Question:
I just found this NG after a recent diagnosis of OSA and having struggled
with a CPAP for going on one week now. I have been treated unsucessfully for
depression (misdiagnosed ?) while off work on a disability claim for quite
some time and as a result of a recent sleep study now have a CPAP for a bed
partner. I have a couple of questions:
Q: How does one cope with the "claustrophobia" associated with this CPAP ?
Q: Has anybody ever had a successful disability claim for OSA and its
resultant "depression"?
Any information will be helpful as I am trying hard to make this device work
for me so I can get my life and career back. . I am also beginning a round
of negotiation with my disabilty insurance carrier and have little energy to
do this task so any info would be helpful. As disabilities can be a rather
sensitive personal issue for some e-mail me directly I you prefer rather
than posting to the NG and I will respect anonymity and/or confidential
issues.
Answer:
With getting use to cpap it takes time. Some people have worn the mask
while awake watching tv to get use to it.
I have gotten disability, SSDI and LTD but problems with LTD. Depression is
probably a secondary to the sleep apnea. That is most important to treat.
Your tiredness is your sleep apnea and once you have used the cpap for
awhile you should start feeling better and then there will not be a need for
disability.
My doctor supported me for disability but my is an unusual case. I was on
state disability for depression and the LTD (long term disability) stated I
had to apply for SSDI (social security disability insurance) which I did and
heard it is very hard to get. I did not expect to get it and did not tell
my sleep doctors about applying. I had to take a test for them, a cognitive
test and I ended up getting SSDI first time.
Disability insurance carriers from what I understand are very difficult to
deal with. I also am having problems.
I would suggest that you use the cpap and ask questions to make sure that
you are comfortable when you sleep. The mask and setup helps to make it
more comfortable. It is very important to wear it all night. I had surgery
for my apnea and I have not used my machine much the last five months and I
am feeling very sick now. I had my 5th sleep test and it shows no deep
sleep and no rem with cpap so I have started using it again.
Surgery involves alot as there are few competent doctors who can perform the
necessary treatment for this and it is a long process and expensive. If
cpap would work for me I would not have the surgery.
Is this caused by your mask? The Breeze headgear is probably the
least confining device on the market. It was originally only for nasal
pillows but there's now a nasal mask version as well.
http://www.mallinckrodt.com/respiratory/productcatalog/product.asp?id...
The link between depression and OSA has been well documented here but
it's only slowly reaching the medical profession at large. You may
have a battle on your hands but CPAP may well give you the energy to
pursue it.
OSA has been linked to more then depression and anxiety.
It is linked to psychosis.
REM sleep disruption (deprivation) is well known to cause psychosis. (its a
form of torture to keep a person from going into REM by having a periodic drop
of water on the for head of the victem to snap them out of REM, not really
different then apnea in this regard.
Apparently Depression/Anxiety are manifest from some lesser degree of REM
deprivation vs that of psychosis.
The problem apparantly arises in part when long term damage is done to the
nervouse system (brain) due to long term REM deprivation and o2 deprivation.
Apparrently, the receptors in the brain responsible for allaying anxiety are
one of the first to be killed off by o2 deprivation. So, relieving the o2
deprivation, does not cause the receptors to become re-born.
Apparently these receptors are benzodiazopine receptors. Possibly this is why
benzodiazopines are used to treat the symtoms of sleep deprivation
Further, anxiety can be secondary to depression, or depression can be secondary
to anxiety.
It has been sayed that the best way to diagnose a disorder is to infer the
diagnosis by the medication that actually treats it.
If a benzo eleviates the depression, then it was secondary to anxiety.
This is my understanding.
I could be misinformed, however I do not believe I am misinformed.
