Followup w/Sleep Doc tommorow... Need some advice!

I am about 21 days into my CPAP therapy and tommorow is my followup with the Sleep Doc. Just last week, I got the card reader and software (plus myencore, thanks to Derek) and hopefully I can post some graphs here soon.

During my study, I had 23 events per hour and I was titrated at 8 cms. So far, I would have to say I'm fairly miserable on this overall. I started out great the first few days, but by the end of the week I was dx'd with a sinus infection (cpap-triggered) and put on antibiotics and rhinocort. I just felt miserable but I've got to say that now (knock on wood), I'm starting to feel a little bit better.

I've missed a couple nights completely and I've also torn my mask off in the middle of the night a couple times (last night I tore it off after 2.5 hours). Other than that, I *think* the mask is working okay. I also tried an ultra mirage FF but I'm not crazy about it. I'd like to post some encore information once I figure out which charts are most useful. My AHI seems to average just under 4, with a handful of OAs and some HAs in there for good measure. The 90% leak with the swift is only around the 30s, which I guess is good? The max leak shoots up past 100.

Other than the sinus infection, I might be feeling *slightly* better and more "with it," although it's hard to gauge.

Unless I'm *really* tired, I can't fall asleep with the mask on without taking Ambien. This is apparently not a problem for the sleep doc, since he prescribed it. For me, it makes me feel a little less confident about the therapy if I need to take a habit-forming drug in order to follow through on it.

If I stick with it, I'd like to get an auto machine so I can perform titration experiments as needed. My current machine is rented through a local DME but I would like to return it before they charge me $1800 for it.

For now, I have no idea what to say to this guy tommorow. I'm confused and discouraged with this. Thanks for all the help as usual. I definitely would not have gotten this far without this site.

Maybe this is naive, but, why not tell him exactly what you've posted here? Seems like the kind of information I'd want as a doc.

I would probably lose the helmet! All kidding aside, like biggziff said. No Doc can help without giving input to them (some, unfortunatley don't listen) and take some comfort in knowing that your experience is not at all unusual, it is a big adjustment. Take it a day at a time and keep posting here, this board will provide much support.

Well, it actually went pretty good...

The doctor was VERY impressed with all of the Encore Pro and ME reports I printed! He was just flipping through, saying, "wow, this is GREAT!!" He said he thought it would take me 3 months to adjust to this and that I would be very successful judging from how far I'd gotten.

So honestly, I've got to say he was very supportive.

He suggested raising my pressure from 8 to 9 and asked if I could do it myself and I said, "No problem".... Although, my (*insert choice word here*) DME did remove my clinician's manual but I was thinking of using the "set Rx via smartcard" feature in Encore Pro ..... Does that work okay ???????? Or is it better to go the route of plugging back in and holding certain buttons down. Never done it before, but I know it's a breeze.

Thanks for all the help!!

"set Rx via smartcard"

It works a treat. Go for it.

Alright, that was too easy!! Worked like a charm!

Thanks!

Happy to help.

I love that smartcard. It's so much easier than moving the xPAP within cable range of the computer. That you can program the xPAP with it is a great bonus.