Horrible Doctor's Appointment

[Bons]

So I go to the doctor today for a follow-up to my three weeks of home titration on Bipap. Got the Bipap after I asked the DME to run my data because I didn't think it was helping. Was at the DME because I'd told her the mask she gave me hadn't fit well during the titration but she said to take it home and see what I could do with it. Three days later thanks to this site I read about ff masks that fit under my chin and went to ask for one. She'd said that I was probably just worried over nothing, saw that AHI was still pretty high and called the doctor who ordered the BiPap titration first at the sleep center and then at home. While waiting for the titration night in the lab the doctor wanted my pressure lowered to 6 from the 9 it was set at,and I called the doctor to ask why. Tech there said "if I really didn't like the idea I didn't have to do it". Bratty me said I'd do it to show them that it wasn't a good idea. My AHI went up more.
A week after starting the BiPAP I called the DME to ask if she'd print out the data for me and she said to be happy with an AHI of 8 because 7 is normal, and refused.
Today I told the doctor that I was concerned because my AHI is still averaging 6.2 over the last 5 days. He said I'm obviously not adjusting emotionally to the PAP and should go on anti-anxiety meds. HUH? I told him I've had perfect compliance, use it 7-8 hours every night, and my only complaint with it is that my AHI is still over 5 and the leaks wake me up 2-4 times a night to fix the seal. He said that my waking to the leaks is proof of my obsession over the pap. Says the whole staff is worried about my psychological well-being! Unfortunately they do know I have rare flare-ups of PSTD from child abuse because at my first titration I mentioned to the tech that I might have issues with objects on my face and air down my throat - but the mask and air don't bother me a bit. Just the leaks and the high AHI.
Any way, I told the doc I'd take the Klonopin if he thought I should have it. Then he sent me on my way and after paying the bill I asked the receptionist to remind him to give me the script, 'cause he forgot. I'm not a neurotic control freak - they are jerks!

[elena88]

OMG..

get another doctor asap!

they are stuck on a red herring.. and cant let go of it, and will never listen to you..

Im sorry you had such a horrible appointment.. dont put up with that.. find a doctor who will be your team mate, and dme too..

My dme owns his own business and started because he was treated much like you were..

Oh, it just makes ya want to get the slap machine out when people act like this!

[Janknitz]

Get the software and run your own data instead of being at the mercy of jerks.

[snuginarug]

Klonopin? Are they crazy? That is one serious drug. Personally I would not take it, even if I were having anxiety. A sleep doctor should not be treating PTSD, which it sounds like he is trying to do. If you need psychiatric meds, you need a psychiatrist. I'm not saying you need anything at all, or that you need a psychiatrist, just that it is not the job of a sleep doc to take on this role. And why, exactly, does the whole staff know anything about your psychological state? There are such a things as privacy and discretion. Oooh, just reading your post makes me mad. I'm sorry they were such jerks.

[SleepingUgly]

He said I'm obviously not adjusting emotionally to the PAP and should go on anti-anxiety meds. HUH? I told him I've had perfect compliance, use it 7-8 hours every night, and my only complaint with it is that my AHI is still over 5 and the leaks wake me up 2-4 times a night to fix the seal. He said that my waking to the leaks is proof of my obsession over the pap. Says the whole staff is worried about my psychological well-being!

I assume your doctor is not a psychiatrist. Ask him if he's aware of the legal and ethical ramifications of practicing outside his area of competence.

[snuginarug]

Amen, SleepingUgly!

[Hospiceangel]

Bons,
Run don't walk away from that doc and staff. There is a little something called a HIPPA violation that I don't think he wants to tangle with. Besides....Klonopin? Is he kidding? That will bring a whole boatload of trouble and side effects. There are more appropriate meds for anxiety and that isn't one of them. The only anxiety you seem to have is from the doc and the staff.....
Keep it up and don't stop fighting.
Shar:)

[Bons]

I really liked this guy the first time I met with him and was just shocked as all get-out today. He said he spoke with the tech in his office and the one in the sleep lab because my AHI does have him puzzled and he was looking for possible causes. And the tech at the office probably charted my questioning her why they were lowering my pressure (how dare I ask questions about my own body!). Plus he knows I pushed the DME to look at the data that first time when she did call him to suggest the BiPAP, since her call would be charted.

He says it might be sleep onset centrals, which IS connected to anxiety (ticked him off by telling him I knew about that). But an easy way to determine that is to print out the data from a couple of nights, not just looking at the stats in one lump. I've seen from you guys what data he COULD be looking at, but all he had was a one page summary.

I'm going to have to buy the software but I've been putting it off until the doc decided which type of machine I'm going to be keeping. I was too angry to pay a lot of attention as I was checking out, but the tech made a reference to "BiPAP ST" when she told me that she was calling in the order to the DME to set the parameters for my BiPAP so it's not wide open anymore. Perhaps narrowing the setting, if I'm staying on regular BiPAP will lower my AHI from what I've been reading here.

As for the Klonopin, I have taken that in the past for dental visits (one of my abusers as a child was my dentist). I don't intend to take it - just asked for the script after he forgot to give it to me to further my stating to him that I'm only challenging them because they keep screwing up!

[Tired Linda]

Run, Bons, Run!

There's so much wrong on so many levels here I don't even know where to begin.
Time to find another doc, and ditch the DME too!

Linda

[elena88]

gosh, it would be nice to get an auto bipap if you could, so much easier to hunt down your pressure range over time..

thats if you didnt have the best sleep study and titration..

Im mad about how they treated you!

geez!!!!

[chunkyfrog]

Get a LAWYER!
This has gone too far already.
They've broken the LAW!

[cflame1]

elena... that's what Bons has listed as his/her machine... an Auto Bipap!

[jabman]

Yep definitely time for a new Doc and DME and fast.

[Gerald]

I totally agree with the others who think your doctor is a jerk....but, you might consider another way to handle the situation.

Instead of going to all the trouble of firing one doctor and hiring a new one (who may also be a jerk), simply take charge of your own therapy (you need to do that anyway).....and "use" the jerk doctor to get what you want.

Really, all you need now is to get the correct mask.....and if you have a copy of your prescription, you can spend a few of your own bucks, experiment with different masks, and determine...on your own....what works. CPAP.com can furnish everything you need....so l;ong as they have your prescription.

And...once you have your own software, you can "self titrate yourself" every night...if you find it beneficial.

Short circuit their "con game" and do your own thing.

You'll come out way ahead.....and probably add comfortable and productive years to your life....if you do it yourself.

[kteague]

These kinds of stories really anger me. Experienced something similar myself. Afterward I wrote a letter telling the doctor exactly how I felt about his treatment of me. He too had seemed caring and knowledgeable in the beginning - till I had the audicity to question his word as gospel.

Your doctor, rather than find solutions, chose to cover either his incomptence or negligence by turning it around to be your fault. It's a transparent attempt to maintain some sort of image, something I've seen happen repeatedly before, not in the health realm.

Decide if he has ANY value to you at this point. Is there anyone over his head to complain to? Sorry you've had to go thru this.
Kathy