New cpap today

[Dive Apnea]

Just be aware that your machine doesn't record all of the data that is useful when there are issues. The fact they are telling you thatyou can see all the data online is a lie. Since a machine with full data only sends the summary data. It only records full data to the SD card. It doesn't send it.

That said, there are times when you really do need the details. For example, an ahi of 3.4 sounds fine to the doctor, but is still bad for many of us. And if it happens to be a bunch of long events clustered together (like my mom was having), you would never know. She just knew that she wasn't feeling the improvement with her machine that I was getting with mine. I let her use my machine for half a night, and that was how we figured out what was wrong with her therapy.

You mentioned that a lot of people never look at their data. Well, a lot of people quit using the cpap too. Because they didn't feel better and didn't know their machine could be adjusted for better results.

If you are happy, great. Hopefully, it continues to go well for you. If you have trouble later on, your "data" won't be of much help.

Hi, thanks for commenting. I was wondering about people who look at their data. Like you say your mom wasn't feeling right, so you saw events clustered together. What steps with cpap therapy can be taken after you read this data? I guess you can change pressure? How do you know it's related to the cpap, and may not some physiological, or some other reason.

I value your response, I got to thinking users interpreting their data, then what? Ie, what can you do?

[Pugsy]

You do realize 99% of people just use the cpap given to them arnd are Aok, do not even know cpaptalk exists. please quit scarying people. And you please stay off my threads. Thanks.

Do you have any documentation for reference for your 99% number or is that just your personal opinion?

Ever wonder why 50% of the people put on cpap "fail" with it or it ends up in the closet?
Don't bother responding to that question. It was meant to just stir your brain a bit. I already have an opinion about that question's answer.

This forum needs an ignore function.

Already has one...it's called the "Foe" button. It hides the remarks from people you don't want to see what they might be saying.
Click on PR's profile....click on the "add Foe" button...confirm and you won't see his comments unless you make a special effort to.

It's an open forum...public...you don't get to decide who posts in a thread that you create. Sorry, doesn't work that way. Once you start a thread...it's fair game.
You do get to decide who you want to bother reading what they say though....use the Foe button.
With it being a public forum....each person gets to tell the other they are full of crap. That's just the way it is as long as there's no personal name calling attacks.
Each member is free to disagree with whatever message someone is saying...they aren't free to make personal name calling attacks.

"Up yours" isn't really a personal name calling attack...personal name calling is where the person gets called ugly names with some nasty adjectives maybe...moron, stupid, troll, motherf......r, kind of stuff.
It's not very nice...I grant you that but I have seen a lot worse stuff here and the forum owner has let it slide. It's a public forum...the forum owner doesn't like censorship except in extreme cases so there's a lot of leeway given here for what people say and how they say it.
If it doesn't suit you...there are other forums out there that might suit your preferences better. We would hate to lose you but if you aren't happy here...we want you to be happy and we also want your cpap therapy to be successful.

This is a cpap help forum...support...where people come when they have problems. People that don't have problems won't likely find their way here. You don't have any problems ...or don't appear to...but just because you don't doesn't mean that the whole rest of the world doesn't have some problems.
And I am reasonably certain that there's a lot more than 1 % of the people who get put on cpap that have problems....this forum wouldn't be so active if that were the case.

So you don't care about data...that's fine...why you feel the need to defend yourself so vehemently is beyond my grasp.
Why you even bothered to announce that you are getting a new machine and climb up on the "data isn't needed" soapbox is also beyond my grasp.
Doesn't matter to me one bit if you don't feel the need for data...that's your choice...your right...but those people who do care about data have the exact same rights you do and they have the same rights to express their opinions about it as you do.
When people come here asking for help...remember this is a help forum...it's kinda hard to help people if we don't know what's going on with their therapy. So we ask for data...not any different than a diabetic wanting help with glucose level control...we gotta know what we are working with to offer any ideas.

[Dive Apnea]

"Up yours" isn't really a personal name calling attack...personal name calling is where the person gets called ugly names with some nasty adjectives maybe...moron, stupid, troll, motherf......r, kind of stuff.

Yet, you get to decide what a personal attack is? The hypocrisy.

If you read my evolution of this thread I am trying to understand how reading data helps someone. If you see something, how do you counter it? I really would like to know, what measures can be taken? It might help me.

Thanks for the foe button info.

[Pugsy]

Yet, you get to decide what a personal attack is? The hypocrisy.

Yeah, well it is what it is. Humans aren't perfect and moderators have to use their own personal judgement sometimes....and it's never going to please everyone. Cold hard fact of life.
I do the best I can within the guidelines that I was given to work with.
The forum owner has let a lot of stuff slide that I wouldn't have let slide if I were the owner of the forum....
but I am not the owner and I don't get to necessarily and always do what I would do if it were my forum and I paid the bills.
I am sort of riot control...and as much as you think this thread has become a riot...it hasn't even come close to some riots that I have seen and the forum owner let slide.

