Hi everyone,
My husband was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2002 (1st sleep study) and used a CPAP off and on from 2002 until 2007. In 2007 he had another sleep study done (his 2nd one) and was told to use his CPAP every night to help with his sleep apnea. He has been using it and it hasn't helped. He went to his doctor recently and told him that he's still not getting any sleep and his doctor suggested he get yet another sleep study done. He is on medicare and doesn't want to run up medical bills. I told him to do it anyway since it's his health but he figures that the last 2 didn't help so why do it again.
We live in northern WI (1 1/2 hours north of Eau Claire or 1 1/2 hours North East of the Twin Cities). We live in a small town and I'm sure the clinic we go to doesn't have the 'best' care available if you know what I mean.
I'm wondering if anyone can recommend anything, anyone or any clinic in our area to try. My husband is so discouraged and has even made many comments that he would go as far as getting a tracheotomy to end this problem with his sleep apnea.

Wanting help for my husband,
Cindy S.

Cindy-

I am sorry to hear about your husband's situation. There are a couple of links in this sticky post (from the FAQ section of the forum on Sleep Study Centers) here: http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=27

I am not a medical professional or a sleep professional but I would encourage you to review the results of your husband's previous sleep studies to try to get a better idea of what these indicated about his sleep. If your husband is not getting sleep on CPAP then it would seem to me that this might be because of problems with his CPAP and mask, because of other sleep problems (which his earlier sleep studies might provide some evidence of), or because of some other problem (chronic pain, certain medications, poor sleep habits) that might be effecting his sleep.

If your husband does not have copies of these studies, I would start by requesting these. If you need help in trying to understand them, I would encourage both of you to look at the sticky post on Sleep Study Terms in the Sleep Studies section of this forum here: http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=2344 . This can help prepare you to review these results with either your husband's sleep study doctor or his primary care physician.

If your husband is not tolerating the CPAP, then you will need to problem-solve to try to establish what is difficult for him that is interfering with his using CPAP. Once those factors are identified, there are resources that might help to address these issues. One resource might be the company that supplies his CPAP equipment. This forum is also an excellent resource.

I hope some or all of these ideas might be helpful. Keep us posted.

Best wishes,
Bill