Would you be happy with a compliance only machine?

[jedimark]

It's been said recently that having a fully data capable machines is a deluxe feature and a luxury item..

Do you personally agree?

Would you be willing to purchase or accept a compliance only machine?

I know polls like this can be a little silly sometimes, but I'd like to invite everyone to express their opinion on this,
as I think it's very important doctors, providers and manufacturers know our feelings on this issue.

[nobody]

It's been said recently that a fully data capable machine is a deluxe feature and a luxury item..

Do you personally agree?

Would you be willing to purchase or accept a compliance only machine?

I know polls like this can be a little silly sometimes, but I'd like to invite everyone to express their opinion on this,
as I think it's very important doctors, providers and manufacturers know our feelings on this issue.

I continued to feel tired and have problems after several months on the CPAP with 100% compliance. The sleep doctor wanted to see the data from the machine to help figure out what was going on. Without it I would have had to have more sleep studies which I suspect cost a lot more than the machine did. Also, the pressure the lab found during the titration study was too low for me. It would have taken more time, effort and cost to figure things out without that data capable machine. So I think it's not just for those of us who want to take active part in our treatment, it also helps the doctor figure things out when someone is still tired during the day after using the CPAP a while.

[nanwilson]

I voted NO, as I did buy a compliance only brick...but I was fortunate enough to purchase my M-series auto from
another member here. Now I explicitly know how my therapy is going each and every day. With a compliant only machine how do we know if we are getting optimum therapy...quite frankly there should be only auto machines on the market.
Cheers
Nan

[LSAT]

I have used a compliance only machine for 3.5 years. I also have as my SPARE a Resmed S8 AUTO II . I love my brick and use it 99% of the time. It is quieter and has no rainout. I pull out my Resmed once or twice a year to check to see if my pressure needs changing....The changes have been insignifigant in the 3.5 years.

[Kairosgrammy]

I voted no, myself (although I think everyone did). I was required to get a data capapble machine by sleep doc because my sleep study was inconclusive. I think too that from the way he acted (he seemed surprised that I didn't already have one and when I said it didn't he said, well you will have to have one), that he thought they were a necessity to monitor someone's treatment, not just from a usage standpoint. After all, I can turn my cpap on every nite. It's on but it doesn't mean I'm connected to it.

Even if the person using the machine never looks at the data, the doctor can so I'd think they'd require it. It seems that would be cheaper for the insurance company (although they aren't too farsighted. I wanted weight loss surgery and they won't pay so now they are paying for all the things that my obesity causes which I would think by this point, costs more than the weight loss surgery) If they would pay for autoset or at the very least data capable machines, the few extra hundred dollars would certainly be cheaper than more and more sleep studies. With data/autoset, a sleep study could often be avoided.

It's been said recently that having a fully data capable machines is a deluxe feature and a luxury item..

Do you personally agree?

Would you be willing to purchase or accept a compliance only machine?

I know polls like this can be a little silly sometimes, but I'd like to invite everyone to express their opinion on this,
as I think it's very important doctors, providers and manufacturers know our feelings on this issue.

[Slinky]

HALE NO!!!!!!!

Not that my sleep doctor gives a rat's rear about the data - BUT - I DO - and I'm the important part of the equation. I wanna keep an eye on the trends in my sleep. I don't have to do the wasteful "well visits". I call for an appointment when and if I need him.

[Elle]

I was happy with my compliance only machine for years because I didn't know the difference. I found out when I got my data machine that my pressure had been way too low so I am happy now to have the data machine.

I know 3 people on cpap who are not interested in data machines. They are so happy to see the difference cpap made in their lives that they don't think anything more is needed. I think many more people than not are content to go with the simplest method as long as they feel ok.

[DocWeezy]

My titration study was inconclusive--I slept so little that the doc admitted there was no way he could even guess at a pressure. Fortunately, I used the DME there at the hospital (owned by the hospital) and they ONLY provide top of the line fully data capable auto machines so my only machine choice was whether I wanted a ResMed or Respironics brand (and the DME has continued to be wonderful--knowledgeable and supportive, and both RTs I've worked with have OSA and use xpaps).

I told the doc up front at my 2-week follow up that I was adjusting my own pressure and he was thrilled. I used it in auto for about 10 months, tightening the effective range, and then switched to straight cpap (fewer awakenings due to pressure changes). Now I check my pressure using the auto feature about every 2 to 3 months and adjust my cpap pressure if necessary.

I'm one of those who probably would not have persevered without full data (and learning everything here). My adjustment to xpap was horrible and rough, taking many months. Seeing and knowing the data helped me to stay on track and keep going, along with adjusting my pressures as necessary to find that sweet spot.

Knowledge is power, and in this case, it is the power to take control and maximize my treatment.

Weezy

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

People think responsibility is hard to bear. It’s not. I think that sometimes it is the absence of responsibility that is harder to bear. You have a great feeling of impotence.
— Henry Kissinger

I vote NO!

