Well I went for follow up on sleep study

[SleepyManMD]

Hi Folks

I went today for follow up. I was told I have severe sleep apnea. 33.7 on DRE scale. They said I would stop breathing on average of 3 times every two minutes throughout the study. 170 minutes without CPAP for first half and had 140+ disturbences, several PVCs, SaO2 as low as 83%. I guess this is bd. I may have had this for many years

Anyway they ordered me a Respironics CPAP machine with heated humidifier and a new nasal mask that is out. They also gave me gel-mask from Respironics. I think my pressure setting will be 8. Here we GO.................. Cant wait to feel a real sleep....


Ken

[swcompassionate]

Good luck Ken and keep us updated on your progress. Be patient with yourself if you need some time to adjust.

Maria

[Gerald]

Ken......

You're entering a "BS Zone"........be alert......don't let them give you a cheap-ass machine.

What you want is a Respironics "M" series Auto with AFLEX.

Educate yourself quickly.....cheap-ass machines don't allow you to have full data capability. They only give you "compliance data"......NOT good enough.

You need a machine that'll let you run Respironics "Viewer" Software.

Get the exact model they propose to furnish.......and if it isn't what I mentioned above, prepare for battle.

[SleepyManMD]

I think they ordered the one with cflex. Is that ok?

[Gerald]

Ken......

Read all the posts in the following thread............

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38052&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=holy+grail

it's a series of posts by a guy named Mike....who's doing it right. Follow his lead.

Read everything under the "yellow lightbulb" above........and write yourself a set of specifications......an equipment list.

Learn by reading about equipment at CPAP.com (the sponsor of this site).

Don't "trust" that those who are furnishing your equipment will "do the right thing" for you. They'll be doing the right thing for themselves by "insuring" themselves of the highest profit by furnishing cheap-ass equipment to you. That's the way this "game" is played.....and your only defense is "knowledge".

You'd better get busy.

[Chewtoy]

C-flex is a good feature, but respironics makes 3 machines with that feature: remstar M-series Plus with C-Flex, Remstar M-Series Pro with C-Flex, and Remstar M-Series Auto with C-Flex (or with A-flex, but at this point it's not a huge distinction).

What you want is either of the latter two machines, the M-Series Pro or M-Series Auto. The Auto is preferable, since it can also act as an APAP (auto-adjusting) machine, but some docs have a problem with auto machines, so the Pro is the next best machine. It provides basic compliance data (how much you actually use your machine per night, whether you use the humidifier), plus the more advanced information about your AHI and leak rate. This information will let you be a more informed part of your treatment team.

Many DME companies will try to give you the Plus model (it bills at the same rate, but costs them about $100 or so less than the Pro), with some even telling you it stores full data. It doesn't, they're either ignorant or lying.

Here is a post from the "Our Wisdom" Section (The yellow lightbulb icon above) with info about why and how to get a data capable machine.
our-collective-cpap-wisdom/insurance-DM ... -CPAP.html

Hope this helps. I'm sure there are others on this forum that can explain it better than I did. I recently went through this process and finally got the data capable machine I need.. but it took a fight.

Good night and good luck,

Jeremy

[Gerald]

Ken.....

I messed up the link to the "Holy Grail" thread.......I'll try again........

viewtopic/p337223/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3 ... il#p332414

Hopefully, this'll work better......

[LinkC]

Cant wait to feel a real sleep....

Welcome to the "hosehead club", Ken!

My first night I DREAMED for the first time in many years. It was a very emotional experience the next morning when I realized that. Now I wouldn't "dream" of sleeping without CPAP.

My DME gave me the "Plus" model, because I didn't know any better. After reading the wisdom here, I've seen the light and convinced my sleep doc to write a new prescription specifically for a data-capable machine. So, far neither the DME nor Blue Cross has squawked...but I don't have the new machine yet, either.

Good luck with your DME, and also with your therapy. I hope your experience is as good (or better!) than mine was...

[WearyOne]

Hi Folks

I went today for follow up. I was told I have severe sleep apnea. 33.7 on DRE scale. They said I would stop breathing on average of 3 times every two minutes throughout the study. 170 minutes without CPAP for first half and had 140+ disturbences, several PVCs, SaO2 as low as 83%. I guess this is bd. I may have had this for many years

Anyway they ordered me a Respironics CPAP machine with heated humidifier and a new nasal mask that is out. They also gave me gel-mask from Respironics. I think my pressure setting will be 8. Here we GO.................. Cant wait to feel a real sleep....

Ken

Yes, here you go!! You may take to it right away, or it may take a while to work out all the kinks and get things right. Just don't get discouraged!!

