A good sleep doc story :)

[kaiasgram]

I'm so tempted to post this on the ASAA forum, even knowing it would probably be removed moments after I've posted it...

I received an email from my sleep doc this evening about my bipap prescription. He told me the EPAP and IPAP settings he's prescribing and then he added, "You could adjust the pressure later on."

Wow!

[ems]

Hi K... he's just sayin' that. If has a wire hooked up to your machine. If you dare adjust the pressure a bell goes off on his end at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.

[49er]

I'm so tempted to post this on the ASAA forum, even knowing it would probably be removed moments after I've posted it...

I received an email from my sleep doc this evening about my bipap prescription. He told me the EPAP and IPAP settings he's prescribing and then he added, "You could adjust the pressure later on."

Wow!

Not only will it be removed, you will receive 10 lashes from the moderators

All jokes aside, that is fantastic to hear that he treates you like an intelligent adult.

49er

[kaiasgram]

Hi K... he's just sayin' that. If has a wire hooked up to your machine. If you dare adjust the pressure a bell goes off on his end at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.

That would be masochistic of him!

[kaiasgram]

I'm so tempted to post this on the ASAA forum, even knowing it would probably be removed moments after I've posted it...

I received an email from my sleep doc this evening about my bipap prescription. He told me the EPAP and IPAP settings he's prescribing and then he added, "You could adjust the pressure later on."

Wow!

Not only will it be removed, you will receive 10 lashes from the moderators

I would consider myself in good company as our friend Jedi Mark was banished some time ago.

[49er]

I'm so tempted to post this on the ASAA forum, even knowing it would probably be removed moments after I've posted it...

I received an email from my sleep doc this evening about my bipap prescription. He told me the EPAP and IPAP settings he's prescribing and then he added, "You could adjust the pressure later on."

Wow!

Not only will it be removed, you will receive 10 lashes from the moderators

I would consider myself in good company as our friend Jedi Mark was banished some time ago.

LOL!

We could start a club of banned members.

All jokes aside, banning JediMark is like banning people who invented the glucometer from diabetes boards.

49er

[wildflowertx]

It's nice to find a good provider, of whatever type, isn't it?

I went to a new-to-me internal med/sleep doc Monday last week, and he was awesome. He has sleep apnea too, so he "gets it". And though not *old* (somewhere in his 50s), he's old-fashioned in that he believes in spending time with his patients. He went over not only my sleep apnea stuff which the appointment was for, but also just my general health and other health issues that I have. I'm seriously considering making him my regular doc since he does internal med (basically a primary doc for adults only, as he put it), even though I normally prefer female docs.

I hope your sleep doc continues to provide excellent service for you!

[chunkyfrog]

I think our sleep doc's a good one, at least he could become one. We show him the data, asking, "what do you think?"
He's appears to be impressed, and pretty much rubber-stamps what we already do.

[jnk]

Both my sleep doc and my primary doc have no trouble with me adjusting my own pressures. My sleep doc said he doesn't mind a bit, and my primary doc has encouraged me to do so as I see fit.

As a general rule, it isn't so much the docs who have trouble with a patient's adjusting pressure as it is the RRTs at DMEs, as I understand it. A doc is happy to diagnose the condition and point out what prescription will solve the problem. What happens after that is generally no skin off the sleep doc's nose.

The RRT at the DME does not have the authority to contradict or change a doc's prescription, so the RRT who considers himself responsible for executing a doc's prescription is naturally horrified at the thought of anyone, even a patient, making adjustments to a machine that are contrary to what the doc put on paper. I respect an RRT who is so horrified. It means he takes his job seriously.

We as patients, however, do not need to be limited by what horrifies a DME RRT. It is my body; I have the legal right to do what I want. (Everywhere, apparently, except on overly-moderated forums catering to the superstitions and anxieties of DME employees, that is.)

So if anyone wants to adjust his machine and is looking to get permission for some reason, he should probably attempt to get that permission from the doc, not the crutch salesman--although legally speaking, the patient does not need permission from anyone.

In my opinion.

[kaiasgram]

Both my sleep doc and my primary doc have no trouble with me adjusting my own pressures. My sleep doc said he doesn't mind a bit, and my primary doc has encouraged me to do so as I see fit.

My primary doc asked me "What's an AHI?" so as much as I love her she doesn't get a vote in what I do with my pressure settings.

Thanks for your post jnk and thanks for all the "good sleep doc" stories, it's heartening to hear them.