Or your spouse threatens to make you sleep on the couch. My husband’s snoring had gotten so bad that I made him go for one.
I knew - had known for years - that I had sleep apnea. My opinion is detailed here.
As one might guess, I dislike sleep studies. They are such a crapshoot in terms of whether they get any useful data - it took me FOUR to get enough “sleep” to detect enough apnea to be worth treating.
But I do believe that CPAP machines are helpful.
I found that while I didn’t necessarily feel better while using it, I was less likely to NEED to nap mid-afternoon - and I felt WORSE when I missed a night, dammit.
I’ve definitely got a love/hate relationship with mine. I’m pretty cavalier about skipping nights if I’m sick, or travelling, or (as in this past year) dealing with the aftermath of surgery and all its disruptions. Weight loss has improved things, though not enough to throw the thing in the trash….
Anyway - for the OP (and I now notice that this thread is 6 months old) or anyone in a similar situation, it can’t hurt to bring it up with the doctor. Untreated apnea can contribute to numerous other issues and while a study is no fun, and the machines are a minor hassle, it’s a comparatively cheap way to help with various health issues.
Finding the right mask is an ongoing struggle. The nasal pillows I’d used for years tended to leak, though it was a lightweight solution.
I tried a couple of different nasal pillows. Same issue, and/or they didn’t seem like they fit quite right. And with the machine I have now, the water tank NEVER lasted for more than 8 hours - sleeping in on Saturday? Yep, I’d wake up with that burning smell in my nose. Bleh. Part of the issue there is crummy tank design - there’s no reason the company couldn’t make the tank a tiny bit larger (it sticks into the end of the main unit and an extra centimeter or two of lengthy would make NO difference).
I got fitted again last year and came away with a “full face” mask that is kind of a hybrid of nasal pillows and mouth mask - it doesn’t go OVER the nose, but sits just under, as well as covering the mouth. I didn’t like it because it was ungainly - however, my leak rate was much lower and the water tank lasts the whole night. I was also fitted for a VERY minimal set of nasal pillows - I switched to them about 2 months ago and am having all the same issues I was with all the others with leaks. So the more intrusive one works better, dammit. I’ll likely switch back to that one soon.
I won’t ever do another in-lab “sleep” study. They just don’t give good data, IMHO, given the various discomforts associated with the process. I might be persuaded to do an at-home one, but I’d really, really, really rather not.
Mine is cloud-connected - the provider gets the info (and I can see it myself on a phone app). Insurance may require documentation of regular use or they’ll quit paying; Medicare is the same.
It is possible to tweak the settings by hacking into the provider menu - I don’t advise doing that without discussion (and the provider can also tweak it remotely) but one time when I’d been sick and couldn’t tolerate the full setting, I changed the range of my auto-adjusting device downward a bit.
One thing I’ve found with nasal pillows, that I did not have with the full-face version - and I didn’t realize it until I switched back to pillows: I tend to get a LOT of post-nasal drip gack backed up in my throat. No clue why. So in the morning I”ve got to try to maneuver that out through some weird throat muscle tricks that, if I’m not careful, will literally make me gag. Quite annoying.