Yeah, Ive gone in with written down lists of questions. My experience is most of these doctors, that gets on their nerves. Most of the doctors I have been to, they just prefer to take my blood pressure and pulse, temperature and weight and chit chat with me. My sleep doctor would have his tech do a download on my S9 machine, I'd always ask for a copy and it would just be a compliance download with basic 95th percentile pressures and AHI, stuff like that, real basic.
I fired my sleep doctor this past August because he would act openly irritated when I complained to him that my sleep quality was poor ever since the tonsillectomy. That really seemed to bother him a lot for some odd reason.
After I fired him, I got copies of his records and he was trashing me on paper, basically calling me a whiner. His records confirmed the suspicions I had for several years about that guy, that he was not even interested in improving my sleep quality. In fact, in his entire records I have, the ONLY real reference to anything sleep related were copies of my S9 downloads he had done over the years. No mentioning of "complaining of poor quality or non restorative sleep," complains of feeling extremely fatigued and tired after the tonsillectomy.
In fact, its almost like he is trying to AVOID discussing the tonsillectomy and any impact that had on the problems with my sleep Ive had since. Like he is trying to cover for the ENT that did the tonsillectomy....I know they know each other and are in the same town.
This current sleep doc that ordered the split night study I just had that I believe went very poorly, as I slept but it was not deep feeling sleep and they did not wake me up. This guy did not even bother to do a download on my S9 on the first visit.
I figure before its all over with, I will either have to titrate myself like some of you sound like you have been forced to do. Or I will have to shell out several thousand cash of my own money and bypass my insurance entirely on a new inlab titration study. Ive decided after this last split night study, Im never having another one of those, I did not like it, I did not like the tech either, she was real fat and appeared lazy like she did not take good care of herself. Any future sleep diagnostic study I am having (for pure diagnosis of OSA), Ive decided Im going to have a home sleep study, IN MY BEDROOM, ON MY OWN TIME. And not as wired up as the inlab studies are.
SewTired wrote:MrGrumpy wrote:Anyone experienced it here in the USA? Where sleep docs will see you for fifteen minutes, take your copay and bill your health insurance several hundred bucks for a ten to fifteen minute visit. Pop in, chit chat for ten minutes, act artificially concerned and pop out?
Ive experienced that.
Anybody else here experienced it? Its called "patient abandonment." Its actually a crime, but rarely prosecuted or even charged.
Did you go in with a list of questions? Did s/he answer them? If not, why did you not bring up that you still had some questions unanswered? Did the doc review your AHI or other details? Did s/he ask you if you had any problems and you answered what your problems were? How did they respond or did they not respond at all?
A lot of what a pulmonary doctor does is observe. Do you have dark circles under your eyes? breathing difficulties? etc.
I'm not saying you have a good doctor, but I am saying that your summary doesn't in any way indicate that you suffered 'patient abandonment.' Unfortunately, I have experience of family members who think the doctor is supposed to be a mind reader and then whine and complain that the doctor was a quack and did nothing. I hear them griping about waiting hours in the ER, when in fact, much of the time is reading charts, reading your history, waiting for test results in addition to caring for patients who have much more urgent needs. Actually seeing the patient is a small amount of the time needed.
Patients are also their own worst enemy. Many of the cpaps available through Craigslist have never been used beyond a night or two. When I ask about that, it just comes down to "I don't wanna." If more patients were told that their NOT using their cpap could result in DEATH, they would probably take their machine use more seriously. But then, you would be amazed how many diabetics don't take their pills or use insulin until after they are hospitalized (sometimes even after that) because they don't want to be bothered or don't tell the doctor of their issues and ask for help. Some of the doctors are useless (just look at the diabetic forums!), but most try to help once they are aware of the problem.
I do AGREE that doctors who don't have personal experience of cpap may not be of much help in the mechanics of using the equipment. But equipment is not their area - that is supposed to be the area of the DME. But, to be honest, I have had similar issues with glasses - there seem to be very few who fit glasses who have a real handle on what it is to fit someone who has vision problems beyond simple long distance until they are many years in practice.
Id be dead by now if I didn't use my CPAP gear every night.