My body, my treatment. To me, being passive, submissive, and blindly following because I am not an 'expert' in OSA treatment (so how couldn't I possibly understand), is irresponsible and counter productive to my goal of quality sleep and improved health. I feel it should also be counter productive to the goals of those we turn to for medical help, expertise, support, and necessary treatment products/supplies (assuming that profits are never put before the health of the patient. )

For some in the equation it is a closet containing dusty machines, and ever worsening health. My ultimate goal is to eventually wear out the XPAP machine blower through self 'compliant' use! As for me, I want to be a active participant through becoming educated, through careful documentation of what works and what does not work, and by being truly dedicated to myself and my family to doing whatever it takes for a lifetime of successful treatment and use.

John

[RocketGirl]

My sleep doctor insisted that I get a data-capable machine - there was no discussion on that point, and no balking on it from the insurance company. My sleep studies were quite thoroughly conclusive, so for me it wasn't a question of not having everything dialed in yet.

The doctor's reasoning is that, unless unforseen problems develop, once we did the 30-day compliance visit, I will not be seeing her for an entire year and that's a long time to be simply hoping that the therapy is going well. There needs to be data beyond compliance to troubleshoot any issues if they should happen to occur. In other words, she was thinking ahead on how to ensure that this therapy would actually make improvements in my condition, and how to ensure that enough information would be there to fix problems if they arose. (They haven't arisen, largely because I can monitor my data and sort out the source of problems, e.g. leaks, before they adversely affect therapy.)

(She is a very good sleep doctor.)

[cflame1]

I went with no... there's no way that I could have dealt with having a compliance only machine right now especially. I moved last year and haven't found a sleep doc or a DME, and no way to spare the time to go back to the sleep lab for yet another night or two.

[DoriC]

No, Never! It's the most essential feature along with the right mask. My husband's therapy has been so erratic that I don't know where I'd be without the data and lots of help from the experts here.

[robysue]

At the time I voted, it was 24 NO to 1 Yes.

For me: My doc would only write a generic script and when I asked about full data machines, he blew me off saying that I'd feel better in two weeks and that only "complicated" cases needed full data machines.

Yeah, right.

Folks who've been here long enough know what happened: Within two weeks, I was a walking basket case with the worst case of "crash and burn" in terms of daytime functioning that I've ever gone through in my entire life. I went from being reasonably functional during the daytime to not functioning at all. With a growing and nasty insomnia monster in my bedroom at night. There is something truly ironic about being told to use a machine to fix your sleep and have that machine trigger every OSA symptom in the book when you didn't have that many to begin with.

The only reason I didn't return the machine and get on with my life is that it was a full data machine. And I could see that when I was asleep, it was indeed taking care of preventing the vast majority of apneas and hypopneas. My diagnostic RDI/AHI was 23.1, most of which was "hypopneas with arousal" scored under AASM Rule 4B. My nightly AHI in the early going was typically in the 0.5 to 2.0 range. So clearly the machine was doing its job. And it was up to me to figure out how to do my job of teaching myself how to sleep with the machine. The PA I was working with at the time provided critical support (initially) in battling my insomnia beast. And after about 5 or 5 1/2 months of therapy (and four sleep studies, including three titration studies), the PA finally got a workable pressure that I could tolerate AND I was starting to sleep enough for the machine to finally start making some small, but important differences in how I felt.

More work and more time has followed. It's now about 11 months after I first started to notice subjective improvement in how I felt when I woke up. Most days now, I can tell the machine is doing me good. The insomnia monster is now marginally under control, but still needs constant attention to keep him tied up. On my best days, I can get 6 or even occasionally 6 1/2 hours of sleep that is not interrupted by apneas, hypopneas, or machine-caused arousals. And on these days I wake up feeling much younger than I have in a long time. I continue to work hard to increase the percentage of these "best" days.

But had I started on this adventure with the S9 Escape that the first several DMEs wanted to "give" me? I doubt seriously that I would have made it even two months without totally abandoning therapy. And I'd still be sleeping with untreated (but not undiagnosed) OSA. I'd likely still have chronic headaches and I'd still be waking up with my hands and feet in fists every morning (and with lots of hand and feet pain.) And slowly but surely getting worse in terms of daytime functioning and daytime fatigue. With the new diagnosis of osteoporosis, I'd be struggling mightily to find the energy each day for the 30+ minute walk that my PCP wants me to take each and every day. As it is now, I only struggle to make time for the walk and that's becoming less of an issue because most of the time I enjoy the walk because I've got more energy now than I had before this Adventure in Hosehead Land started.

So is a full data machine a luxury or a deluxe item? No way. It ought to be the case that every new CPAPer is automatically given such a machine. If they choose to not look at the data, that's fine. But denying folks access to that data in the first plase is simply bad medicine.

[HoseCrusher]

No.

Well, what I really meant was NO!

Actually that is HELL NO!!!

I could go on, but the bottom line is NO, NO, NO!!!

Happiness is full data, and it doesn't matter if you use it every day or not.

[DoriC]

Hose Crusher, are you sure??