Our Sleep Doctors - My Wish . . .

[WonderlandGirl]

Perhaps many of your sleep doctors already do . .

I would like all of our sleep doctors become members of this (or other) SA Forums.

My sleep doctor is highly thought of - but I have had some problems lately and he wasn't responsive to me at all. Very disappointing I must say.

If our doctors would read some our frustrations - that would be fantastic! They could learn so much from all of us.

Many people, in whatever business field they have chosen (doctor, lawyer, chef, secretary, bus driver, etc) oftentimes become complacent.

Most of what I have learned in the last month (I've only been on CPAP for 12 days), I learned on my own, or from other CPAP users like you. Really, who better to learn from than those who use them?

I must admit though, that I wish my doctor had given me more.

I received a fairly brief chat with the doctor after I filled out a questionnaire, then a tour of the sleep center (with a tech). Came in for my sleep study and had a wonderful tech. Received call the next day that I need to be on CPAP and tech was ready to order machine for me. Went and got machine and mask, along with instructions. Used CPAP that night and since then. AHI has lowered from 108 to 0.5. Great results. Received sleep doctors summary and numbers in the mail. As time goes on becoming more , and more tired. Feeling awful and couldn't function well at all. Met with sleep doctor. I was very emotional and couldn't stop the tears. He doesn't understand why I am more tired. I explained that I am obsessively eating to try and fuel my body and I cannot stop it. I feel like a zombie. I needed help. He tells me to cut down on what I eat and don't eat so often. Really? Did he not hear me???! I felt like I was on the ground and needed to be scooped up I was so tired. I'm okay with machine and mask. Fall asleep in about 15-20 minutes. Pretty much sleep through the night. No tossing and turning. Bathroom trips in the middle of the night have stopped (YAY!). I asked for prescription so I can function. No can do. I was ready to turn myself into the hospital. So he ups my pressure from a 9 to a 10. Why? My numbers are great on the existing pressure. So, I went in and got my pressure upped. Traci printed out my data off of the SD card. Great #'s - no leaks. Got another mask (full this time in case I get a cold and can't breathe through the nose). Started drinking Diet Mountain Dew so I can function. Works okay. Eyes are still tired, but I can do my job now. Last night was first time on a pressure of 10. Whoa! Huge difference for me and didn't sleep well. Hard to adjust to, but I'll stick with it.


If there are any sleep doctors out there that read our posts - Thank you!

Here are some suggestions I would like to give to our sleep doctors:
- Please prepare your patient with succinct information - but have more detailed information if asked for.
- Provide information on most of the available masks - pro's and con's
- What are the common and uncommon side affects of SA?
- What we can expect with the CPAP? Risks? Concerns?
- Success stories
- Review the sleep study data with your patient in person as part of the sleep study process (no added charge).
- Listen to your patients. There is a lot of fear with this disorder and using CPAP isn't always an overnight success. Sometimes we need to tweak things. Sometimes we need YOUR help to just function. I'm not fond of taking prescription medicine, but I sure could have used some help. But you don't know me. You don't know that I would never abuse drugs. You don't know that I would only use this presciption if needed. But if you took the time to get to know me and developed a relationship, or check with my primary doctor - you would learn these things. Instead, I walked away with little respect for you. I desperately needed your help, and I never got it.
- Anyone else want to add anything?

Thank you so much for letting me get this off of my chest. XOXO

[Pugsy]

Now that you have got that off your chest...that should help a little.
Could you please take the time to go the User Control panel and your Profile, then the equipment tab and list the equipment in text please so we don't have to ask all the time what you are using.

Once we know which machine we can maybe point you to the direction of software so you can get your own reports and see if there is anything there that might impact how you feel.
If not then maybe we need to look at other suspects.
We have to start with the daily reports first to see if anything needs to be improved there.
Then we can talk about other possible causes for not feeling as good as you want to.

Welcome to the forum and we are more than willing to help.

[WonderlandGirl]

I hope it shows up.

[Janknitz]

There are some great sleep doctors out there, but I believe that most of them are just in it for the money. I had a highschool classmate that became a radiologist. When my husband met him at a reunion, he explained his decision to become a radiologist in particular was that he wanted "to make a lot of money and never have to touch a patient" (obviously not an interventional radiologist). He just sits in his office and charges a boatload of money to read X-rays and dictate reports.

Likewise sleep doctors. Sleep medicine is a cash cow. You get a good office manager to run the sleep clinic (you certainly don't see the doctor there at night!), hire techs to staff the lab, and make a boat load of money interpreting the data. Many sleep doctors NEVER see the patient at all, or if they do, they try to keep that contact to a minimum. They are happy to send you back to your primary care physician for follow-up, and expect the DME's to deal with the hands on issues with the CPAP machines and masks. They sit back and count the money.

Sorry to sound so cynical, but that's the reality all too often. It's a rare sleep physician who will actually see the patient and work with the patient to problem solve issues. Even if they see you, they don't want to spend too much time with you--Medicare and most insurance companies pay a LOT for sleep testing, very little for follow-up.