Post
by Sleepless on LI » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:30 am
Barb,
My reaction to what you wrote is, you need to use 8, not 12. If the reason they do a titration study is to find out what pressure is needed to help or eliminate your events, and 8 was the number they said was necessary for you, putting you on 12 makes no sense to me. And I agree that a nasal pillow interface can help with congestion. When I had my awful cold a few weeks ago, it actually did help me breathe. So this doctor, in my opinion, needs to stick to your titrated pressure of 8 and give you the nasal pillow interface to try. Why bother having a study if you don't follow what it says and throw the data out the window? And what harm could it do if you tried the nasal pillows? If you don't like it, you're no worse off than having masks you cannot use or that don't help you, like the state you're in now.
I think WillSucceed says it best. I'm paraphrasing, but he says that if your study is done correctly when they titrate you, straight CPAP at that number is how you will achieve your best results. With that in mind, I would stick to straight CPAP at 8 cms. and get yourself a np interface. If they won't get it for you through insurance, buy it yourself. There is nothing stopping you from doing that. They are not THAT expensive and if it helps you finally, it will be worth every little penny you spent on it.
Eight years of no help tells me either that this doctor is not doing right by you and doesn't know how to address your issues or your sleep study/titration part may need to be repeated to see what is going on. It always amazes me how they can take one night out of your life, put you in conditions that you've never slept in before, with all different stressors, etc., and then titrate you based on that isolated set of conditions. Everyone on this site knows that if you change your settings, you can't only give it one night. You have to see at least a week's worth of data to know if it's working because things change nightly. So to do one night of a titration study in a strange place that you're not used to sleeping in which causes emotional stress, etc., it doesn't make sense to me. I think they should do these studies in your home, where conditions are as normal as they can be, honestly simulating your nightly sleeping pattern. Totally doesn't make any type of logical sense to me.
L o R i
