How to tell if you need to switch doctors?

Hi, I am recently diagnosed with sleep apnea, 14 AHI.

I'm having a really hard time adjusting to CPAP therapy. But what I want to ask is what I should expect out of my sleep doctor.

I purchased my Airsense 11 from Lofta rather than go through a DME. This apparently is causing an issue where my doctor can't download my CPAP data, neither online nor when I bring the SD card in for an appointment. I have OSCAR installed on my PC, and it has no trouble reading the data from the SD card.

That frustrates me, but it maybe is a moot point, because my doctor doesn't seem to be interested in analyzing the more granular data anyway. He said that all he needs is essentially the data seen by the myAir app, showing averages per night for usage, seal, events etc. At my appointment he even asked to look at my phone so he can see the myAir app data since he had no other way to see it.

The tl;dr of my CPAP issues is that my usage is around 2-3 hours per night for the past 2 months. I feel worse than before I started CPAP and I'm exhausted and frustrated. I feeI wear it when I go to sleep but I consistently take it off either on my sleep, or when I get up to pee. I've been trying many things to address it which I could detail later and share my OSCAR data, in a separate post as needed.

But what I want to ask first is: is it too much to expect my doctor to review my data at the level of detail OSCAR provides? Do I need to find a different doctor that can actually see and download my data and will put in more effort? I need more support, but I don't know how to get it. Thanks in advance.

rtbick wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:18 pm

is it too much to expect my doctor to review my data at the level of detail OSCAR provides? Do I need to find a different doctor that can actually see and download my data and will put in more effort? I need more support, but I don't know how to get it. Thanks in advance.

No, not at all. Are you willing to pay him $100s per hour to take a few hours to read it in detail?

Doctors, are not provided the same level of detail that OSCAR provides. Doctors are also unwilling to gibr clinical advice on unvetted software.

But the question is, why do you want a doctor who is inexperienced reading detail data to read your detail data.

I wish I could be more helpful!!!

I hated cpap from the start (still do to some degree), but I was able to use for 5+ hours a night from the beginning.

It's my experience most sleep doctors just want to document compliance (> 4 hours per night), and AHI < 5. They don't look at or care about the other data.

I went through 3 doctors telling me "your AHI is less than 5, keep up the good work, see you back in a year". When I complained that in many ways I felt worse than before cpap, I got "you just have to hang in there, it will get better".

It was only after finding support from other users both local and online, changing my settings myself, and eventually upgrading to an aircurve (for higher pressure support to address flow limits) that I finally started to feel better.

I never did find a sleep doctor who was any real help. My PCP writes my script for supplies.

I encourage you to post your data here, people are generally pretty helpful! And read through the old stuff, there are people who have worked through mask tolerance issues, and shared their experiences.

Good luck!!

rtbick wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:18 pm

But what I want to ask first is: is it too much to expect my doctor to review my data at the level of detail OSCAR provides? Do I need to find a different doctor that can actually see and download my data and will put in more effort? I need more support, but I don't know how to get it. Thanks in advance.

welcome to the zoo! you'll get the support you need right here. just post the images with your questions and you'll get answers.

Good sleep doctors are almost as rare as hens teeth.

I recently saw a new pulmanologist.
I showed my OSCAR print out to the PA. He almost started doing back flips. Before I left he had downloaded OSCAR and was showing it to the Doc.

That was actually the third Doc I found in 15 years who even paid attention.

I have found that Respiratory Therapists at DMEs are generally even worse. I found ONE and she retired several years ago.

I have had much better help here than from ANY of the Doctors I have visited across the spectrum from PCP to all the specialties.

My sleep doctor seems to be pretty good and is respected by my other doctors. However, I did come to a realization that most doctors are under quite a bit of time pressure from the organizations they report to. While a good one does have the expertise to digest the info shown by OSCAR for example - they simply don't have the time available to spend poring through it to do so.

I learned a lot from this group and, being retired (and having a science/lab background), did have the time. I adjusted my settings and other aspects to improve the therapy quite a bit. When I explained this to her, she looked at my results and basically said that "It's working - keep on doing what you're doing."

So, in many cases, I think it's not really the situation that the doctor is "bad" - rather that they are not given the time to do what is necessary (more a flaw of our medical system than the doctors themselves).

rtbick wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:18 pm

Do I need to find a different doctor that can actually see and download my data

You could call some sleep doctor offices and ask if the doctor uses:

- ResMed AirView (cloud-based)
- or ResMed ResScan (local, PC-based)

These are tools offered by ResMed to doctors only.

If a doctor were to use OSCAR or another software in the public domain, lawyers could rightfully claim in a patient lawsuit that this was malpractice because the software was not provided by the machine manufacturer.

rtbick wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:18 pm

I need more support, but I don't know how to get it.

Here's an easy way to get free,detailed support.

- Get a free account at SleepHQ.com
- Import the last 30 days of your SD card data
- Post the Share* link in a new thread on this forum

Members will be able to see all your data with analysis in detailed form. Zooming in to individual breaths is possible. You will get advice. I got advice that was better than any doctor ever gave me.

Hang on to your OSCAR program. If you learn what to look for in the charts, you might want to go back to using OSCAR for yourself.

I refuse to see another sleep doctor.

* The Share link has your personal information redacted.