Will you e-mail Johnny Goodman at cpap,com?

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:09 pm

SleepySandy wrote:
Wulfman wrote:I would hate to see CPAP.COM remove the software from their inventory. (Get my drift?)
I agree and I'm concerned that's where cpap.com will go. It could easily become more trouble than it's worth for them to sell EncorePro.

I will follow the suggested procedure of erasing my data every 5 days to try to avoid the data loss problem. I will also be following my husband's recommendation of gently cleaning the smartcard chip each day. My 1/2 night of missing data magically appeared after he cleaned the card for me, which was after I had erased the card.

It's not ideal and doesn't guarantee I won't lose data. However, it's certainly better than not being able to see my data at all.

Sandy,

Cleaning that chip shouldn't be necessary. If it was just YOUR machine that was being affected, then that might be the remedy. However, it seems to be virtually ALL of the M Series machines that record data.....or the software that downloads it.

I would think you'd be safe with erasing the card after the 5th or 6th download.

Best wishes,

Den

Alisha · Post by **Alisha** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:18 pm

ok, Den. Forgive my "What???" I misread (I confess misunderstood) your post.. Thanks for interpreting. I did know the software's capability of changing pressure, even though I wouldn't want to use this method.

Your suggestion two years ago to Respironics is excellent! I sure would like to know how they responded if you remember. I'm sure they would find other reasons not to call the end-user their customer.

SleepSandy wrote:

I will also be following my husband's recommendation of gently cleaning the smartcard chip each day. My 1/2 night of missing data magically appeared after he cleaned the card for me, which was after I had erased the card.

I may just be too tired to understand anything this late, but are you saying that you erased the card, then cleaned the card, and missing data appeared before the card was used in the xpap again?

Also, what did your husband use to gently clean the smartcard?

Regards,

Alisha

Ric · Post by **Ric** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:29 pm

the cynic in me suggests that our collective whining, fun as it is, remains futile. The official response from Respironics remains...

Research_Guy wrote: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!! Software is not for patients"

(slightly paraphrased)

And the point is well-taken.

The next logical step would be to focus our collective and considerable talents to the task of reverse-engineering what it is that the card reader does and make a public-domain version of a report generator that runs circles around the user-hostile Encore that we have come to love and are so addicted to. That shouldn't be too hard to beat. Derek made a nice start at something like that, but the drawback is that his program relies on the SQL database that Encore creates under the covers. That gets messy when Encore changes. I would say bypass that too, build it from scratch. (And by reverse-engineering I don't mean disassemble the object code, that would be "cheating", and possibly illegal). I doubt the "smart card" is really all THAT smart. I for one shall cease to whine and beg. At least not for THAT.

-Ric

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:30 pm

In that link that I posted, there's another embedded link (listed below) in a post by Derek (the creator of MyEncore). In it, he stated that he had also contacted Respironics and requesting/suggesting the same thing. They told him that they had discussed it, but it was way down their list of priorities. I know my communications with Respironics were in June of 2005. I know he was working on MyEncore earlier in 2005. It's a good deal for Respironics because they can sell it but don't have to support it......at least to us.

viewtopic.php?t=4419&sid=caae4d1fc475df ... a140095348

Den

Alisha · Post by **Alisha** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:50 pm

Aww.....come on, Ric. We're not whining. We're just discussing! I don't think anybody's whining. We just take our health and xpap therapy very seriously. I hope you will be able to design our own software, but in the meantime some of us need more help from the software we're currently using.

Regards,

Alisha

SleepySandy · Post by **SleepySandy** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:18 pm

Alisha wrote:I may just be too tired to understand anything this late, but are you saying that you erased the card, then cleaned the card, and missing data appeared before the card was used in the xpap again?

Also, what did your husband use to gently clean the smartcard?

You have everything right except the card was used in my CPAP again. I didn't check it after he cleaned it before I used it in my CPAP. I never imagined the missing data would show up. Here's the sequence of events:

1. Card previously erased on 3/16

2. Card successfully downloaded all days 3/17 - 3/28

3. 3/29 - downloaded card; 3/29 data is only 12:34am - 3:30am; second half of night is missing

4. 3/29 - downloaded card a second time - just to be sure - data still missing

5. 3/29 - erased card

6. bedtime - husband cleaned card by breathing on it (like you do when cleaning glasses) and rubbed it gently on a clean cloth

7. went to sleep

8. 3/30 - downloaded card - 3/29 data 3:49am - 9:19am is on card in addition to 3/30 data

I don't know why this happened but it did. My husband has a lot of experience with smartcards and he said it's just one of those things they try - the card doesn't work, doesn't work, doesn't work, they clean it and it works.

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): clean

Ric · Post by **Ric** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:23 am

Alisha wrote:Aww.....come on, Ric. We're not whining. We're just discussing!

OK, I will concede that much. Discussing. Not whining. Maybe a little moaning. I have NEVER complained about moaning. There are tons of software jocks that hang out here. Some even have some discretionary time on their hands.

Ric looks around the room...

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:53 am

Ric wrote:I have NEVER complained about moaning.

NOPE! Me either.....

Seriously, though, I remember a post back in '05 where somebody had responded to Derek about "supposedly" being able to read the data from the card without the EP software.....but then they took any further discussion of it off the forum (like through PM or e-mail).

