I had an appointment with the ENT doctor and went over the results of the sleep study with him. I've been a bit anxious about this, as it will have a rather major effect on my life (flying, CPAP machine, etc.). The doctor said that they recorded a number of "mild apnea events" (I wasn't aware that "apnea" could beused as an adjective, but maybe I should get ticky... :) ), but that they were of such short duration that he wasn't willing to diagnose them as actual sleep apnea. Now, he's a pilot as well, and he knows that once I've been diagnosed, that's it for me. I don't think he was just cutting me some slack -- after all, sleep apnea can be quite dangerous in the long term. I do think, though, that he wasn't willing to cause problems by giving a diagnosis "just ot be on the safe side," as I've heard of other doctors doing, so I really appreciated that.
In the end, they are going to keep me on nasal steroids for a while, since that seemed to be doing some good. The doctor assures me that there are no long-term effects of being on nasal steroids, but I'm not convinced. Anyone know of any studies on the matter?
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