Article: misdiagnosed sleep apnea

[USMCVet]

Thought some may find this interesting.
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/2011/10/m ... eep-apnea/

[Julie]

And therefore... people who have trouble adjusting to Cpap probably do not have OSA? And therefore don't need Cpap?

That article (from 2011) just detailed one patient, in one location, who had a relatively unusual situation, and somewhere along the way, maybe early on, maybe not, something was not picked up or followed up, etc. and so a 'mistake' was made... more like a misjudgement though, given the whole history. And so what? Such things happen every day somewhere but you don't want to jump to conclusions because of them, or make any assumptions... let alone use a one-off complex story to justify anything much about your treatment (not saying 'you' personally). It's just interesting, but no more.

[Goofproof]

Thanks. I don't know how I could live without it! Was it from under D.H.'s wastebasket.

[USMCVet]

Im not and the article isn't advocating that if xpap doesn't work right away that someone is misdiagnosed.

I find it interesting that back then and based on looking at people's sleep study reports now it seems most places are using automated scoring and reports.

So personally if I were to have a borderline result I would want to know if it was scores automatically or manually.

This also further demonstrates why home sleep studies are even more likely to be off from in lab. In lab there is a chance it's scored manually but I bet those kits you can have sent for home sleep studies are all automatically scored.

[USMCVet]

People here seem to get awfully defensive about anything they don't agree with....... Just saying

[greatunclebill]

The author isn't even a doctor. He's basically the technician that hooks you up and does your test at night, with some titles.
And,..... a 6 year old article which is nearly ancient history in this business.

[Pugsy]

People here seem to get awfully defensive about anything they don't agree with....... Just saying

You just now noticing that little tidbit?

FWIW...not all home sleep studies are all automatically scored with no review from a human.
It depends on the home study and who is doing the promoting of said home study and automatic evaluation. There's one company, that I can't remember the name of at the moment, that has zero way for a human to review their home study and it's totally automated analysis and they think that they are so perfect that they have a closed system making it impossible for a human to review it and offer no proof of how perfect their system is beyond their "word". Not a company I want to be doing my home study for sure.
Jason talked about it not long ago on his forum when someone asked about obtaining the software for that home study and doing their own evaluation using software.

In an ideal home study....a human needs to be able to review the data that is automatically scored especially when the results are borderline. Of course...as in life we don't always get ideal anything.

[Goofproof]

People here seem to get awfully defensive about anything they don't agree with....... Just saying

I agree people get misdiagnosed by doctors, and charlatans, they always have been. About as many as write papers. Their goal, collect the money. Jim

[dsmith14469]

Any body else notice this?

"and neck circumference of 34 inches"

[Pugsy]

Any body else notice this?

"and neck circumference of 34 inches"

Holy crap...that's 3 times my neck. Must be a small tank.

[klm49]

People here seem to get awfully defensive about anything they don't agree with....... Just saying

Absolutely!

[Rob K]

What I got from the article is that the author believes doctors are taking an oversimplified approach when diagnosing sleep apnea. He believes doctors should look at the data in more detail before a final diagnoses. I wouldn't argue with that.

My experience with two different sleep studies, two different doctors and several different people at the DME. They correctly diagnosed me with sleep apnea, but that is as far as it goes. I had to come to this forum to get my pressure settings right. Same reason for many others that come here.

I know the article was directed toward diagnoses, but I would say they need to take more care across the board. Seems the medical field still has a long way to go with diagnoses and treatment.

[chunkyfrog]

Denial is twice as deadly when reinforced by ignorance.

[NightWatch23]

I found the article interesting. It describes my experience quite well, which is sad given how old the article is. Insurance will pay for things based on specific measurements, so the doctor's job becomes demonstrating those measurements. It doesn't matter if you were awake or asleep when they were recorded. It doesn't matter if you feel better or worse or the same. Get the numbers, get the money, see the next patient.

When I started this particular odyssey, I was told 50% of the people don't 'comply' because using the machine is 'inconvenient.' I'm starting to realize that is most likely an oversimplification of what is actually a fairly complicated situation. Yet another reason this forum is so valuable.

[USMCVet]

I agree this forum is invaluable. I think it's important for anyone to ask how their study is interpreted either manually or by software.

I just had a titration study last night and I asked how they are scored. I was told manually by the tech doing the study and then verified by the Dr. I am happy with that.