Den

cheesy_rice · Post by **cheesy_rice** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:53 am

Alisha wrote:Aww.....come on, Ric. We're not whining. We're just discussing! I don't think anybody's whining. We just take our health and xpap therapy very seriously. I hope you will be able to design our own software, but in the meantime some of us need more help from the software we're currently using.

Regards,

Alisha

no "whining" here either. just trying to help sort through the issue and come to some understanding.

regardless of Respironics stance...... i think as the vendor, cpap.com needs to stand behind ANY product they sell directly to end users and that includes quality control and customer service.

i understand they do not offer "technical support" (just imagine what a nightmare THAT would be with the endless calls like..."i stuck the card in my pc's floppy drive and now i can't get it back out!")

but, basics things like quality control and customer satisfaction should absolutely fall directly on the vendor.

btw: my software and card seem to be working just fine and i am currently extremely satisfied with the business i've done with cpap.com.

Alisha · Post by **Alisha** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:25 pm

Ric and Den - I will concede I am moaning!

Moan (from Webster):

..a low, drawn out, mournful sound, usually indicating sorrow or pain

I wouldn't be moaning or complaining though if my software did what it should to help get my therapy on track.

I hope you two will get together and track down those pm's/e-mails. Work together through e-mails and if you find something helpful, please pm me to e-mail you. I'm really not as dumb as I sometimes sound about the technical stuff. After seeing how much I'm learning, my sister (jokingly) said she is thinking of hiring me to replace her company's $85,000/yr Program Administrator. Now let's all give a hardy ha-ha!

Regards,

Alisha

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:57 pm

Cheesy-Rice,

Your card is working just fine because you have the Classic "tank" Remstar -- not the M Series. To my knowledge, there has never been a problem with missing data with the Classics.

I might feel differently if I had the M Series and had a data "oops" every once in a great while, but I doubt it. I would be tickled pink to even have the software to be able to monitor "most" of my therapy. I think cpap.com is doing us a big favor by selling it in the first place -- and I thank them.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:19 pm

cheesy_rice wrote:
Alisha wrote:Aww.....come on, Ric. We're not whining. We're just discussing! I don't think anybody's whining. We just take our health and xpap therapy very seriously. I hope you will be able to design our own software, but in the meantime some of us need more help from the software we're currently using.

Regards,

Alisha

no "whining" here either. just trying to help sort through the issue and come to some understanding.

regardless of Respironics stance...... i think as the vendor, cpap.com needs to stand behind ANY product they sell directly to end users and that includes quality control and customer service.

i understand they do not offer "technical support" (just imagine what a nightmare THAT would be with the endless calls like..."i stuck the card in my pc's floppy drive and now i can't get it back out!")

but, basics things like quality control and customer satisfaction should absolutely fall directly on the vendor.

btw: my software and card seem to be working just fine and i am currently extremely satisfied with the business i've done with cpap.com.

That's no fair, you didn't have to have the latest and the greatest, you settled for a "Tank", they like our Troops overseas, don't get a day off. Jim

Alisha · Post by **Alisha** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:55 pm

Linda3032 said:

I might feel differently if I had the M Series and had a data "oops" every once in a great while, but I doubt it. I would be tickled pink to even have the software to be able to monitor "most" of my therapy. I think cpap.com is doing us a big favor by selling it in the first place -- and I thank them.

Linda, while I'm trying to get my therapy tweaked, I can't consider four or five nights a month 'a data oops every once in a great while.' And I, too, thank cpap.com for selling the software. I love cpap.com and have purchased all my equipment from them since I discovered this site.

And, Jim, you have every right to keep telling us, "I told you so!!!" But as I've said before, I do love the M Auto despite the kinks that have needed ironing out.

Regards,

Alisha

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:42 am

I don't know if this was already suggested but I find when I get a new kind of mask, and I have had more than a few, I'd like to see the previous night's data to help me help the "professionals" to tweak my therapy. After a week, you forget the conditions that existed last night and you can't expect the DME to get into overnight monitoring, as you need an appointment and an available RT to go over the results.

The best thing that can happen to OSA therapy is a glass window. Our increased knowledge forces Drs. to be on top of out therapy and advancements made in therapy. If you get a CT-Scan, are you comfortable with not seeing the report for yourself and instead just blindl follow whatever the Dr. says? I'm not, not way. I want to know the issues and I want to make sure the Dr. doesn't f__k up. They are human.

Once you get your therapy equip, how often do the "professionals" disappear until you get them involved again. When you consider that many OSA patients have lived with not sleeping well for decades without understanding that anything was wrong, you have to realize that either the professionals become totally involved or the patient has to become responsible.

Even my Dr. who is very in-tuned with apnea therapy, said of auto-titrating machines, that the data isn't in yet regarding their effectiveness, so stay with fixed Ipap and Epap pressures on your autotitrating machine. When I see him on Wednesday I am going to tell him that I don't want to be happy with an AHI of 5 when I can try to get it down to 1 or less. To do that, I need a version of Encore Pro and one that doesn't have missing data.

Even if it was abused, what is the worst that can happen by deciding on incorrect setting? Giving patients full control of their therapy is the only way to go. Yes, there will be mistakes but there are plenty of mistakes by the professionals too.

Allen

cjmandala · Post by **cjmandala** » Tue May 15, 2007 2:24 am

So, has anyone tried using 1.6 on an "M" Auto w/A-flex? I know Respironics states it won't work. I was wondering if it will allow me to change the RX settings?

Will you e-mail Johnny Goodman at cpap,com?

Last Night's Data

"M" series auto w/A-flex