Good Bye "clueless" Doctor

[path2others]

I took my Encore results to my GP and he thought they were "interesting" but said he had no idea of what they meant. He then told me he was retiring. I got a consult with a sleep specialist ordered and saw him in less than a week. Everything was positive at the appointment. My biggest issue was the prescribed 9cm of CPAP was not effective according to the Snore Index. I needed at least 12.5. I have been using APAP for the past 3 months. Well, they didn't want to down load the SmartCard (no reader or software ???) and seemed to know little about masks but they were very happy with my compliance. Best news is no more sleep studies unless I have a drastic change in my weight. I guess the 6 months it took me to convince my first doc to order the sleep study was worth it. Hang in there you folks battling the doctors and DME, the effort is worth it. Now I will have to see how my new GP handles my other medical problems. Don

[Goofproof]

You have done fine, just think where you would be if you didn't take a active role in your own health. Jim

[Ric]

Best news is no more sleep studies unless I have a drastic change in my weight.

Since you have an AUTO, you are getting a SS every night.

My biggest issue was the prescribed 9cm of CPAP was not effective according to the Snore Index. I needed at least 12.5

You can change it yourself. It's legal. And you seem to know what you're doing. And with the AUTO, if you guess wrong, it will generally give you the right pressure anyway. And importantly it will give you the data to adjust the ranges more appropriately. Sometimes it takes a few nights data to get it right. That is one BIG problem with SS titrations, one night's data is not sufficient to estimate the individual variability. That's why I am convinced everybody could benefit from using an AUTO, at least for a few weeks starting out. Even if you set it to operate as a straight CPAP you will be working with better information than a one night sleep study.

-Ric