Encore Pro software missing data - my email to Respironics

I have not read all the replies so I dont know if this was offered. Either remove and reistall the software or better yet, install it on another computer to see if the problem still exist.

Marty

Crest wrote:I have not read all the replies so I dont know if this was offered. Either remove and reistall the software or better yet, install it on another computer to see if the problem still exist.

Marty

Thanks for the usually-logical suggestion, Marty. Doesn't do a thing. I believe I've read a number of threads which pretty clearly have identified this as an issue with the machine itself.

Hey plr,

If you look at previous posts, I think you'll find that many of us computer geeks think it's the bug is in the Respironics M-Series "firmware" (read-only program sort of "built into" the machine) and thus the data doesn't get written to the Smartcard. No amount of fixing to EncorePro or EncoreViewer will retrieve data that wasn't written to the card in the first place

Mindy

bump

Speaking of which:

viewtopic.php?p=322434#p322434

DoriC wrote:Kiralynx, this data discussion is way above my head but interesting. I wanted to know if you've found a way around the problem with the Smart Card losing data every 7th day on Encore Viewer? Thanks to Hawthorne, I now download a SmartCardUtility program to reformat my card once a wk so I don't lose data, but it also deletes the Complete Therapy Data Summary(last page) and all I get is the present day summary. I'd like to see the summary to date, it would be very useful. BTW, I called Respironics and they said they're very aware of the problem with the M Series and they're "working on it". Thanks, Dori

O.

Odd's the new model, the "O" Series, will have a improved data card system, and it will only record data 4 times a week. Feature Rich! Jim

Feel free to rush out and get their latest and greatest next product.

ozij wrote:Speaking of which:

viewtopic.php?p=322434#p322434

DoriC wrote:Kiralynx, this data discussion is way above my head but interesting. I wanted to know if you've found a way around the problem with the Smart Card losing data every 7th day on Encore Viewer? Thanks to Hawthorne, I now download a SmartCardUtility program to reformat my card once a wk so I don't lose data, but it also deletes the Complete Therapy Data Summary(last page) and all I get is the present day summary. I'd like to see the summary to date, it would be very useful. BTW, I called Respironics and they said they're very aware of the problem with the M Series and they're "working on it". Thanks, Dori

O.

So the obvious solution now is that everyone using a Respironics machine should write them and point out that they have been saying that they were working on it for well over a year, and that we are requesting a date by which we can expect the issue to be resolved so that our medical records are not being tampered with in this manner.

And CC a copy to your DME's respiratory therapist, AND to the CEO of the DME.

Interestingly enough, my RT said that she could not recommend any of the M series because of known issues with them. Of course, she may have meant that they were unsuitable for me because of my CSDB, but the observation is interesting, nonetheless.

Kiralynx,

Even if they resolved it, they may not be able to fix the M Series machines already purchased -- unless we're wrong about the problem (I hope so) or they have *very* deep pockets. In the current design, these machines were not planned for patient use of the data and the Encore Viewer software was their attempt to satisfy the market for that. I'm not defending Respironics but I do believe that we have to be reasonable about what can and cannot be done.

When I was having the missing data problem on my M series, I finally decided that getting frustrated and angry about it wasn't going to do anything positive for me so I just learned to live with it. I used that machine for over a year and figured if I missed an occasional day's data (typically one or two per month) that I wasn't missing enough to make a difference. After that, I gradually became less tied to my stats and am more relaxed and happy. When I had enough $, I bought the Sandman (had planned to get PB420E but found Sandman seems to have superceded the PB).

It's normal to get hot under the collar about things we can't control but I had to ask myself "what am I accomplishing" and decided it wasn't positive for me

Mindy

mindy wrote:It's normal to get hot under the collar about things we can't control but I had to ask myself "what am I accomplishing" and decided it wasn't positive for me

Mindy,

No arguments there. You have to do what works for you.

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

The thing is -- I participate on a list with folks with Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Diverticulitis, and other fun digestive disorders. According to Big Pharma and most MDs, the only cure is more and stronger drugs and surgery after surgery. But what a person eats can have a major effect on these ailments. And from a very small, self-published book, the movement towards a diet which was lost almost 40 years ago, has grown, because there were individuals who refused to shrug and say there was nothing they could do about a situation.

Respironics (and other flow generator manufacturers) may not, at this point in time, consider us patients as anything other than mushrooms. The only way that view will change is if we calmly, and without hysteria, let them know that what they are doing is unacceptable. And that it is not just a couple nut cases. (Sorry, Nodzy!)

An email campaign may not be helpful, because email is too quick, and allows the company to cut and paste a boiler plate in response. A snail mail letter may still get a boiler plate answer, but it's a boiler plate that requires more than a few clocks of the keyboard.

I do think that the fact that they are, in essence, denying us our medical records could be a telling point.

I doubt that a mass campaign to Respironics is going to change anything. I could be wrong of course!