As for how does having data help...just take some time and read some of the threads where we look at the reports and offer ideas on how to help anywhere from pressure tweaks to leak management ideas when leaks are massive.
This is all stuff that a DME or doctor worth their salt should do but it doesn't get done and a lot of people don't even have a doctor or DME at all..much less one that simply is lazy and not doing their job.

Here's one that turned out the guy was having problems caused by a crappy bed mattress but we didn't know that when we started.
viewtopic/t173687/Re-CAs-with-P10-Pillo ... ar-FF.html

Here's one where we are still working on fine tuning things
viewtopic/t173908/Rise-in-AHI-and-Accur ... e-AHI.html

Take some time and just read some of the threads...and some of them are quite long.

How I respond to someone with a problem depends on what the problem might be.
If your machine gives you an AHI of 15....how I would respond would depend on what that AHI is composed of.
Some machines won't give event category or breakdown and how to respond is critical.
If the bulk of the AHI is obstru ctive...need more pressure.
If the bulk of the AHI is central...more pressure won't fix it and actually might makes things worse and I sure don't want to suggest something that might make someone more ill.
So I am not going to offer advice unless I know what is going on. I won't guess at this stuff and maybe hurt someone. I just won't do it.
If someone has a machine that won't tell me what kind of events....they are screwed because the 2 different options are so very different....so they get to go back to the doctor and get another sleep study and the doctor gets another car payment made for him when he reads it ...some people don't have the money to pay for those extra expenses.

I rarely look at my own personal data. I don't really need to BUT if I ever needed to it would be there and available just in case I ran into a problem.
It's always better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Insurance pays exactly the same for a brick no data or half assed brick with limited data as it would for a full data machine...
you never know when that data might be helpful and/or be critical.
Not long ago I saw someone with a truck load of central apneas just pop up....new problem and he was feeling like crap...come to find out they were related to pain medication usage. Some adjustments in dosage and him getting with his doctor about the cause of the pain...and the centrals went away and he quickly returned to feeling like his old self.

If I hadn't been able to see the centrals...it would have taken a lot longer to sort out the problem and probably cost a lot more in terms of a new sleep study and doctor visits and more importantly time involved. Took me about 3 days to sort through it...when's the last time anyone got an appointment with a sleep doctor and a new sleep study in 3 days??

[palerider]

You do realize 99% of people just use the cpap given to them arnd are Aok

You're quite wrong about that. (seems to be a trend with you).

*NUMEROUS* studies show that cpap failure rates among the general population are around 50%.

, do not even know cpaptalk exists. please quit scarying people.

People are here because they're having trouble, you've done nothing to help, All you've done is voice an unpopular opinion.

And you please stay off my threads. Thanks.

You don't "own" threads, everybody is welcome to comment on any thread.

If you don't like it, don't post.

[palerider]

"Up yours" isn't really a personal name calling attack...personal name calling is where the person gets called ugly names with some nasty adjectives maybe...moron, stupid, troll, motherf......r, kind of stuff.

Yet, you get to decide what a personal attack is? The hypocrisy.

hy·poc·ri·sy
/həˈpäkrəsē/
noun: hypocrisy; plural noun: hypocrisies

the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

There are standards and definitions of things, you can't just make up meanings for words, though you do like making things up, way you make up all the things you assign to "99% blah blah".

[DreamDiver]

"Up yours" isn't really a personal name calling attack...personal name calling is where the person gets called ugly names with some nasty adjectives maybe...moron, stupid, troll, motherf......r, kind of stuff.

Yet, you get to decide what a personal attack is? The hypocrisy.

If you read my evolution of this thread I am trying to understand how reading data helps someone. If you see something, how do you counter it? I really would like to know, what measures can be taken? It might help me.

Thanks for the foe button info.

Dive Apnea,

The very people you're taunting are some of the most insightful/helpful members of this forum. By making them foes, you're saying that you only want help that agrees with you. Unfortunately if you make everyone who disagrees with you a foe, then the answers you get may agree with you, but that doesn't mean they'll be helpful. Courteous discourse is an important part of being in a community. Occasional ribbing on this venue is par for the course because we're all having to deal with that same alien stuck to our faces with a hose to a machine. Humor (dark or light) sometimes helps us get through the day. If you're not a troll and you really do want help, consider staving off hitting that foe button for just a little longer. Many times, a little additional information can make things clearer. For instance, I have to wonder if you are taking medications that make you less affable. Is it possible you're on a heavy course of prednisone right now or some other mind-altering substance? If so, that may temper our responses, knowing that your medication has removed a critical response filter in your communication.

