Lesson Learned About Swift Fitting

MandoJohnny · Post by **MandoJohnny** » Sat May 27, 2006 9:45 am

When my DME guy fitted my Swift, he just had me tilt my head back so he could glance at the bottom of my nose. Then he said, "You'll take a small." Then he had me put the mask together with the small nasal pillow. I figured, I'm new to this and he has probably done this a lot, so I guess he knows what he's doing, even though I am a fairly big guy and I do not have a small nose in any other respect.

It was OK for two weeks with the small, but I did get some leakage that I could feel and I really had to make sure the straps were tight and that there was slack on the hose. But yesterday, I decided to take a closer look at the medium insert. When I test fitted the medium while looking in a mirror, it was obvious, even to a layman, that the medium was a much better fit. It was like it was made for my nose, whereas the small, when actually test fitted looking in a mirror did not look like a fit at all. So I used the medium last night. It felt a lot more confortable and the whole rig was not as finicky about hose and head position to maintain a good seal. This morning, I found that my "Leak" number dropped from 2.9 to 1.9 and get this, my AHI dropped from 3.9 the previous night to 1.9. I will keep tracking it to see how it goes.

My lesson learned that I want to pass on is that the DME guy glossed over the mask fit and I should not have taken his word for it. Irony of ironies, his supervisor left me a phone message the same day, wanting me to take a survey on what kind of service I got. I will definitely respond and lay it all out!!!

birdiebaby · Post by **birdiebaby** » Sat May 27, 2006 10:27 am

Good for you!

My DME held up a mask enclosed in plastic in the air in front of my face to fit me... who says they aren't thorough and knowledgeable!!!

roztom · Post by **roztom** » Sat May 27, 2006 4:32 pm

Good for you. You are on the right track - take control of your therapy -take nothing for granted.

Good luck,

Tom

brasshopper · Post by **brasshopper** » Sat May 27, 2006 5:05 pm

...does not a failure make...seriously.

If that was the only mistake made by your sleep tech it really was not a bad job - mine tripped over my wire bundle and pulled all the wires out and then woke me up every 15 minutes (ok, it SEEMED like she woke me up every 15 minutes) to reattach one wire or the other.

That is STILL not the worse job done by a sleep lab tech - how about waking you up after you have slept for only an hour because "schedule says sleep time is over"? Is someone else using this area? No, this is closed all day. Do you have to be someplace? No.

They would have paid him OVERTIME if he had decided to run me another hour. He just had to get to breakfast. THAT is a bad sleep lab tech!

I'm sort of surprised at the number of people who are being given the Resmed swift for studies - I suspect it solves a lot of problems and is comfortable.

DME_Guy · Post by **DME_Guy** » Sat May 27, 2006 5:12 pm

brasshopper wrote: I'm sort of surprised at the number of people who are being given the Resmed swift for studies - I suspect it solves a lot of problems and is comfortable.

It's easy for the techs to titrate with. Minimal head gear and a quick fit is what they're looking for. Fortunately, it is a very good maks.

polysomprincess · Post by **polysomprincess** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:43 am

In reply to Brasshopper. How rude are you? Are you positive you only slept an hour? Do you possible know how long of a shift that sleep tech worked and how long they had been up? Do you know if they have children at home or someone to watch them and if they have to pay that person to watch them? do you know if they get payed overtime? and what if thay had a medical condition that required them to maintain a normal sleep cycle as well, they could have seizures, cephalic migraines, fibromialgia, or etc. Infact what you think you slept and what you actually slept are most certainly 2 differnt things. And here's a good one for you....An insurance company usually will only pay for a study that is 720 epochs, an epoch is 30 sec, long, would you have piad out of pocket to cover the rest of the expenses. Probally not you would have sat at home and dodged the mailman and medical bills. What exactly is it that makes your time more important than someone elses? And here's another thought she kept changing wires to provide you with a good clean readable study if she did not your PSG would have been null and void. And stepping on your wires its called a mistake yep a mistake people make them. are you fault free? I highly doubt it! People like you make my butt itch! Here's some really good medical advice...It is clearly obvious from your posted picture you are an over weight man losing weight will make your apnea better and perhaps lower your cpap pressure.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 30, 2006 4:49 am

Hey princess, you say people like brasshopper make you butt itch well you make mine itch.