As Dori said, I downloaded "MyCPAP Card Utility" from http://www.mycpap.org (free). Every Sunday morning, I put the 7 days data on my computer, via "PrimoPDF" (free and there are other free PDF programs). I have the data in "My Documents"in a folder I titled "Encore Viewer". Right after I've done that on Sunday morning I open "MyCPAP Card Utility" from the desktop and choose "Format Card" (erase). It takes just seconds. You could put the data on the computer daily and still format (erase) the card every 7 sessions or days.

Since I started doing that many months ago, I have never lost any data.

Kiralynx wrote:

mindy wrote:It's normal to get hot under the collar about things we can't control but I had to ask myself "what am I accomplishing" and decided it wasn't positive for me

Mindy,

No arguments there. You have to do what works for you.

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

The thing is -- I participate on a list with folks with Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Diverticulitis, and other fun digestive disorders. According to Big Pharma and most MDs, the only cure is more and stronger drugs and surgery after surgery. But what a person eats can have a major effect on these ailments. And from a very small, self-published book, the movement towards a diet which was lost almost 40 years ago, has grown, because there were individuals who refused to shrug and say there was nothing they could do about a situation.

Respironics (and other flow generator manufacturers) may not, at this point in time, consider us patients as anything other than mushrooms. The only way that view will change is if we calmly, and without hysteria, let them know that what they are doing is unacceptable. And that it is not just a couple nut cases. (Sorry, Nodzy!)

An email campaign may not be helpful, because email is too quick, and allows the company to cut and paste a boiler plate in response. A snail mail letter may still get a boiler plate answer, but it's a boiler plate that requires more than a few clocks of the keyboard.

I do think that the fact that they are, in essence, denying us our medical records could be a telling point.

We could all buy one share of voting stock, and attend the stockholders meeting and voice our opinion. Yea! Right! Jim

SnoreDog Said... "someday science will catch up to what I'm saying..."
There is a message below -

Snoredog wrote:Last time the yoyo's here did a stupid email campaign like that to that turd colored box making company they pulled the software completely from the market, then you had nothing. I think you only got Encore Viewer from Johnny going to bat for us the Patients.


Do you think they actually CARE if you loose a day or two from your reports? Absolutely NOT.

You are NOT their customers, doctors and DME's are. That's why they won't talk to you on the phone.

When they ask their customers if they have problems of losing data what do you think they say? um NOPE and the deaf company with the turd colored boxes reply: well we got 10 emails from some yoyos who say we are losing data... what do you think them Brick and Mortar DME's and Doctors say when they learn the complaint is coming from patients?

you guessed it,

They will say well them Patients shouldn't have the software at all. So what do they do? They pull the software again from market just like they did the last time.

You guys haven't learned a thing.

Goofproof wrote:We could all buy one share of voting stock, and attend the stockholders meeting and voice our opinion. Yea! Right!

Jim,

Why not? Right now, a share of Respironics stock is significantly less than a new mask, and about half the list price of either their Encore Viewer software or the Infineer proprietary card reader.

http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes//resp

Kiralynx,

It's that "wisdom to know the difference" that matters - and that can be different for each of us. I too have one of those nasty autoimmune gut diseases you listed and on top of that I have congestive heart failure due to idiopathic cardiomyopathy plus an autoimmune thyroid disease. I take an immuno-regulator drug which has some unpleasant side effects. I'm active in working on those because I believe it can make a difference and it's vitally important. For me personally, I won't beat my head against the wall for something that imho isn't critical in the grand scheme of things. If we weren't getting *any* data I'd be as up in arms as anyone else. Since I was losing 1-2 days per month, I didn't feel that was worth the effort. Strictly my opinion and what's best for me.

Mindy

mindy wrote:It's that "wisdom to know the difference" that matters - and that can be different for each of us.

Indeed it can, and I would never argue otherwise.

I too have one of those nasty autoimmune gut diseases you listed and on top of that I have congestive heart failure due to idiopathic cardiomyopathy plus an autoimmune thyroid disease. I take an immuno-regulator drug which has some unpleasant side effects. I'm active in working on those because I believe it can make a difference and it's vitally important.

I'm really sorry to hear that you have a gut issue, also. You might find this thread of interest:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36152&p=312287#p312287

For me personally, I won't beat my head against the wall for something that imho isn't critical in the grand scheme of things. If we weren't getting *any* data I'd be as up in arms as anyone else. Since I was losing 1-2 days per month, I didn't feel that was worth the effort. Strictly my opinion and what's best for me.

There's where we're different... for me, the data about my sleep is important, because it affects so many factors of my well-being, from hip pain to healing. I'm sleeping through the night without hip pain now, and that's something I never thought I would see again. The knowledge that my sleep can affect things like my ability to heal from the surgery and NOT have the cancer come back is important, too.

I spent 25 years being told that my gut issues were all in my head, and that if they bothered me, to take a little Lomotil. In the last seven-plus years, I found a diet which has solved my gut issues and allowed me to get back to normal -- with precious little help from either Big Pharma or the medical community. Now I have a sleep issue, and Big Business is once again patting me on the head and telling me I have no right to the information which will allow me to help myself. That sends my blood pressure through the roof.

But, as you note, we all have different priorities.