[Wulfman...]

If you read my evolution of this thread I am trying to understand how reading data helps someone. If you see something, how do you counter it? I really would like to know, what measures can be taken? It might help me.

What amazes me (for the lack of a kinder word) is that you've been a member of this forum for over seven years (the forum has existed for a little over 14) and still don't understand how this forum has tried to help users get fully data-capable machines and the software to take control of their own therapy........to improve it.......and understand the how and why.

In your very first thread, many forum members tried to help you understand this (and tell you that you were being lied to and ripped off by your DME).
This equipment is billed (from the doctor to DME to insurance provider) by insurance codes. The insurance code for CPAP is exactly the same for the lowliest "brick" to the top-of-the line Auto CPAP (APAP). So, you might just as well get the best for the same price.

From your first thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66532&p=620036#p620036



Dive Apnea
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:37 pm
Contact: Contact Dive Apnea

Re: New to board, first CPAP tomorrow

Post by Dive Apnea » Mon Aug 01, 2011 3:29 pm

I just got off the phone with my insurance,they said, so long as any money is out of my pocket thus far, I can go to a new DME to see if they will get me the machine I want, based on the Rx, and E0601.

I just talked to the DME, and they once again, said I'd need an Rx stating specifically that I need a data capable machine. So, either that is their policy, or they are just trying to hope I settle with what they gave me. Which I am not. I even informed them, that I was provided with a list of DME's in my Insurances network, and will go elsewhere for a data capable machine, they didn't flinch.

They will not refund me for this first month ~$103. I am not made of money, but my wife will gladly give up that money so I do not snore over the next month to find out what machine I should get.

This actually gives me time to look around, compare prices if I go out of pocket, or find a cooperative DME. I have list of Local DME's from my insurance, The only thing that stinks, is deciding on which brand, and deciding between CPAP, and autopap. I actually have a Dr. appt on 8-14-11, so I guess it wouldnt hurt to ask about a Data Capable CPAP Rx.

Wow, there is so much to learn, and know about this, thanks so much for everyone's help, and patience... I guess, I am lucky in the Internet/Forum age to get so much help at my fingertips! thanks!

Fully data-capable machines are not that much more expensive (if purchasing out-of-pocket) than the lowliest bricks. The data can be EXTREMELY valuable to fine-tune your therapy. NOBODY is going to care more about YOUR therapy than YOU. Your DME doesn't give a rip and will take advantage of you at every turn. As long as you're using your machine for the minimum amount of hours to satisfy their contracts with the insurance company to collect their payments. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE QUALITY OF YOUR THERAPY! And, only a fully-data-capable machine can give you that information. The doctors work for YOU! If you wanted a prescription to say that you want a fully data-capable machine, your doctor should have written one for you.

Would you drive a vehicle that didn't have a speedometer or gauges? If you were a diabetic, would you use a glucose meter that didn't show what your blood sugar was? Would you use a ruler or yardstick that didn't have measurement marks?
Having the ABILITY to monitor your own therapy doesn't mean you HAVE TO. It just means it's there in case you WANT TO.

This is one of the purposes of this forum over the years........helping users to take control of their own therapy (if they wish to) to make it better. So many things can screw up CPAP therapy and the settings we were originally prescribed aren't necessarily the ones that work best and especially over time in our own home-settings.

Please don't be hostile to these forum members who have been trying to help you see what you've been missing all these years. We're only trying to help.

Happy Holidays!


Den

.

[Dive Apnea]

Ok, Bugsy and pale rider are 100% right, Take care, Happy Holidays and bless your hearts!

[palerider]

Ok, Bugsy and pale rider are 100% right, Take care, Happy Holidays and bless your hearts!

As Pugsy might say (and she knows what I'm talking about)... "have a nice day".

[Pugsy]

As Pugsy might say (and she knows what I'm talking about)... "have a nice day".

You beat me to it.
Took the words right out of my fingers.

[Dive Apnea]

Ok, Bugsy and pale rider are 100% right, Take care, Happy Holidays and bless your hearts!

As Pugsy might say (and she knows what I'm talking about)... "have a nice day".

#bebest lol

[chunkyfrog]

Ok, saying "have a nice day" works for me .
Is it OK if I refuse to specify WHEN?

[Dive Apnea]

#bebest chunky frog, not attacking you, or anyone. But a moderaror and rheir best buddy can drown out anyone. Welcome to Trump America, sad times. Ie attack those u disagree with.

[chunkyfrog]

Obviously, sir, you simply DO NOT GET IT.
and bebest is still nonsense!
Just curious, how is helping people beat the cheats not helping?
When did you start getting paid to shill for dishonest DME's?