I am so mad

Melissa,

I just emailed you a copy of the clinician's menu for the S8 series machines.

cpapjack

chdurie2 wrote:yes, but to do that, don't you have to go into the clinical menu? on my vantage, you do. not a problem for most of us, but it's not in the patient menus either. that's why you're borrowing trouble to talk to a dme about looking at numbers, imo.

caroline

On the S8 Elite you must hold down the "Left" and "Right" buttons together until "EFFICACY DATA" appears on the screen. You then follow the prompts to view the data.

I agree, there is no reason to involve the DME, because as was pointed out they probably don't realize that it is possible anyway.

Bob

Caroline-

You don't need to go into the Clinical menu to access stats (though you CAN, if you choose to).

All you need do is hold down the left and right keys for a few moments from the "Settling" or "Ramp" screens and up'll pop you day, week month, six-month and yearly efficacy stats.

Cheers!

Hi NY Nurse.
I have a few suggestions for you. First off, it's pretty obvious your DME company is willing to really bend way over backwards for you, and I hope you stick with them! They are really awesome to be working with you the way they are.
The biggest suggestion I would have though is to actually talk to them! I mean sit down and talk with them about these questions and concerns you have. You sound like a very level-headed and intelligent person.
I am coming from the perspective of being in customer service in one fashion or another for nearly 20 years now. If there is one rule I have learned it's this:
If you come looking for a fight you will find one.
If you come thinking you are going to be ripped off, you will leave feeling the same way.
If you come believing you are going to be taken advantage of, you will walk away thinking you were.
Conversely -
If you come looking for a partner, you will find one.
If you come looking for someone to help you, you will find someone.
This is so true, no matter what. Yes there are always going to be the cases where people are just dirtbags but I suspect there are a whole lot less of those people than there are others who found what they were looking for.
I don't mean to pontificate, it's just something that is kind of near and dear to my heart since it's what I do!
As to getting a new machine, that could be tricky depending on how your insurance works. Again that would perhaps best be discussed with the dme company. Don't be afraid to contact the doctor for new very specific prescriptions if that is what's called for!

chdurie2 wrote:yes, but to do that, don't you have to go into the clinical menu? on my vantage, you do. not a problem for most of us, but it's not in the patient menus either.

The information Bob described as being available in the LCD display window on the S8 Elite and S8 Vantage is there if you look for it before twelve noon. For that matter, it was available in the S7 Spirit autopap and VPAP III bi-level I used, too.

You don't have to go into the clinical menu to pull up the "efficacy" data in the morning. You simply hold down the right user button and left user button together. Pressing those two buttons together puts you in the patient menu...won't put you into the clinical menu.

However, as best I can remember, allowing the patient to have access to see that overnight data in the "patient" menu does have to be enabled through the clinical menu. If that wasn't turned on in the clinical menu during the original setup, it won't be available in the patient menu.

You guys are so supportive, its so refreshing! Here's where I stand. I really don't think my humidifier is warming up at all. Ice cold every morning and I just let it run for 20 minutes now and still ice cold. Maybe this is why the swift was uncomfortable. I have an appt with the DMEs RT tomorrow to get a new mask and for him to look @ my machine. Of course over the phone today with him, he reassured me that this was a good machine and not a "low end model". That I really wouldn't benefit anything significant from the other machines and I am getting a good level of pressure from the escape. Again this is probably BS. But I will sit with him tomorrow and try to make sense of all this. If I leave not 100% satisified, I will go to another DMEs which I use in my business and I like. I am still waiting for the RT at the sleep lab to call me back (been waiting all day) to ask why she ordered the escape versus another model. My biggest concern is getting a mask I like, b/c irregardless of the machine, if the mask doesn't fit, then I must quit! Then I will tackle the machine. So overwhelming! I am not feeling as good as I initially did, took a nap today after work, the first one in 3 weeks. Not a happy camper. Oh well, at least I got all of you guys. Thanks for everything today!!

You might want to take a tape recorder with you... to get the facts straight...

-:)

you will learn that sleep medicine is a racket. Doctors don't like to tell you anything, DME's don't like to tell you anything.

Because they know once you find out their lies is costing you more money you will go elsewhere.

hi melissa,
yes, you can get to the clinical menu as another person wrote you, however it is not an auto cpap machine...........i had to switch from the elite to the vantage which is auto, that way if you need a variety of pressures within certain limits you can set it. at my sleep study i was titrated a 9 for pressure, after 3 months of no sleep.......and a huge fight with my dme. i got the vantage i set it for from 7-13 pressure and found that i feel best and get good numbers at 12 pressure....the folks here at the forum know the information...they've been a godsend to me........so get the machine you want!!!!!!!!!!!

I see that you have a resmed Humidaire 3i humidifier. These do not really heat up at all until level 4. I am not sure what setting you are using, but if it is lower than 4 try to turn it up to at least 4.
I also find it hard to believe that your sleep lab/sleep doctor ordered a resmed escape CPAP machine. Most of the time when a script comes in it is strictly for CPAP. Most scripts do not specify a brand or type of machine. In this area the Dr's do script for "smart technology" which is a downloadable machine. They started to do this because some of the DME's would give out the lower end non-downloadable equipment. I agree with your DME in the sense that the resmed escape is a very good machine. You are getting good treatment from the escape. You are not getting the data that would benefit your treatment. I would think that your DME and your Dr would want to know how your treatment is working.(And you, of course) I would at least ask for a downloadable machine or an auto titrating CPAP. You will need to get a script from your Doctor that states auto titrator or downloadable machine.

KansasRT wrote:I see that you have a resmed Humidaire 3i humidifier. These do not really heat up at all until level 4.

I've noticed this on my Vantage as well. Does anyone know why this is? What's the thinking behind it?