCP’s nurse kept me in physicians’ samples for almost two years because she knew I couldn’t afford the medicine.
How sad for this young man to pass under these circumstances…my condolences to your colleague and kudos to the folks in your office for helping out.
I was diagnosed in 1997. Getting my CPAP machine was the best thing I ever did.
One of the criteria my sleep study rated was snoring. Only truly virulent snorers were give the top score: 4. My neurologist said they gave me a 4 because mine was some of the worst snoring they had ever rated. I woke myself up 134 times on the night of the slep study.
For those of you out there with insurance that does no pay for equipment, know that masks and supplies are available online at discount prices. I have Kaiser insurance, so I am on my own for equipment. I tried to buy a new mask at the local place where I originally got my machine…they wanted $250 for a new mask. I went online and found the exact same mask for under $100.00 at CPAP Direct. They have quite a few models that are under $50. There are other discount CPAP places online but I have found CPAP Diect has the best prices.
My brother has sleep apnea (with the virulent snoring thing) and will not go for a study. Twit. Of course, he probably doesn’t realize how bad he feels most of time…I didn’t know until I had some real rested sleep.
Oh my goodness; that’s ANCIENT for a mask. I’m surprised the thing works at all for you!
You don’t need a prescription or a doctor visit just to get a mask. DogDad needs a new mask roughly once a year or so, and all we have to do is either call down to our usual supply place (they had it waiting for him the last time - he always gets the same one) or, before we discovered them, we just went online and ordered one. You should only need a prescrip for the actual machine, because they need to know the pressure settings and so forth.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Filed under “Crap I Realized Too Late But Is Really Useful Information”:
If you change doctors, even if you authorize CurrentDoc to get your records from PreviousDoc, they won’t necessarily do it for everything. So make sure that YOU have copies of all your test information, machine prescription, machine settings, everything relating to a CPAP. That way, when you need a new machine, you have all that information ready for the insurance company and your doctor.
Otherwise, since you obviously haven’t needed that information in years, it’ll be somewhere in the Deep Dark Mists Of The Medical Archives (open Monday - Friday whenever the Archive Gal can make it. Hours change at will. Motto: Keep Calling. Eventually We’ll Be Here!) and it’ll take days, possibly weeks, to get your records to your NewDoc. Which, if you need a new CPAP, is days-or-maybe-weeks you are going without a CPAP, and your sleep will be oh-so-nonexistent. Hope you’ve got an understanding Significant Other, because if he / she isn’t, you can kiss that relationship Goodbye as you are running on zero sleep for the fifth week in a row.
Plus, it’ll take them about a week to get the machine in, calibrate it, and so on, once you get a new prescription to them.
You can reduce all this waiting down to about a week if you have all your paperwork already in hand.
Helpful Hint from DogMom - who was the one who had enough sleep to deal with four different organizations who supposedly had DogDad’s records from ten years ago when his CPAP went to the Giant Junkyard In The Sky.
And who is eternally grateful to “Julie” in the Medical Record Dungeon, for understanding that it really was urgent and faxing me the records, and calling DogDad’s Doc so they could get the machine ordered. Along with sending me copies of the originals (and sending the originals to DDD) so their paperwork could be complete.
And if you don’t have a wife or kids, get insurance and name me your benificary.
I’ve been wearing a cpap for almost 2 years now and I am certainly nowhere near obese. Couple that with the fact that my nowhere near obese father died of a heart attack and this thread is kind of creepy.
I love my CPAP. I call it my dream machine. I am somewhat overweight, but I think the condition is caused by the structures in your throat, and exacerbated by heaviness.
If any of you have a loved one that snores like a freight train, and stops breathing in the night, PLEASE get them to a doctor. It is a life-threatening condition! Stroke and heart attack are two problems. Dying in a car accident because you fell asleep at the wheel is another.
Life is so much better when you get REAL rest at night. As well as your SO! I can think better, and have so much more energy.
Ok, sorry, but it is a real cause to me. The help is there!