CPAPtalk.com

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:
8. this year i've increased my insurance to $24,000 per year since $10,000 was utterly useless but, in general, I'd only use american medicine in emergencies. I trust my gubmint doctors in the UK far more than i trust anyone in the american health care system

I would go overseas to get treatment before I line the pockets of American doctors. Anyone who has been in a hospital recently, notice that most of the staff were foreign born and trained?

http://www.medical-tourism-in-thailand. ... apnea.html
Sleep Study at Sleep Center (including 1 night hospital stay): US$275

If I'm ever in that part of the world, I'm doing it

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:Thanks Cosmo - that is EXACTLY what i was looking for - and what oximeter was that again?

CMS50F Oximeter
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CE-FDA-Wrist-We ... 2570c28e2f

That guy has it for the cheapest but I think the Mini USB wall plug was for UK. Not a problem since I already have many of these. You can also recharge from your computer's USB port.




Here's another screen shot.

cosmo writes: "http://www.medical-tourism-in-thailand. ... apnea.html
Sleep Study at Sleep Center (including 1 night hospital stay): US$275"

By comparison, the cost of the overnight stay at the sleep center here in NJ was $7000 for those without insurance ( or for those like me, with insurance, but insurance that makes you fight them over every medical procedure even though you are exclusively using doctors/facilities in THEIR network.

so you could fly to thailand and have a luxury holiday along with the sleep study for the cost of a US sleep study in a strip mall "clinic"

cosmo wrote:

Small sample of what an oximeter was able to tell me.

Question,

So what have you done about it, you can't stop all the obstructive apneas, can you? Would you go on Oxygen supply b/c of it?

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:Thanks Cosmo - that is EXACTLY what i was looking for - and what oximeter was that again?

His signature has a CMS50F Oximeter listed. He's using the SleepyHead software. The software that comes with the oximetry will produce reports like avi123 posted.

Chris

johnthomasmacdonald

Long reply but nothing in it answers the question of why to buy your own recording oximeter. ???

You are playing doctor with a very poor tool.

HoseCrusher - On the other hand as we age heart rhythms can fluctuate a little and then environment can compromise our lung function a little.

If you have arrythmias and compromised lung function, using a recording pulse oximeter to diagnose and treat is a foolish practice. I hope people with these problems reading your post understand that it is a dangerous recommendation.

avi123 wrote: To get a decent pulse oximeter to work together with my Resmed machine and be synchronised with ResScan graphs, costs more than a $1,000.

Avi, here's a report combining ResScan, Zeo, and CMS 50. Just cut and past into a draw program and sync by adjusting the time line axes to match. It cost about Zero dollars to synch the three.

ChicagoGranny wrote:on Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:37 pmLong reply but nothing in it answers the question of why to buy your own recording oximeter. ???
You are playing doctor with a very poor tool."

I guess a lot of here are having to "play doctor" given that we can't seem to get care from those who are trained as doctors - or haven't you noticed the daily parade of people in here who are getting little to no help from their doctors

By the way, I am receiving advice from my old co-workers at Mass General Hospital in Boston who ARE doctors and they seemed to feel that the most important device to determine how I was doing in playing doctor was a oxygen sensor - they were far less interested in ahi numbers than in oxygen saturation levels

ChicagoGranny wrote:

johnthomasmacdonald

Long reply but nothing in it answers the question of why to buy your own recording oximeter. ???
You are playing doctor with a very poor tool.

Well I'll take a stab at explaining why I'm about to buy one. After five years of use I want a check that my no data CPAP is still doing what it's supposed to do. At some point I'll dig up the money to replace the CPAP but for right now I really need to spend that money somewhere else if I can.

I have no insurance. Even if it is true, as you say, that a DME would do a free overnight test for me when I have no other paying relationship with them I'd still have to spend about $100. for the doctors appointment to get the prescription. Buying the oximeter is cheaper. And when I want to test again I don't have to pay all over again.

For my purposes I don't think it is a poor tool. A limited one yes but I think I understand those limitations.

By the way, I suspect you're right about this although I don't know enough about those conditions to really judge.

ChicagoGranny wrote:If you have arrythmias and compromised lung function, using a recording pulse oximeter to diagnose and treat is a foolish practice. I hope people with these problems reading your post understand that it is a dangerous recommendation.

I've only read the last few posts so I'm not sure of everything that has been said. However...

I bought a recording monitor early in my treatment. I have the CMS50-F (wrist type) and I am very pleased with it. Since I was having to rely on the doctor & dme to decide to monitor my oxygen levels, I thought it would be nice to be able to do it whenever I felt the need.

In the beginning, I did a "dual" test with the DME monitor on one hand and mine on the other. I also was able to do two nights in a row, one with the DME monitor and then mine.

The results from both monitors were about the same. I did it this way to feel more confident in the results I was getting from my monitor. And my doctor agreed that my monitor was delivering acceptable (and accurate) results.

I test periodically now and if I feel something is amiss, my doctor will look at the results from MY monitor and decide if more needs to be addressed.

I think a recording pulse ox monitor is an excellent tool to have, when used with common sense and as a part of an entire PLAN for monitoring your therapy and treatment.

If you want to review during the night, looks like the Contec Pm-60a is the one. "Trend Graph and Trend Table" on the unit is what you're looking for. Battery last for 8 hours but you could just use it with the lcd part plugged in the wall.

TFT Touch Screen Pulse Oximeter Spo2 Monitor +SW 60A US $163.91
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TFT-Touch-Scree ... 2311c98476

Performance Specifications

■ Display: 3.5" Color TFT
■ Resolution: 320x240
■ Display Mode: Standard face, Waveform face, Display Direction adjustable
■ Indicator:Power indicator light, Alarm sound, Pluse tone
■ Interface:One dual-purpose socket for connecting SPO2 sensors and communication cables
■ Power Supply:DC 5V, <200MA
■ Battery:Builtin Li-Polymer, 2 hours for charging, 8 hours for continous working.
■ Trend Graph:Resolution from 1s, 5s, 10s. Maximum time 96 hours.
■ Trend Table:Resolution from 1s, 5s, 10s. Review up to 2000 items.
■ Alarm:Ajustable High and Low limits. Three level audible and vistual alarm

Cosmo...Do you wear a pocket protector with lots of pens in it?

""Re: Recommendations for a recording oximeter
by Ford Guy on Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:05 pm

Cosmo...Do you wear a pocket protector with lots of pens in it? "

It is rather amazing how what I thought was a rather innocuous question about a recommendation for a recording oximeter can take on a life of its own

And for the record I couldn't be more thankful to cosmo and some of the others here for their advice in taking my request seriously and doing their best to help me out - I would have given up on cpap after a couple weeks or so without the help i've received here

Last night was my best night since diagnosis - slept 9 hours, woke up twice, felt really great upon waking and great all day, ahi was 2.7 (which is about average for me these days) but I've gone from having to get up about 6-8 times each night to urinate to never having to get up ( i had assumed i was developing prostate problems) and I noticed that the bags under my eyes are gone - I owe all this to pugsy and the others here like Grand-Pap, cosmo, lazer and others who take the questions of newbies seriously ( even when some of them are newbies themselves)

As i've said before, I paid $10,000 a year for health insurance and spent around $500 to board certified sleep MDs and received ZERO help and/or advice - nothing . THe only thing they could manage was the billing - that they did great. Yet the people who have helped me and probably added years to my life didn't receive a dime and did not take a hippocratic oath (rather a joke here in the US) so the least i can do is acknowledge what they have done for me and try to do the same for others

Well said.