well, i did it. I just bought an oximeter !

One with PC upload capabilities.


Anyone interested in a rental

I can certainly appreciate the benefit of software, after all, I have the Encore 1.8, and check things like "leak rate" all the time (helps me determine what mask works best for me). My Encore software has also motivated me to raise my pressure as well, after seeing I could benefit from something a little higher than 9.

Having said that, about the only thing I need (emphasis on the "I"), from any sort of monitoring device, is verification I am maintaining a certain level of oxygen. That's not to say "you" don't benefit from having the ability to monitor and document a variety of stats.

By coincidence, I had been researching these devices just this morning, and noticed your post this afternoon. The one conclusion I had reached is that I was not interested in just the small finger model (no memory or software).

Great minds think alike.

Cliff

Could these be used to test someone for osa? My son may have osa and I asked the forum about testing him and many people said it may be bad to have the medical people know about his osa (if he has it) and then he will be forever pegged as having osa. This may make it hard to get insurance later among other problems. They suggested using my apap to do a "test" on him. I was tested for osa at home (with Kaiser) using an oximeter (I think) well it tested of oxygen levels and heart rate among other things. Would one of these oxymeters work to help me determine if he has osa? It would be a lot easier than hooking a mask up to him.
Thanks

Painterman.....I think your idea is right on target. With EncorePro along with a recording Oximeter, I think you can do an excellent job of testing him.

The only suggestion I can make over and above using an Oximeter....and the equipment you already have.....is James Skinner's Analyzer software. I found it to be first rate....and it helped me tweak my pressure settings to near perfection.

Analyzer helps one understand where the "sweet spot" is....when attempting to tweak the pressure settings. EncorePro is not enough by itself.

Send James a few bucks....as many of us have....if you like his program....and find it useful.

Gerald

Gerald, thank you for your reply. Do you or anyone else have any idea which oximeter would be best and is the software really neccesary? It seems rather expensive. Can you read the results on the oximeter itself?
Thanks in advance!

I've used both the SPO Pulseox 7500 and the Nonin Wristox 3100. I think they are both good units. I personally liked the software with the SPO better than ProFox but in the end they both give you the data you need. I bought the Nonin since it seemed that Nonin had a slightly better reputation and the Wristox seemed of slightly better quality. I would recommend either though.

painterman wrote:many people said it may be bad to have the medical people know about his osa (if he has it) and then he will be forever pegged as having osa.

If the medical people don't know that he has OSA, effective treatment of any other illnesses presentations may be significantly impacted and (perhaps fatally) impaired.

Cheers,

Bill

billbolton wrote:

painterman wrote:many people said it may be bad to have the medical people know about his osa (if he has it) and then he will be forever pegged as having osa.

If the medical people don't know that he has OSA, effective treatment of any other illnesses presentations may be significantly impacted and (perhaps fatally) impaired.

Cheers,

Bill

Has ANYone ever had a PSG performed and found NOT to have OSA?

Seems if you are border-line OSA that some of these labs would soon push you towards a diagnosis as opposed to negative. Maybe not so much the independent labs but the labs owned by corporations made up of several doctors as an investment and business, they have a vested interest in insuring you leave with that OSA diagnosis as it means much more money in the till.

Let's say you were a young doctor for example, maybe you wanted to become a surgeon, you may NOT want to find out with an official OSA diagnosis even if all the symptoms added up to where it was a pretty much given one has OSA.

But for a young doctor, receiving a diagnosis like that could be career ending if not impairing. So in that example, one may not necessarily want the OSA diagnosis as it can impact your ability to obtain medical insurance, life insurance and possibly even malpractice insurance or impact the rate you pay.

In that example, let's say the young doctor came under a malpractice suit where they were trying to claim negligence. And the opposing party dug up past medical records/history of the OSA diagnosis, they could argue any negligence was brought on as a result of fatigue associated with the OSA diagnosis. So now the doctor has to not only defend the claim of negligence but they have to show that the OSA didn't impair their judgement. But if you never had the diagnosis in the first place it would be pretty hard for them to say you did.

There is a lot more stigma associated with this disorder than one realizes. Now if our machines all gave us reports we could show were we where compliant and that OSA had nothing to do with it, but people will sue you for anything these days.

There are many more careers I can think of (like an airline pilot) where you wouldn't ever want a OSA diagnosis, especially if you are a mild case or the diagnostic method used to determine that was a $500 machine made in China.

Would you rely on a sub-$500 machine to determine your $150k per year career? Know I wouldn't, these things have difficulty sometimes keeping track of 7 days worth of sleep data much less determining the direction of ones career.

All you have to do is read any paper ever published on OSA to learn that use of cpap can prolong or reverse the effects of untreated OSA, even if the pressure is not ideal or your AHI is >10, the chances of adverse effects from using the machine is low.

So if you were say an airline pilot, would you raise your hand and say "I have OSA" knowing it would end your career or would you buy a autopap somewhere and go on treatment without the diagnosis. Go to Mexico, you can buy a CPAP without a script, you can buy nearly any prescription you want without a script.

Snoredog wrote:Let's say you were a young doctor for example, maybe you wanted to become a surgeon, you may NOT want to find out with an official OSA diagnosis even if all the symptoms added up to where it was a pretty much given one has OSA.

Let say that doctors are supposed to behave ethically.

Well, just to be sure that we're all on the same page, I think we need a clear and precise definition of the word "ethically".