Learning lexicon of cpap terms

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:20 am

May sound dumb but what does DME stand for?
Still new at this.
Hurricane

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:53 am

I believe it is Durable Medical Equipment.

TM

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:25 am

tmailberger is right.

On the message boards "DME" is also an ungrammatical handy shorthand way of referring to the local bricks-and-mortar home health care supplies stores -- the stores themselves, or employees who work for them.

Examples:

"My DME is Apria." (the store)

"My DME is so nice...she let me try 6 masks." (the employee)

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:02 am

Hurricane wrote:May sound dumb but what does DME stand for?
Still new at this.
Hurricane

Dedicated Money Extractors

Den

linda b · Post by **linda b** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:08 am

Wulfman, you made me laugh outloud!!! Thanks, I needed that today.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:58 am

linda b wrote:Wulfman, you made me laugh outloud!!! Thanks, I needed that today.

ANY TIME! We have to have a sense of humor about this condition we have and the therapy we use.
In all fairness, there are quite a few good ones out there (DMEs and RTs) and some of them frequent this forum.....and in the case of KansasRT's post this morning, there are times that they REALLY earn their pay.

Best wishes,

Den

IORHHI · Post by **IORHHI** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:38 pm

While we're listing terms, there are a number used here that don't pop up in that clever little dictionary at the bottom of one's post. Some I have worked out, some I haven't. Here's a list
AHI -- apnea/hypopnea index, from sleep study.
OSA -- obstructive sleep apnea, where the airway is blocked and the body is trying to breathe
CSA -- Central Sleep apnea, where the central nervous system (CNS)"forgets" to tell the body to breathe
CSR -- Cheyne-Stokes Respiration -- a form of CSA where the breath becomes progressively shorter and shallower, pauses completely, and then after a period starts the cycle over
SDB -- sleep disordered breathing
CSDB-- complex sleep disordered breathing
REM -- rapid eye movement sleep, during which dreaming occurs, and when the muscles are most relaxed and OSA is most likely to occur.
PLMD -- periodic leg movement disorder, moving limbs sometimes dramatically while asleep, somehow related to apnea?(also called PLMS
RLS -- restless leg syndrome, different from PLMD; twitchy restless legs make it hard to go to sleep. Apnea related?
DME -- durable medical equipment (or the company or employees)
RT -- respiratory therapist
rain out -- mask condensation
IPAP -- Inhale positive Air Pressure
EPAP -- Exhale Positive Air Pressure
VPAP -- Resmed's bi-level machine
xpap -- any generic positive air pressure machine
PSGS -- polysomnogram study; sleep study. Occasionally you'll see it written NPSG (nocturnal polysomnogram.)"A polysomnograph is a test of sleep cycles and stages through the use of continuous recordings of brain waves (EEG), electrical activity of muscles, eye movement (electrooculogram), breathing rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rhythm and direct observation of the person during sleep."
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 003932.htm

PSG -- poly - many, somno - sleep, gram = (graph) are all those things recorded about you as you sleep.

RPSGT -- registered polysomnogram technician. Sleep tech who has passed a board exam for certification.

RRT -- registered respiratory therapist. Respiratory tech who has passed a board exam for certification.

I'll post more as I find them.
Blessings,
Barbara

_ah, I see some of them are in the dictionary.________________

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:52 pm

Barbara,

Ya done good!
You had SBD.....did you mean SDB?
SDB is Sleep Disordered Breathing.

Den

IORHHI · Post by **IORHHI** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:00 pm

Thanks, Wulfman. I did mean SDB, and I added your definition. Do we need REM too?
REM -- rapid eye movement sleep, during which dreaming occurs, and when the muscles are most relaxed and OSA is most likely to occur.

Barbara

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:15 pm

Agrees with Den, "Ya done good."

To fill out Barbara's great list some more:

CSDB = Complex Sleep Disordered Breathing.

VPAP = resmed's tradename for their bi-level machines.

BiPAP = Respironics' tradename for their bi-level machines. Often "bipap" is used generically to talk about any brand of bi-level machine.

xpap = any kind of "cpap" machine...x stands for the first part (cpap, bipap, vpap, autopap, etc.)

PSG = polysomnogram. Occasionally you'll see it written NPSG (nocturnal polysomnogram.) The sleep study.
"A polysomnograph is a test of sleep cycles and stages through the use of continuous recordings of brain waves (EEG), electrical activity of muscles, eye movement (electrooculogram), breathing rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rhythm and direct observation of the person during sleep."
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 003932.htm

RPSGT = registered polysomnogram technician. Sleep tech who has passed a board exam for certification.

RRT = registered respiratory therapist. Respiratory tech who has passed a board exam for certification.

IORHHI · Post by **IORHHI** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:49 pm

Thanks, RG. That solves some more mysteries.
Blessings,
Barbara

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:20 pm

Rested Gal wrote:PSG = polysomnogram. Occasionally you'll see it written NPSG (nocturnal polysomnogram.) The sleep study.
"A polysomnograph is a test of sleep cycles and stages through the use of continuous recordings of brain waves (EEG), electrical activity of muscles, eye movement (electrooculogram), breathing rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rhythm and direct observation of the person during sleep."
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 003932.htm

Poly = many
Somno = sleep
Gram = (graph) are all those things recorded about you as you sleep.

O.

IORHHI · Post by **IORHHI** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:46 pm

As you can see, I'm adding your definitions and additions as you post them. Thanks so much friends, it makes my reading through the forum so much easier.
Blessings,
Barbara

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:33 pm

Barbara,

I kinda noticed that your list was getting longer.....
When I saw Rested Gal's post, I didn't recall seeing those ones that she defined when I made my post about the Sleep Disordered Breathing and wondered how I missed them. Then I saw that the post had been edited and figured it out.

Den

IORHHI · Post by **IORHHI** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 12:20 am

Yeah, allowing us to edit our own posts can turn a thread into a bit of a mystery, when things vanish and then show up elsewhere.
I was compiling all the answers with eye to giving people something to cut and paste, all in one place.
Sorry if I confused you.
Blessings,
Barbara

Learning lexicon of cpap terms

Learning lexicon of cpap terms

Re: Learning lexicon of cpap terms