04-25-2018, 07:16 AM
The Big Day
Tomorrow is the big day. I'll have my first meeting with the sleep therapist at the Asheville VA. My sleep study is complete and this will be the first opportunity I have to activate my therapy. I hope he/she is an understanding, helpful sort. I feel greatly empowered from all of my readings here on this website. I can't imagine going to this meeting cold turkey, relying only on what is told to me by the therapist.
I am on the horns of a dilemma. I had a referring doctor who is not a a respiratory specialist. In fact, he readily acknowledges that some of the patients for whom he has prescribed apnea treatment know more than he does on the topic. In his referral and prescription he looked to my sleep study which recommended "autotitrating CPAP set to CPAP @ 6 cm H2O." Accordingly, that is what his prescription for me is. Reading posts on here I see repeated recommendations that we undertake our own care, irrespective of recommendations. That we look up the user's manual and operating instructions for our particular machine and begin a self titration study. The recommendation I most recently read suggested setting the machine at 5.0 for the first night, 5.2 for the second night, and so on until I arrive at the correct pressure for my personal needs. All of this without regard to the actual prescription.
My referral doc is an open minded sort whom I know away from the medical profession. I told him about the above scenario asking what he thought. He replied that my machine, whatever the brand is, will be autotitrating and will be initially set to 6.0, to comply with the prescription. This setting, he said, is sufficiently close to the 5.0 I read about that any difference would be inconsequential. Then, since the machine autotitrates, it will take care of the rest on it's own.
First question: If i go through with the self titration should I tell my therapist of my intentions?
I must say, from a purely comfort standpoint, I like my referring doc's suggestion. I worry that if I begin changing settings on the machine I'll end up with readings that the sleep lab cannot later interpret. Also, I'm not sure how easy it will be to schedule follow-up visits at the sleep clinic if something goes wrong. So... I lean toward letting the autotitration do its thing.
I would certainly welcome input from others on this matter.
Kind regards to all my fellow apnea patients.
I am on the horns of a dilemma. I had a referring doctor who is not a a respiratory specialist. In fact, he readily acknowledges that some of the patients for whom he has prescribed apnea treatment know more than he does on the topic. In his referral and prescription he looked to my sleep study which recommended "autotitrating CPAP set to CPAP @ 6 cm H2O." Accordingly, that is what his prescription for me is. Reading posts on here I see repeated recommendations that we undertake our own care, irrespective of recommendations. That we look up the user's manual and operating instructions for our particular machine and begin a self titration study. The recommendation I most recently read suggested setting the machine at 5.0 for the first night, 5.2 for the second night, and so on until I arrive at the correct pressure for my personal needs. All of this without regard to the actual prescription.
My referral doc is an open minded sort whom I know away from the medical profession. I told him about the above scenario asking what he thought. He replied that my machine, whatever the brand is, will be autotitrating and will be initially set to 6.0, to comply with the prescription. This setting, he said, is sufficiently close to the 5.0 I read about that any difference would be inconsequential. Then, since the machine autotitrates, it will take care of the rest on it's own.
First question: If i go through with the self titration should I tell my therapist of my intentions?
I must say, from a purely comfort standpoint, I like my referring doc's suggestion. I worry that if I begin changing settings on the machine I'll end up with readings that the sleep lab cannot later interpret. Also, I'm not sure how easy it will be to schedule follow-up visits at the sleep clinic if something goes wrong. So... I lean toward letting the autotitration do its thing.
I would certainly welcome input from others on this matter.
Kind regards to all my fellow apnea patients.
