Taking control of therapy

So I should be getting a machine soon and I was told I needed to make an appointment with sleep place 30 days after for a download.

Would it be a bad idea to make changes before then if needed because I assume they will notice when looking at data?
Any have experience with this?

USMCVet wrote:So I should be getting a machine soon and I was told I needed to make an appointment with sleep place 30 days after for a download.

Would it be a bad idea to make changes before then if needed because I assume they will notice when looking at data?
Any have experience with this?

That totally depends on the person you see at the sleep center. I am by nature a tinkerer, so it took me about a week to start playing with my settings. I was always careful and reasoned in the adjustments I mode and generally improved my results. At my 30 days "follow up" I was told that I was not supposed to set my own pressures as that was part of the prescription. However, I was well prepared with a sack of sleepyhead reports, and my Surface Pro with every night's data. When I pointed out that my results were better than the titrated pressure, they backed off and tld to be careful. At my last appointment, after about 8 months, it was a different story. They said I had good results, great compliance, and am the best-informed patient they have. No mention of me setting and adjusting my own pressure. My feeling is to go easy at first and build up some trust in your doing things correctly and not willy-nilly.

You won't know if you need to make adjustments until you have used the machine for several nights. Then, after downloading sleepyhead, we can recommend changes. If the VA is concerned about you getting the best therapy possible, they shouldn't care. It's your health...take control.

They may or may not notice or care. It all depends on what you change and the results and how much of a power trip they like to play.
Some things are pretty much considered okay for the patient to change anyway and they won't care...like humidity settings or exhale relief settings.

I did change my settings from the "official" setting that was prescribed by the titration sleep study but I brought copies of reports and showed the doc why I did what I did and she was actually good with it and I didn't get my hands slapped at all. I had solid fact base reasoning for my changes and they worked.
Now some docs have really big egos and like to go on really big power trips and might get all upset but they can't do anything more than slap your hands.

Start with the prescribed settings and go from there. Heck, they might even work just fine and no need to change anything in terms of pressure.
You gotta start somewhere anyway.

It's okay to change the humidity or exhale relief though. Those are considered comfort settings and it's really rare for docs to get upset when those get changed by the patient.

End result was "sounds like you have a good handle on things...come back and see me if you run into something you can't handle"
and that was 8 years ago this past August.

My prescribed settings are 4 and 20 because I have never done a titration study

Ahhh...no titration study.

That's okay...

You may or may not be entirely comfortable at that starting pressure of 4 cm. While we won't suffocate at such a low pressure it sure can feel like it and make it difficult to get to sleep so be prepared to increase that 4 cm to something maybe around 6 cm if you feel like you aren't moving enough air.
So play around with things long before bedtime so that you get comfortable and not be under the gun to go right to sleep.
If 4 cm isn't comfortable...be prepared to increase it to a point where you are comfortable. If you can't get comfortable you will have trouble sleeping and this stuff only works when asleep.
Even my titration study started at 5 cm and it was a bit stifling for me.

So get one night under your belt and then lets look at the report.

Pugsy wrote:Ahhh...no titration study.

That's okay...

You may or may not be entirely comfortable at that starting pressure of 4 cm. While we won't suffocate at such a low pressure it sure can feel like it and make it difficult to get to sleep so be prepared to increase that 4 cm to something maybe around 6 cm if you feel like you aren't moving enough air.
So play around with things long before bedtime so that you get comfortable and not be under the gun to go right to sleep.
If 4 cm isn't comfortable...be prepared to increase it to a point where you are comfortable. If you can't get comfortable you will have trouble sleeping and this stuff only works when asleep.
Even my titration study started at 5 cm and it was a bit stifling for me.

So get one night under your belt and then lets look at the report.

Thank you! Honestly as long as I start feeling better and things looks good on report that really is what matters most.

Be ready for a fight, but I'll place my money on you winning.

By the way.... thank you for your service to our great country!

Sheriff