Do you have a regular Dr and a sleep Dr?

I only have my Family Doctor. He referred me for the sleep study and the results were interpreted by a sleep specialist who also recommended a starting CPAP pressure. I have simple OSA and have responded well to therapy. I think the world of my family doc and consider him the captain of my medical team. Great guy!

MyIdaho wrote:I only have my Family Doctor. He referred me for the sleep study and the results were interpreted by a sleep specialist who also recommended a starting CPAP pressure. I have simple OSA and have responded well to therapy. I think the world of my family doc and consider him the captain of my medical team. Great guy!

Your Family Doctor sounds great & is definitely a keeper.

But, now you have him in the middle of the equation.
To ask Questions & get advice, you need to ask him & he in turn gets answers from the Sleep Specialist. Then he has to relay that information to you.

Having too many people in the mix just leads to miscommunications & even wrong information being given to you.

Now, don't get me wrong.
Sleep Doctors are sometimes difficult to deal with & some of us just avoid them until we need something like a new prescription.

But, by having a specific Sleep Doctor that you can deal with directly is much better than getting to him through another Doctor.

My family uses Dr. Pugsy. The only problem is that she can't write prescriptions. My PCP takes care of that.

Being in the healthcare field, I know the importance of having specialists in various fields address your specialized needs. Just as I have had an endocrinologist for my thyroid issues, an ENT for my ear issues, I have a pulmonologist for my recent breathing issues. He also specializes in sleep medicine as well, which is why he was chosen. He is actually board certified in Internal Medicine, Sleep Medicine, Critical Care and Pulmonology. I am new to this sleep disorder stuff so I can't yet judge how it's going with him, except that I CAN say that I am feeling better, have not always gotten my way, and I'm OK with that so far! Although nurses are notoriously bad patients who often try to self-treat inappropriately, I am happy to defer to the experts as long as they produce positive results for me!

Blessings,

Kate

I have been fortunate to have a sleep center at my local hospital & a fantastic pulmonologist/sleep specialist. My other docs know about my sleep apnea, but don't interfere w/him.
It became clear recently that the specialized experience of a GOOD sleep doc is very important.
My great sleep doc retired at the end of last year.
I was just about to get a new bi-level & had decided to buy on out-of-pocket from our gracious hosts.
He applauded the choice toward which I was leaning --DeVilbiss Intellipap -- and suggested that, after i receive it, I should come into the center, where their technicians could help set it up for me & make sure I had optimum settings.

New Year, new doc.
At our first appointment, he strongly recommended bariatric surgery (I am 90 pounds overweight.)
He promised that if I should lose 75 pounds I would have no more sleep apnea.
After I informed him that I had been an slim athlete (swimmer on a men's team/distance runner) for ~30 years before I became ill w/a few chronic conditions (& due to inactivity gained so much weight over the years.) BUT! at 120 pounds, and, indeed, all my life, I believe I had sleep apnea, since I never knew what it was to wake up refreshed until my First Night with A BiPap.
This information did nothing to shake his "lose weight = lose apnea" theory.
When it cam time to buy my machine, he still sent the script to the rental DME (after a few dozen iterations of my intent to buy & incredibly specific instructions to the secretary, including fax #.)
When I chased down the missing script & finally got to speak to him on the phone
he was amazed that I had the temerity to go outside their SOP of the rental DME to buy online (how many times did I tell him during our appt?)
he stated, with, what I am sure was a straight face, that he he never heard of such a company as DeVilbiss (after all, they've only been in the business 80 years.)
he refused to let me see one of the technicians, saying that there was nothing they could do with such a machine because
a) he didn't have the software. I told him that I was buying the software (not to mention open source SheepyHead,) to which he replied
he didn't have the software;
b) nothing can be set on an auto machine because it adjusts itself with your breathing.

Thank the Lord for this forum (and pugsy~~) who lead me to the clinician's manual that showed me how to make some of the more essential adjustments that do need to be made with an auto machine, such as min/max settings. (Not to mention SheepyHead)

Looks like I'm gonna hafta find a new sleep doc.
Before I kill this one.

my primary care doctor referred me to a sleep specialist (who also does pulmonary medicine). he ordered the sleep study and has been managing my apnea

I was diagnosed with OSA in a strange way. I was having issues with fluid in my left ear drum, that was resistant to treatment so my PCP sent me to an ENT. At my first appointment with the ENT, he told me he was certain that I had sleep apnea. I assured him otherwise but he insisted that I have a sleep study. I went through with the study and was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea about 5 years ago. My ENT was very quick to offer all sorts of surgical options for treatment but I politely declined.

I do have a pulmonologist but he admits to knowing absolutely nothing about sleep apnea and is uninterested. He does not want any information about my sleep therapy but I don't know how he can exclude my nighttime respiratory issues from daytime ones. They are all part of one big package.

StuUnderPressure wrote:

MyIdaho wrote:I only have my Family Doctor. He referred me for the sleep study and the results were interpreted by a sleep specialist who also recommended a starting CPAP pressure. I have simple OSA and have responded well to therapy. I think the world of my family doc and consider him the captain of my medical team. Great guy!

Your Family Doctor sounds great & is definitely a keeper.

But, now you have him in the middle of the equation.
To ask Questions & get advice, you need to ask him & he in turn gets answers from the Sleep Specialist. Then he has to relay that information to you.

Having too many people in the mix just leads to miscommunications & even wrong information being given to you.

Now, don't get me wrong.
Sleep Doctors are sometimes difficult to deal with & some of us just avoid them until we need something like a new prescription.

But, by having a specific Sleep Doctor that you can deal with directly is much better than getting to him through another Doctor.

You raise a good point, especially if I had something beyond simple OSA. However, I have responded marvelously to CPAP therapy and have 100% compliance at 7+ hr/day for just under 6 months. AHI ranges between 0 and 2, median 1.2 We did raise the pressure above the initial prescribed and switched from cpap mode to apap mode. My family doctor is all over optimizing the bang for my medical buck and he does not see where I would benefit by going to sleep doctor at this time. Our opinions would change if I had responded poorly to therapy or if something else was identified in the original sleep study. My family doc has never hesitated to send me to a specialist when there is a clear need. After 17 years, he has complete trust.