Comment by protocolture
4 months ago
I was treated for sleep apnea 3 times trying to get ADHD treatment.
I eventually found a dental/nasal engineer guy and his testing was more thorough than the sleep studies I undertook. I paid for his device (300 bucks or so) but in the process he gave me a lot of techniques and understanding. He diagnosed me as borderline, despite 2 sleep studies telling me it was severe and chronic. Largely through blood oxygen levels and mouth position.
as someone who has been down this road, this doesn't sound scientific... but I'd love to be proved wrong. sleep studies (PSGs) are rather detailed, and that price doesn't align with medical-grade oral appliances
I dont know what you pay for either scenario. But where I am, sleep studies are heavily government subsidised, and cost me less than the oral appliance, which did not attract any subsidy.
The issue there is that theres an extreme incentive to push you back to another sleep study. The people who run the sleep studies also sell/rent government subsidised CPAP machines. And the sales pitch is very forceful.
On my large treadmill of doctors doing anything they could possibly do to not send me to a psych for an ADHD assessment, I was offered the option of the oral appliance. I found that gentlemans practice, knowledge and understanding of the issue to be quite thorough.
His approach was more engineering than science for sure. I don't doubt the sleep studies results, in that I was getting extremely poor sleep. I doubt the interpretation of the results towards a diagnosis of extreme OSA.
What really got me my best sleep was ADHD stimulants. Its like I have a normal humans circadian rhythm now. But spending 6 months on the oral device, learning about jaw positioning, sleep positioning and other things, probably did me better than a CPAP machine would have.
Probably some important context, is that the doctor who referred me to 2 sleep studies and a whole bunch of other shit, had diagnosed me with subclinical thyroid problems. And on the basis of that diagnosis was unwilling to ever refer me to a psych because he believed his diagnosis explained all of my symptoms that OSA did not. I do have subclinical, treated, genetic hypothyroidism. My current doctor is inclusive of that diagnosis, and doesnt use it to exclude others.
YMMV.
sleep studies don't really have significant rates of false positives. it's not unreasonable to want to treat OSA due to it causing executive dysfunction as a side effect.
yeah, the DME market is weird which is why I just bought my equipment outright. but the point of repeating a study is to ensure you're being treated. if the government is paying for it, they aren't going to do an extremely expensive test for fun.
based on your description it sounds like you may have both ADHD and OSA, so I'm glad you're doing better
oral appliances aren't really a first line treatment and can cause issues with one's bite and TMJ. in the US, sleep board certified dentists can make a custom appliance that reduces these risks. $300 sounds like a budget for a toy by comparison...
more engineering than science? isn't engineering a science?
doctors aren't perfect but the alternatives are rarely better. if this person isn't a medical professional, they can't "diagnose" anyone
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Tell us more, where can I find this person?