Clinician Locks on xPAPs

[VikingGnome]

Viking, Question, in 12 years why did it never occur to you,even if you weren't told, to make a Dr's followup appointment considering that you're using prescribed medical equipment? Weren't you the least bit "curious" to know how your treatment was going?

I didn't think my CPAP was a problem because I didn't have any symptoms that told things were not right. No daytime sleepiness until past 6 months. I slept well every night.

I think part of the worsening occurred in the past year only. I suddenly started gaining weight after being stable for 10 years at the same weight. I gained 20 pounds in 6 months and it was alarming. When I first talked to my Internal Medicine Doctor, he suspected hypothyroidism (weight gain, sleepiness, lack of energy). I did have an elevated TSH but he didn't follow-up with free T3 and T4 to make a definitive diagnosis. Because he was thinking thyroid problems, I really didn't even think sleep apnea problems. 12 years without symptoms seem to indicate to me everything was ok. So "if it's not broke, leave it alone."

[yawnny]

What about those scary user adjustable altitude settings on some machines? Can we trust that the average "Joe" has the smarts to use his GPS to determine the correct altitude? What if someone forgets to reset his/her altitude after returning from Denver to New Orleans. I get shivers just thinking about it.

[idamtnboy]

Interesting quote here, though I can't vouch for its authenticity.

Peter Farrell, the Founder of ResMed, is notorious in the Sleep Medicine establishment for saying “The only way you can get injured by one of our machines, at least the low level ones, is if somebody picks the goddamn thing up and slams you over the head with it.”

[NateS]

Would both sides to this argument find the following study helpful:

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/content/1 ... 6.full.pdf

Can Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Titrate Their Own Continuous Positive Airway Pressure?
Michael F. Fitzpatrick, Christi E. D. Alloway, Tracy M. Wakeford, Alistair W. MacLean, Peter W. Munt, and Andrew G. Day
Departments of Medicine and Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Respectfully,

Nate

[Slinky]

Interesting quote here, though I can't vouch for its authenticity.

Peter Farrell, the Founder of ResMed, is notorious in the Sleep Medicine establishment for saying “The only way you can get injured by one of our machines, at least the low level ones, is if somebody picks the goddamn thing up and slams you over the head with it.”

Actually, that quote, almost verbatim, was originally expressed by Dr Sullivan, the original developer of CPAP therapy and one of the founders of what was to become Resmed. Ever wonder why the earliest Resmeds were called Sullivans??? Now you know.

[zinkemomx2]

Perhaps you would be happier over at the "other" apnea board where the cpap police reside and lowly cpap users aren't considered to be intelligent enough to have an active say in their therapy because we are too stupid to understand it and doctors walk on water and never ever screw up.
I bet you would fit right in over there. If you stay here just wait till you see someone try to help someone that is broke with no insurance try to self diagnose or self treat.

That would certainly explain why I got NO help from over there. I am one of those broke with no insurance folks. I saved for a year and a half to be able to afford to pay for the sleep study out of pocket. Thankfully they worked with me and I got quite a nice cash discount. The only reason I had a machine at all was because my step dad got upgraded so I was using his 6 year old machine. The sleep clinic donated my masks. I am in contact via phone and email with the sleep center and thankfully she fully supports my self monitoring and any adjustments I feel I need to make> I probably would visit in person if it weren't for the 3 hour round trip.

I am very grateful for all the help I have gotten here.