As others have already explained, you can now do an in-home study. Not nearly as good as when you're all wired up in the sleep center. But still good enough to get a general indication of how you are doing.
Okay, you still resist that, so ...
How about going to bed, for one night, with a small, inexpensive, device on your finger? Viz. a pulse oximeter. Surely you can handle that for one night???!!!
When you stop breathing, which you admit you do (at least according to your wife), the amount of oxygen in your blood drops. Perhaps to unsafe levels. This is very bad for you long term. Very bad.
So, just try the pulse oximeter. For a few nights. It's cheap and non-intrusive.
Could I take results from a pulse ox to a random urgent care clinic doctor and get an RX for an APAP? I would totally do that. I'm actually totally fine with paying out of pocket.
(I'm not really that resistant to doing an in-home sleep study, for what it's worth.)
For the sleep study, you need a chest band, a nasal cannula, and a pulse ox.
They need to know how much/how deeply you are breathing, and correlate that with your oximetry. The main thing they are looking for is central apnea, where your body stops trying to breathe. PAP doesn’t fix central apnea, because it’s not obstructive, and in fact it can CAUSE it, especially in people who have had obstructive apnea or pulmonary disease for a long time.
You almost certainly need to see a sleep doctor to get a prescription.
Could I take results from a pulse ox to a random urgent care clinic doctor and get an RX for an APAP?
That I don't know. My guess is, probably not.
I do know that, when I had my in-clinic sleep study, the technician showed me how my blood oxygen levels were rising and falling. Rhythmically, corresponding to every breath I took.
If you see the oxygen desaturation for yourself, maybe that's what will convince you to at least do an in-home study.
I will never do another in-clinic study again. I fucking hated it, tons of straps and wires all over. I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. So, as Bill Clinton might say: "I feel your pain". And they did give me a sleeping pill in the middle of the night to calm me down (another issue of yours). But that was over 10 years ago, I don't think that in-home studies were popular at that time.
As others have already explained, you can now do an in-home study. Not nearly as good as when you're all wired up in the sleep center. But still good enough to get a general indication of how you are doing.
Okay, you still resist that, so ...
How about going to bed, for one night, with a small, inexpensive, device on your finger? Viz. a pulse oximeter. Surely you can handle that for one night???!!!
When you stop breathing, which you admit you do (at least according to your wife), the amount of oxygen in your blood drops. Perhaps to unsafe levels. This is very bad for you long term. Very bad.
So, just try the pulse oximeter. For a few nights. It's cheap and non-intrusive.
In anticipation of scaring yourself into getting a CPAP machine, buy an oximeter that's compatible with SleepyHead. Here's a disussion about that: http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-What-oximeter-works-...