Questions About In Home Testing

1. Does anyone know if any of the machines allow the user to see the test results? I am sick and tired of having tests done and then waiting a week or more until a doctor finally gets the results to me. But my much bigger concern is that my testing with my oximeter, as well as ongoing sleeping experiences, suggests to me that my apnea may only exhibit itself under certain circumstances. One of them is sleeping on my back, which ironically is impossible for me, except when I fall asleep on my side and move to my back during sleep, which of course I cannot control.

So I'd like to be able to see the results to know if I should keep testing. As an example, on day 3 of testing with my oximeter my oxygen level dropped to 85 during sleep at which point the oxygen alarm woke me up. But on day 1 and 2 no such drop. If I could somehow see the results myself I'd know I am sending them results where it's actually happening.

2. Are any of the testing units compatible with sleepyhead software? Sleepyhead lists these machines, but I don't know if it can read from any of the testing machines:

Supports Philips Respironics System One Machines
Supports ResMed S9 and AirSense 10 CPAP machines
Supports DeVilbiss Intellipap machines
Supports Fisher & Paykel Icon machines
Supports Contec CMS50D+/E/F/I/H Oximeters, ResMed S9 and PRS1 oximeter attachment

Thanks

Heart Jumping wrote:2. Are any of the testing units compatible with sleepyhead software?

Unanswerable question without knowing what machine is used for the test.

Many people control not back sleeping by using foam wedges in behind, or sewing tennis balls to their jammies, etc. etc...

Krelvin wrote:

Heart Jumping wrote:2. Are any of the testing units compatible with sleepyhead software?

Unanswerable question without knowing what machine is used for the test.

It's not an unanswerable question. The entire point of the question is if someone knows of a unit that is compatible, then I'm going to request that unit.

Julie wrote:Many people control not back sleeping by using foam wedges in behind, or sewing tennis balls to their jammies, etc. etc...

Thanks very much. I have tried placing things behind my back with little luck, so I'm actually having velcro pockets for tennis balls sewn onto the backs of some tshirts today!

But of course I still want to make sure the core issue has been determined and properly addressed .

Heart Jumping wrote:

Krelvin wrote:

Heart Jumping wrote:2. Are any of the testing units compatible with sleepyhead software?

Unanswerable question without knowing what machine is used for the test.

It's not an unanswerable question. The entire point of the question is if someone knows of a unit that is compatible, then I'm going to request that unit.

and you'll get whatever they have.

I think you'd have a better shot if you got an *.edf reader.

Heart Jumping wrote:

Krelvin wrote:

Heart Jumping wrote:2. Are any of the testing units compatible with sleepyhead software?

Unanswerable question without knowing what machine is used for the test.

It's not an unanswerable question. The entire point of the question is if someone knows of a unit that is compatible, then I'm going to request that unit.

You are making a big leap and assumption that you can request something specific. Chances are you can't. You rarely get to ask what you want, they say , here, use this. It also may not even be a typical CPAP machine but rather a test device which is a closed system which won't let you do anything with it.

The home test equipment I used didn't display anything at all. I agree with Krelvin that you will not have an option, you will get what they have and I suspect that it will not be anything that will tell you a thing. In a way it is kind of like any other medical test, you will not be told a thing even if the person giving you the test knows at that very moment what the test has revealed.

Krelvin wrote:You are making a big leap and assumption that you can request something specific.

How do you know what big leaps and assumptions I'm making? That is a big leap and assumption on your part. I said I'd request the unit. It doesn't mean I think I'm guaranteed to get it. Maybe I have pictures of my doctor cheating on his wife and am confident he'll do everything possible to get me the machine I want. Maybe if I have to I'm willing to throw a few K at this. You could have just said "I don't know".

sptrout wrote:
The home test equipment I used didn't display anything at all. I agree with Krelvin that you will not have an option, you will get what they have and I suspect that it will not be anything that will tell you a thing. In a way it is kind of like any other medical test, you will not be told a thing even if the person giving you the test knows at that very moment what the test has revealed.

Thanks for the info on what you used, that's what I guessed. I don't disagree with anything you say, but where there is a will there is sometimes a way, so I want to see if I can figure out how to pull the info off of whatever machine I use myself.

morbius wrote: I think you'd have a better shot if you got an *.edf reader.

Thanks, I looked that up and it's an interesting lead. Looks like there is software readily available to read that. Of course some of these machines may protect themselves from being read via any number of means. Still, it's something to look into.

Heart Jumping wrote:

morbius wrote: I think you'd have a better shot if you got an *.edf reader.

Thanks, I looked that up and it's an interesting lead. Looks like there is software readily available to read that. Of course some of these machines may protect themselves from being read via any number of means. Still, it's something to look into.

I use Polyman quite a bit. Maximus isn't bad. Just ask them to "Save As" the study as an edf (if their software allows it).

Or in a pinch, I have some of the HST readers. I could take a look at it.

Heart Jumping wrote:2. Are any of the testing units compatible with sleepyhead software? Sleepyhead lists these machines, but I don't know if it can read from any of the testing machines:

sleepyhead works with CPAP machines.

home sleep test devices are not cpap machines, they function completely differently, and record different data.

so, no.

Morbius wrote:
I use Polyman quite a bit. Maximus isn't bad. Just ask them to "Save As" the study as an edf (if their software allows it).

Or in a pinch, I have some of the HST readers. I could take a look at it.

Cool, thanks! I just did a little more poking around and was surprised by how readily available it appears software is. In the industry I'm in a lot of hardware and/or the files on it are password protected at the discretion of the owner, using this as an analogy the sleep center could set a machine so that you either can't retrieve the file without a password, or even if you can retrieve it can't open it without a password. Do you know if that is likely with these test machines? What are the chances I'll be able to pull the file off the machine AND open it?

Heart Jumping wrote:...using this as an analogy the sleep center could set a machine so that you either can't retrieve the file without a password, or even if you can retrieve it can't open it without a password. Do you know if that is likely with these test machines? What are the chances I'll be able to pull the file off the machine AND open it?

Do not know.