small rant

[Shnorky]

Sorry in advance about the small rant.
Had my first yearly checkup with the doctor.
And got yelled at, for two solid hours, for having changed the settings.
Apparently only doctors are allowed to know how to do that.


(And now the settings are all way off, no more expiration relief (so back to waking up with a bloated, hurting stomach), and last night back to an AHI value of >20)

[Julie]

Why did you take it for so long, rather than just get up and leave?

[Shnorky]

It's their machine, they could have taken it back there and then, and there will still be another overnight sleep study in September, so I need to be patient until then...

[Pugsy]

Depends on the doctor and how much of a control freak he/she is and is he/she more interested in the control aspect or having you do well.
When I showed my doctor why I changed things I got a pat on the back "good job" "keep it up" "come back and see me if you run into something you can't handle"....that was 8 years ago. Still haven't been back..no need. I have been able to handle things quite well.

Why is it their machine? You got it from the doctor? Why?

[Shnorky]

Depends on the doctor and how much of a control freak he/she is and is he/she more interested in the control aspect or having you do well.
When I showed my doctor why I changed things I got a pat on the back "good job" "keep it up" "come back and see me if you run into something you can't handle"....that was 8 years ago. Still haven't been back..no need. I have been able to handle things quite well.

Why is it their machine? You got it from the doctor? Why?

Lucky you
It's their machine as this is how the health insurance works here in Switzerland, they rent it out to you, and only if you use it > 90% of the time during the first year are you allowed to buy it from them (at a premium).
I was thinking of buying my own on some website, but that doctor said that I might need "another machine", whatever that means.

[Pugsy]

Check out secondwindcpap.com if you are thinking of purchasing elsewhere. They ship internationally.
They probably would have the "other type of machine" too should it be determined that you need "another machine".

Are you using SleepyHead to see what's going on now with the current machine?
https://sleep.tnet.com/equipment
https://sleepyhead.jedimark.net/

We have doctors that are control freaks here in the US too. They like to get up on their superiority soap box.
Fortunately mine wasn't one of those....I don't do well with those types of doctors.

[Shnorky]

Check out secondwindcpap.com if you are thinking of purchasing elsewhere. They ship internationally.
They probably would have the "other type of machine" too should it be determined that you need "another machine".

Are you using SleepyHead to see what's going on now with the current machine?
https://sleep.tnet.com/equipment
https://sleepyhead.jedimark.net/

We have doctors that are control freaks here in the US too. They like to get up on their superiority soap box.
Fortunately mine wasn't one of those....I don't do well with those types of doctors.

Thank you for the recommendations!
And yes, I use sleepyhead to check the data every weekend, and then decide based on that whether to make any changes or not.
With a lot of your help, Pugsy

[chunkyfrog]

I would change doctors, if possible.
A complaint to higher-ups?

[LSAT]

The good news is that you got a 2 hour doctors appointment......yeh, sure

It's your therapy...find a different doctor.

[Shnorky]

Thank you for your support and kind words everybody!
There are unfortunately not so many doctors around here, but yes, I will definitely look around.
Does anybody know what kind of other machine she could have meant? It's scaring me a bit.

[Pugsy]

Have no idea what she might be talking about in terms of "another machine".
What do your reports look like?
What are your pressure needs?
Any other health issues going on?

[Pap-Daddy]

The good news is that you got a 2 hour doctors appointment......yeh, sure

It's your therapy...find a different doctor.

+1
And buy your own machine - the doc is prob talking about a bi-pap for the bloating (gas pain).
Or suffer til next visit - your call.

[Shnorky]

Ah, might be. Actually the bloating is ok with the flex settings.
And my own settings were on 10-15 cmH2O. Now the machine was set on 7-18 cmH2O.
Now that's a bit confusing me - what are the needs exactly? I started at 5 and the machine couldn't keep up. Went up 1 a week until it was just below the mean value of 11.
No other known conditions. Will try to upload a report later!

[Goofproof]

Basically they rent you their machine at a high price (not even rent to own), send you out the door without any follow up for a year, then rake you over the coals because you changed your settings, ( settings they didn't catch that you had changed), Meaning, they were not monitoring your treatment period.

Over here we are fighting to screw up out healthcare system even more, so socialism can get one more hand around our throat. (U.S.A.)

Better get the software (and print out the proof of your treatment success) you need and plan to take even better care of your own health. I'd get a script, and buy my own, they wouldn't be renting to me, they would treat me civil, or I'd find someone else. Jim

[Doublev]

If it was me:
I would change the settings back to what you are comfortable with.

Do the sleep study in September.

See if the sleep study suggests a bipap or some other machine.

If the sleep study suggests something, go in that direction with the doctor.

If not, then buy a machine online and get rid of the doctor.