Respironics machines are good; I have one and really like it. As someone else mentioned, the Respironics "M" series Auto with AFLEX is great. (Auto machines can be set to run in regular cpap, too. Some people do better in cpap mode instead of auto.) But you can easily get the data you need with the machine I have, which is the Respironics M series Pro with Cflex. Whatever you do, don't let them give you a Respironics Plus. The only data that machine collects is compliance, meaning how much you've used the machine.

Please keep posting and let us know how your journey is going!

Pam

[Jason S.]

I guess I have a different take than others. Take the machine that was calibrated for you based on the sleep study that was titrated for you by professionals. The only meaningful indicator on the effectiveness of the therapy is how you feel. If you don't feel significantly better from the therapy, then it is time to go back and try to obtain more information. Obsessing over numbers which may not relate to how you feel is not a good thing. It only leads to undue focus and anxiety about the effectiveness of the therapy, which in turn can only aggravate your ability to get a good night's sleep. Sleep is a natural thing - just do it!

[SharkBait]

I guess I have a different take than others. Take the machine that was calibrated for you based on the sleep study that was titrated for you by professionals. The only meaningful indicator on the effectiveness of the therapy is how you feel. If you don't feel significantly better from the therapy, then it is time to go back and try to obtain more information. Obsessing over numbers which may not relate to how you feel is not a good thing. It only leads to undue focus and anxiety about the effectiveness of the therapy, which in turn can only aggravate your ability to get a good night's sleep. Sleep is a natural thing - just do it!

I'm a numbers guy. I sleep better knowing where my numbers are and it also helps me stay with it...

I never felt bad in the morning (although I do now feel a change in the clarity of my head), so I need the numbers to let me know if I'm doing the right thing and am on track. I could see it being easier to slip into denial mode without seeing the "proof" every morning of a 2-3 AHI vs 74...

But you're right, to each their own...

[tomjax]

Jason S,
You have a beautiful face that makes millions swoon, but I think you need to examine your advice.

You have far too much confiednce in the docs.
A person concerned with his/her health should try to learn as much as possible.

Rely on your own by first learning.

Realize that the subjective feeling is all you have with plain CPAP.
Know what is happening with a data capable machine.

check your premise.

[Jason S.]

Realize that the subjective feeling is all you have with plain CPAP.
Know what is happening with a data capable machine.

One can only interpret your ridiculous twist of logic as:

If you saw your own heart monitor flat line, you would assume that you were dead.

[Kiralynx]

I guess I have a different take than others. Take the machine that was calibrated for you based on the sleep study that was titrated for you by professionals. The only meaningful indicator on the effectiveness of the therapy is how you feel. If you don't feel significantly better from the therapy, then it is time to go back and try to obtain more information. Obsessing over numbers which may not relate to how you feel is not a good thing. It only leads to undue focus and anxiety about the effectiveness of the therapy, which in turn can only aggravate your ability to get a good night's sleep. Sleep is a natural thing - just do it!

Let's see. I've never laid eyes on the doc who scored either of my sleep studies. The doctor who sent me for the study is a pain management doctor who acknowledges that she has traced the connection between sleep disordered breathing and chronic pain, but she is not an SDB specialist. My machine was set up by an RT who is very good, but who went with a standard set-up based on a titration which involved (as I now know, but did not at the time of the titration), significant mouth-breathing.

Without the software, I would never have realized that my leak rate was more than double what was allowed for my mask.

According to the information on my machine, if the leak rate is too high, the algorithm can't cope with the disorders.

Without the software, I would never have realized that the EPAP that I struggled to breathe against was too high and was causing centrals.

Without the software, I would never have taken the steps to have my prescription corrected to one which worked for me.

Without the software, I would never have taken the steps to correct the mouth breathing.

NOW it is a matter of just putting my mask on and sleeping. But without the software, I wouldn't have reached this point a mere three months into my therapy.

Think on it.

[Jason S.]

I am happy your machine readings have helped you with your therapy. My point is that a data capable machine is not imperative to achieving good results, as others have proferred. It is but one way. Think about how many people use non-data CPAP daily without a thought. CPAP users on message boards represent an extremely small fraction and frankly statistically insignificant portion of the population of CPAP users. Because you frequent a message board, you must realize you are getting very skewed indicators of CPAP problems as posted by users, people with doctor issues, people with mask issues, people with machine issues, people with DME issues etc. If you didn't have a problem, chances are you wouldn't be here!

By and large most CPAP users receive successful therapy as initially prescribed by their doctors. You wouldn't know that basing your opinion solely by reading this board, but that is a fact. They just don't come on a message board and obsess over this and obsess over that. The take their treatment nightly and go about their lives.

Having said that, I want to say that most people on this board are extremely helpful, friendly, and open-minded about how CPAP can work, and are not force-feeding what has worked for them onto others under the guise of experience.