All right....I gotta vent.

[Quakindude]

Thanks guys. And yes. I have copies of everything that's in my medical records. There isn't a single thing done with my health that I don't have copies of, to include all imaging. It has cost me some money to get it all, but I do have it.

[LightningEagle7]

Damn. That sucks. The closest I have ever been to a situation like this is when my father retired from the Air Force after his time in Nam... blew out both rotator cuffs and knees from working as a loadmaster in C-130s... not to mention the loss of hearing from the engines... Ill definatly mention your situation when we pray at Bible class... Hope you feel better!

[OvenMaster]

Quakindude:
I'd wondered why I hadn't seen as many posts from you lately. I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. I wish I could say or do something to help, but all I can offer are my thoughts and prayers for success with the docs and an improvement in your health situation.
Regards from Tom

[Gig-O-Ram]

So - you serve your country with honor for nearly 20 years, you get injured in the field, and have these issues as a result, and the Army can't cut you a break with the benefits? And they're going to split hairs over the time left until 20 years? That's just wrong. I can understand your frustration, Quakin. It would piss me off, let me tell you.

I just hope that you can get the care you need, and I hope you get all due benefits. I think the military should be kissing your feet, given what you have done for them.

I came close some years back to needing a CPAP machine for sleep issues, and didn't have a lot of luck with the initial tests. But I've never heard of a BIPAP. What is the difference between the two?

[Quakindude]

The difference will sound really small, but to the patient, it's huge.

A CAPAP delivers one continuous pressure. Say 10 PSI. Whether you're breathing in or out, it's 10psi. Some CPAP machines have a feature called C-Flex, which lowers the exhale pressure slightly, then ramps it back up when you inhale. I had the CPAP with C-Flex, but the exhale pressure was still too high. When I would get into deep sleep, my breathing would become so shallow that I needed the CPAP to maintain positive airway pressure. But that also means my exhales are very low pressure. With BIPAP, that exhale pressure on the machine is greatly reduced and I'm not waking up as often due to not being able to exhale well enough to stay in deep sleep.

CPAP - Constant Positive Airway Pressure.

BIPAP - Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure.

My sleep study showed, without a machine of any kind:

Waking events: 167 per 6 hour period.
Events keeping me from REM sleep: 300+ per 6 hour period.
Events where I stopped breathing for more than 45 seconds: 5 per hour.

Longest actual sleep per 6 hour period: 17 minutes
REM states: 0

On the BIPAP:

Waking events: 3 per 6 hour period.
Events keeping me from REM sleep: 4 per 6 hour period.
Events where I stopped breathing for more than 45 seconds: 0

Longest actual sleep per 6 hour period: 187 minutes -
REM states: 2

These numbers should improve over time on the BIPAP. This morning, I know I woke up like 5 or 6 times during the night, but I feel rested.

[RangerXLT8]

Dude I really only know about you from the tornado that destroyed your home, and I've played a few online games with you.

One thing I can say is I fully understand medical problems, as I have been riddled with them, one major one being addicted to painkillers. Being from a military family, I know they won't prescribe you heavy narcotic painkillers or something like xanax to help you sleep because active duty guys have to be sharp. If they do prescribe you narcotics, BE CAREFUL they can get you hooked very easily. On the other hand they will treat your symptoms, you sleep better etc, BUT they do not help the root cause.

[Gig-O-Ram]

When I was having some serious sleep issues a number of years back, I had never been told about the BIPAP option. From the way you describe it, it sounds like I might've had better luck with it than with the CPAP. I don't remember what the exact sleep loss results were on my test, but I know it didn't work well enough for me that the insurance company was willing to pay for it.

I remember the guy who tested me said that I had a lot of waking events, though. I even had the test performed in my own home, but having all the hardware and wiring attached to me wasn't really condusive to getting good sleep. I tried to sleep for the tests, but it just didn't work the way we hoped.

Unless I'm extremely tired and just fall dead asleep, I can have problems a lot of times getting to sleep. I'll just lay there for hours unable to fall asleep. It's been that way my whole life. With my new job and working at night, and having to sleep in the day now, it's hard sometimes. I even bought a sleep mask just to help block out the daylight while I'm trying to rest, but sometimes it presents more of a distraction and can actually prevent me from getting into REM sleep. It helps once in a while, but it seems I need to be really tired to begin with to get real benefit from it. On my layover in Denver the other day, I probably got four hours of decent rest. Then I woke up, and couldn't get back to sleep. The noise from outside the hotel kept me awake. I was stessing because I was facing a 7+ hour drive back to Santa Fe.