Should someone review your reports?

I'm a fairly new CPAP user, about 5months now. I've downloaded the Sleepyhead software and am starting to review my reports, pretty overwhelming for a newbie but I will dig through the documentation to figure it out. My question is should someone (Dr., DME) periodically review your reports? How do you know things are working the way they should, or do you have to self report if you think there is an issue?
Thanks!

How do you feel? If you are feeling good, sleeping good and your AHI is low.....you don't need to report to anyone.

Welcome to the forum, nana, and to the hosehead world. Unfortunately, the amount of support you will get from your doctor or the DME (provider of the equipment) will vary tremendously. Some simply don't care. You are the only one who really cares about your health, so reading up on this forum and learning how to take control of your treatment (even if you get your doctor/DME involved) will pay huge dividends. Members who have been around here for a long time have experienced most, if not all, of the issues you are likely to have, so post away with any questions.

Some doctors and DME's are good. Unfortunately, a large percentage of them are practicing assembly line medicine and don't bother to check the CPAP data. They'll only check enough to be sure you're getting 4 hours usage a night, which the insurance requires, declare you cured, and ring the cash register. The medical mafia also likes to run $leep te$t$, and likes to belittle the data collected by the CPAP machines and claim it's not accurate. There's also a laziness factor.

Even if it's not "accurate" in some sense, you can get a lot of good information from the CPAP data.

Unfortunately, you may need to learn to interpret it yourself.

Don't let the data overwhelm you. Many doctors and DME's haven't learned to read all that data either. Just figure out what you can and work your way up.

Thanks all! I'm starting to make sense of the reports. I'm feeling much better since I've been on the CPAP. My AHI usually runs between 1.5-4 , does that sound like a normal range? I've also noticed that I have a lot of Clear Airway events in addition to OA and Hypopnea. Can anyone shed any light as to what that indicates?

NanaNeedsANap wrote:Thanks all! I'm starting to make sense of the reports. I'm feeling much better since I've been on the CPAP. My AHI usually runs between 1.5-4 , does that sound like a normal range? I've also noticed that I have a lot of Clear Airway events in addition to OA and Hypopnea. Can anyone shed any light as to what that indicates?

Perfectly "normal", whatever "normal" means. The clear airway events are not a concern unless there really are a lot of them - and most sleep docs will not be concerned about any AHI, whether AI, CAI, or AHI unless it is above 5. So, keep on doing what you are doing! Some CAs can result from stopping breathing while you are changing position, or changing sleep levels. All perfectly normal. Just enjoy the feeling better part!