Tough job? Kids at home? Serious medical condition that prevents an hour or two of overtime??

WHO PICKED THE CAREER ANYWAY?

That person didn't have to go to school to be a sleep tech if they had so many issues and didn't care about patients.

On top of that, if brasshopper didn't get good results and could have from an extra hour of sleep, who do you think is paying the copay on the EXTRA sleep study, or living with the results of an inadequate one.

Get real. He is paying for a decent job and should get one.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:31 am

And another thing princess since you are being so nasty to brasshopper why don't you learn to spell different if you are so critical?

You really earn your name.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:33 am

Oh, I missed probally and piad.

Bingo · Post by **Bingo** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:54 am

Or all of you could realize that there is enough blame all the way around and that everyone could stand to be a little more understanding.

The initial gentleman really is not in a position to pass judgement on the sleep technician and it is rather unfair to do so. In a perfect world he would realize there are a dozen or more other factors involved than just himself and his sleep study. I do not intend that in a mean spirit or implying that someone is selfish, simply a suggestion that none of us are perfect about seeing the larger picture all the time.

However - in my opinion- is it just as unfair for the second poster to jump all over him in the fashion she did. There is a large difference - again in my opinion - between constructively suggesting someone attempt to see a different side to an issue and attacking that person for the position they have.

Or I could just be talking out my nose and have no idea what I'm talking about. It's my opinion anyways!

Bingo

dllfo · Post by **dllfo** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:59 am

polysomprincess does a lot of posting to another cpap talk forum and while she may have been a little caustic here, she seems to genuinely care about her fellow members and I found most of her comments showed a deep amount of compassion for us.

When I see someone jump in with both feet, I wonder "what is that about"?? She may be a tech in a sleep center, or someone close to her is a tech.

Either way, she might want to reconsider her post and PM brasshopper or clarify her comments.

Too bad the thread is now about her and not the topic...she appears to be fairly intelligent in her other posts and is probably wishing she had approached this thread a little differently. At least, I will "own my own statement" and say I would be rethinking it.

Tom made a good comment about all of us participating in our own treatment and I am sure trying. Thanks to all the people who have taken time to PM or email me. Maybe polysomprincess will take a moment to do so. I think she has a lot of background we could all learn from if she would take a moment to help us. Look at it another way, she sure got us thinking about the thread. Certainly some DMEs are better than others or we would not be here right now. Remember, the last perfect "human" was crucified on the cross. I am certainly not in danger of that...just ask my kidsjavascript:emoticon(':lol:')
Laughing

EDIT COMMENT: ok, why is the laughing icon here, the way I wanted it to be...but then the word "laughing" is inserted after it...did I do something wrong????

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

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:07 am

polysomprincess, are you the same "polysomprincess" who lives in Michigan, specializes in pediatric sleep studies, and posts on a message board for sleep techs?

Just curious to know if you're the same sleep tech as that person, or if the choice of nickname was a coincidence. Somehow, those writings don't seem like the same person to me.

I do agree with dllfo that you are the "polysomprincess" who posts on yet a different apnea message board...TalkAboutSleep. I've seen some helpful posts by you there. I've also seen some unnecessarily caustic ones from you. For example:

May 10 2006 subject: Understanding sleep study results.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:18 am

After reading the link Rested Girl provided I would definately agree Princess is the same one. Insulting and arrogant.

roztom · Post by **roztom** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:12 pm

Who stepped on the cat's tail?

Tom

sleepybon · Post by **sleepybon** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:44 pm

So, how about them Mighty Ducks?

Lesson Learned About Swift Fitting

Lesson Learned About Swift Fitting

One mask mistake....

Re: One mask mistake....