Sleep apnea is a destroyer. In fact, if not treated and gotten under control, it can be deadly. But long before that it destroys your health, nibbles away at your life style, ruins relationships, causes poor performance at work and eventually takes away your ability to earn a decent living. In short,...
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CPAP and sleep doctors
Anonymous
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 06:03 PM
I'm amazed at the number of people who are NOT helped by CPAP - there are many in this forum and on others. Many who are not helped are trying religously to use their machines. I too am in this group.
I knew within a month that I wan't being helped by CPAP. I had a data card that my homecare provider would download for me. It showed my AHI to be in the 70s. However, my sleep doctor didn't believe the results, thought my fatigue was from another cause and that the sleep study results were golden.
I had to fight like crazy to get an overnight pulse O2 test and a two week auto-pap study done. These also showed that CPAP was not effective. It took six months of bombarding the doctor, a visit from the home care company to my doctor and a visit from a representative of my CPAP manufactorer before the sleep doc relented and tried a new machine.
I finally have a new machine and my AHI averages around 6. So many others have had this problem. This is another reason people give up - CPAP may be ineffective for them at the settings from the sleep study. My original CPAP setting ws 11cm. My new BiPAP machine averages around 19cm. This is a huge difference. If I had not fought like crazy, I would never have gotten relief. Many folks don't know how to fight the system. I'd like to educate folks on what to do if CPAP does not work for them.
Cheers,
Curt
re: CPAP and sleep doctors
Florence
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 05:51 PM
Hi Curt,
There are so many problems with using CPAP, and the study of sleep apnea is fairly new to the medical field. Twelve years ago, when my husband became ill, it was obvious that the doctors here were unfamiliar with sleep disorders. If the machine doesn't work as it should, or if the benefits are not felt, it is time to take a look at other types and methods, and it may be necessary to buck the system. Do whatever you can to get the word out to others who might be having the same difficulties you were. If you'd like to write an article on this topic, I would be pleased to publish it.
Florence
I'm amazed at the number of people who are NOT helped by CPAP - there are many in this forum and on others. Many who are not helped are trying religously to use their machines. I too am in this group.
I knew within a month that I wan't being helped by CPAP. I had a data card that my homecare provider would download for me. It showed my AHI to be in the 70s. However, my sleep doctor didn't believe the results, thought my fatigue was from another cause and that the sleep study results were golden.
I had to fight like crazy to get an overnight pulse O2 test and a two week auto-pap study done. These also showed that CPAP was not effective. It took six months of bombarding the doctor, a visit from the home care company to my doctor and a visit from a representative of my CPAP manufactorer before the sleep doc relented and tried a new machine.
I finally have a new machine and my AHI averages around 6. So many others have had this problem. This is another reason people give up - CPAP may be ineffective for them at the settings from the sleep study. My original CPAP setting ws 11cm. My new BiPAP machine averages around 19cm. This is a huge difference. If I had not fought like crazy, I would never have gotten relief. Many folks don't know how to fight the system. I'd like to educate folks on what to do if CPAP does not work for them.
Cheers,
Curt