I'm also curious as to the conclusions drawn -- it seems like there were a lot of relevant potentially confounding variables changed. Was there a followup sleep study? Or something to confirm the suspicion of an alternative form of OSA (upper airway something something)?
I don't think I have OSA, and I've always had poor sleep (ongoing), but going on allergy immunotherapy shots has tremendously improved my quality of life.
I did not put strict detail in the medical interventions as this is not meant to replace medical advise and its not as engaging in story form to list things rigorously
But I did followup home tests after treating it, and have done polysomnography which is the gold standard of diagnostic test. I also wear continuous spo2 monitoring on a monthly basis to see where I am from my own device bought on amazon
To treat, I needed a team of specialists (sleep doctor, allergist, ent, maxillofacial surgeon, GPs, and a gastroenterologist) to tackle the various causes and measure the effect. I also consulted Dr Kasey Li, probably the world's leading expert on sleep apnea surgery. He recommended his own surgery expanding the maxilla, but I don't think I need to go that far as its very expensive and I am much better today. I've seen several sleep doctors, will list Dr Sinha at peninsula as someone I would recommend, along with AXG Sleep Diagnostics for an affordable polysomngraphy if you need to pay out of pocket. For ENT, I will also recommend Dr Gerald Kangelaris (skilled surgeon) in SF and Dr Andrew Murr (head of ucsf ENT) if you need a second opinion
Also a lot of my interventions are done daily. So if I miss things or get lazy I can recognize if there is a difference. I also motion record myself automatically every night. In the morning I review how much I toss and turn. Its been about a year of experimentation
What kind of spo2 monitoring device are you using? What percentages point to an actual problem?
I recently got a Garmin watch and turned on spo2 monitoring during the night. Most of the time I have >90%, but it sometimes drops to as low as 83% for around 15 minutes. I'm unsure how reliable the measurements are and if 83% is a problem or not.
(My current situation is the same as many others in the thread: Young, skinny, sleep problems, but the doctor is sure I don't have sleep apnoe, because I'm not fat...)
I have a similar issue where maybe once or twice a night now my sp02 drops below 90, followed by a spike in my heart rate. From the word of my sleep doctor, that is not normal for a younger person. She used this to try to justify the cost of a psg to my insurance company.
Find a different doctor. Young and fat is not the qualifying criterea. From this entire thread you can get a sense that there are a lot of people suffering out there that have sleep apnea but not fat. Also, a take home sleep study is cheap and easy and covered by insurance.
I don't think I have OSA, and I've always had poor sleep (ongoing), but going on allergy immunotherapy shots has tremendously improved my quality of life.