How much to Share with New Dr

Ok...I've found a new sleep doctor. My goal is to get someone who will not only write a prescription so that I can buy my own supplies but someone who will be supportive of me since I've really been "suffering" from sleep issues for a very long time.

I've sent over my sleep studies to avoid repeating this agony. But should I go ahead and bring her my SD card and printouts from Sleepyhead?

My gut says that if the doctor is offended by my monitoring in Sleepyhead etc, then she's not the right one and I might as well find that out in one appointment rather than finding out several visits later.

I tried to "interview" the receptionist and she said that the doctor doesn't sell the stuff but does have a favorite DME. But she said that getting a prescription and going on my own might be possible and that I should speak to the doctor about it. So at least the door isn't "closed"...I suspect that if I had asked the first doctor that, they would have said "Oh no, we sell the stuff here" or something like that.

Any thoughts on giving the doctor all the data???

My gut says that if the doctor is offended by my monitoring in Sleepyhead etc, then she's not the right one and I might as well find that out in one appointment rather than finding out several visits later.

Go with your gut!

Janknitz wrote:

My gut says that if the doctor is offended by my monitoring in Sleepyhead etc, then she's not the right one and I might as well find that out in one appointment rather than finding out several visits later.

Go with your gut!

This. Can you imagine a diabetic having this issue?

Thanks for verifying my gut feeling. I just wanted to verify since I've messed this whole situation up so many times!

I know I'm weird, but I WANT to monitor my progress and know that I'm doing the best I can. My grandpa was the weirdo with a notebook, he recorded grandma's stats every day looking for patterns when she was having cancer. I think it was his version of "control" and figuring out what was going on.

I want a doctor who is supportive of this journey vs "Do it because I said so"

MitzyG,

You are NOT weird for wanting to monitor your own data and be an active participant in the treatment of your OSA.

I was listening to a podcast this weekend discussing medical errors. One person featured was a nurse who early in her career made a mistake that almost killed her young patient, and she became a crusader for developing hospital procedures to prevent medical errors.

It became even more personal for her when she had breast cancer and was scheduled to have a lumpectomy. The intake nurse in the surgical unit was making a point of "hogging" the computer screen so the "patient" could not see her own electronic medical record. Finally, the speaker got impatient and just pushed the screen over so she could see it herself, and saw that the surgery scheduled was for a double mastectomy. If she hadn't been pushy, she would have awakened without her breasts! She said that one of the most powerful things that can be done to avoid medical error is to recognize the patient as a fully functioning member of the medical team, because the patient has valuable information that the other team members need to pay attention to.

I can't imagine why doctors are so threatened by our involvement in our CPAP therapy, except that many doctors choose this specialty in particular because they don't want to interact with us at all, they want to make money--in some cases we never even meet our "sleep doctors" and when we do they often resent the time and imposition of our questions. GP's are intimidated by the whole sleep medicine thing because they did not study it as a specialty. DME's certainly don't want our involvement because it takes their time and reduces their profit margin when we demand data capable machines.

For the most part we are not seen as members of our own team. Part of this is that the older generation of apnea patients were the ones who didn't question medical authority and didn't have the internet available to get information. Even with the resources available today, many people just take the machine and mask they are given, they are either immediately successful or they immediately give up, and that's it.

The bottom line is that nobody cares more about your health than you. It's perfectly OK to insist that you are a full member of your own health care team, and that the others need to recognize that and be good team members with you. The more YOU invest in your own health, the more success your entire team will have. I'm looking forward to the day that the professionals finally figure this out.

Just ask for the Prescription and use at the licensed DME of your choice, just like you would any prescription. I got caught by this the first time, my excuse is that I was sleep deprived, but I will not will not put up with that crap a second time. IMO a few grievances filed with various State Medical Examiner's Boards would put a stop to this scheme.

I've asked for the prescription several times, they won't give it. I then tried the portal...it's not there. If you think getting a receipt for monies paid is difficult, can you imagine a prescription? At this point, I just want a doctor to be honest and communicative...competent would be a HUGE bonus.

I'm also looking for a new internist and the new sleep doctor is an internist.

I'd say to share as much as possible. You want this to be a team effort. One thing though, your doctor may already be familiar with ResScan reports and probably won't be familiar with Sleepyhead. If possible, you may want to provide ResScan instead.

I don't have resscan software but I thought that if she did, I could bring the card and she could generate the report.

MitzyG wrote:I've asked for the prescription several times, they won't give it. I then tried the portal...it's not there. If you think getting a receipt for monies paid is difficult, can you imagine a prescription? At this point, I just want a doctor to be honest and communicative...competent would be a HUGE bonus.

I'm also looking for a new internist and the new sleep doctor is an internist.

Send the request in writing as a certified mail that needs a signature. Point out that the copy of your records is yours by rights.

My doctor was not like that at all. He was overjoyed that I had taken control over my therapy, wrote me a new prescription I could use online and told me if my AHI went over 5 to come back other wise there was no need.

You know...I was thinking about the certified letter. But I don't want him to mess up the insurance deal on this machine (not that it even was alot of money!) but he'll find some way to charge me for it and I don't want to pay more than Internet price! I just want the nightmare over and frankly, I would like a new doctor. Now that I have the medical records and didn't have to ask the doctor's office to fax it to a new doctor, I have what I truly need and won't need to tell him that I'm chasing another doctor. If new one doesn't work, I can always send the certified letter. Meanwhile, I am getting my mask parts online and won't need much else until I can figure out either the doctor thing or the certified letter.

You do know that any doctor, PA or dentist or even maybe your vet could write the prescription?

When I seen my sleep Doctor she listen to everything I said. I showed her my SleepyHead reports on laptop and also printed Encore reports. I told her I increase my EPAP settings by 2 because I was having clusters of episodes from 4 AM to 6 AM and that I want to try to break them up which it did. I told her I was informed patient and I intend to remain active, and if it offended her I would find another Doctor. She told me that she was happy that I was leading the charge in my therapy, and if only all of her patients were like me. I think she said easy patient.. she told me to send her monthly Encore reports. She wants to look over my shoulder, and to come back in 6 months because I am new, and if I need her before she told me don't hesitate.

If your doctor is not on your side you don't need them. I tell mine everything.

I agree that it's better to know what you're getting into before wasting a lot of time. But once you've got an office visit bill to pay, might as well get something out of it, even if only a prescription. I would take the data card and the Sleepyhead copies. I would not, however, pull out a pile of copies all at once in the beginning of the meeting. Set the tone first. One time when I was in such a situation with a new doctor, upon the nurse's initial interview I gave her a couple summary pages for the file. Then I watched to see if he even considered them, and what he thought about me monitoring my data, before I mentioned having the detailed copies. Some doctors have wanted my detailed reports, some have not. Depends on what your issues are whether that is a deal breaker or not. I've had a couple doctors that I thought would not work out who to turned out to be the best. I made an honest effort to not go in loaded for bear. Hard to do when you've been burned. Ironically, sometimes the very doctors that say machine data is unreliable use auto machines for home assessment of patients. Go figure. I would get a commitment from them about the prescription before saying too much. If the appointment goes downhill though, I doubt you'll walk out with a prescription. Poker face. While you are perfectly within your rights just to say "I want it", It might make for smoother sailing just to say, for instance, if you travel a lot, that you don't want to run into a problem if travelling and your machine or mask gets lost or breaks. I've had appointments where I wish I'd been more confrontational and stood up for myself, but to be honest, a couple times I could have dialed it back a notch and probably gotten better results. Let us know how your appointment goes.