Does all the data really help you?

What i mean is this. I have a remstar m series machine. Thats what the medical supply people gave me and said it is the best one out there. i didn't know anything about them at the time. then I come on here and see that almost everybody is tracking these "stats" on their machines. Mine isn't capable of all of that and I was wondering if it really makes a difference

I think RLAUREN makes a good point between warning lights and gauges.

I guess it really depends on how well you are being monitored by your doctor/health care system. If like me you are not being monitored, asked to make an appointment to see a doctor every 12-18 months and even then all they do is say "We can't check to see if your machine is giving you the right pressure as it's an APAP, fill out the epworth questionnaire, do you feel sleepy, okay see you again in 12-18 months" then stats are important and you cling onto whatever you can get.

You don't need detailed stats, like for instance some of the graphs being posted on here unless you really want to understand fully what is happening. I went 5 years without graphs and 2 years manually noting down my AHI, AI and HI figures each morning into a spreadsheet.

Numbers can help, if you wake up and you think "oh I don't feel great" you can check your stats and see if they're elevated. If they're not, it's probably just a bad night in terms of maybe there were other things keeping you awake like noises outside or you were tossing and turning a lot or not reaching REM and the various other stages of sleep. If the AHI is elevated but it's mostly HI then there's probably not a lot to worry about, but if the AI is high then you really did stop breathing a lot of times per hour and through the night.

It's each to his/her own really, some people would rather not know what the stats are and leave it in the hands of a professional, some are tinkerers or simply don't get the level of care that they expect and feel they want some kind of backup.

I wouldn't worry too much about having or not having stats unless you feel you're not getting the care you need or if you are but you're starting to not feel good each morning or through the day.

My primary machine does not give me data, but, I love it. I bought a used S8 Elite that does give data, but is louder than my primary machine. I use the Elite about once or twice a month just to see if I can detect a problem. I got along with no data for my first year+ without any problem.