William's Therapy Thread

[srlevine1]

My two cents...

(1) Dealing with sleep apnea and xPAP therapy is a process, mostly of trial and error with periods in between for acclimation. Acceptance, patience, and persistence are key requirements for successful therapy.

(2) The simultaneous use of anxiety relief and relaxation techniques are often beneficial to help deal with the discomfort and upsets that seem to plague xPAP users,

(3) Do not obsess over the numbers because you treat the patient, not the machine. One or two days is not a trend and you are looking for trends and reoccurring event patterns.

(4) As for DMEs such as Apria, they care about three things: one, your compliance with your insurance so they get paid; two, selling replacement supplies, and three, minimizing customer interactions with their respiratory technicians. You are one of many and it is great to establish a relationship with a single point of contact where you have their email address and direct phone extension. They have virtually no say about using SD cards or what you do with your data. If you want to sprinkle holy water on your proposed settings changes, inform your doctor. I particularly like a UNODIR communications style. "Unless otherwise directed, I plan to do thus and such." Demand a heated hose -- it is a comfort item and should have been included in your package.

(5) My first thoughts were: full face mask, chin strap, pressure setting 7-15 cm, with an EPR of three to provide exhalation pressure relief, and a 5-10 minute RAMP for acclimation.

(6) As for accidents. I have a non-skid pad under my device. I also keep my machine lower than my bed to prevent excess tube humidity and accidental chamber dumps. I also use a "hose hanger" to elevate my hose as I am an extremely active side sleeper.

(7) As for crap sleep studies, I always have problems sleeping while wire-up and turning to my side.

(8) Download and install OSCAR. Setting up the data can be found on the bottom of Sleepriders signature line.

(9) You have a lot of undiscovered friends on the forum, so continued participation is advised. Everybody has a perspective based on their experience and the sum total of knowledge made the difference in my therapy.

Best,

Steve

[mesenteria]

Nice reply, Steve.   I agree fully.  

Noise.  Yes, it can interfere.  Eventually, though, you will get used to it.  Feel free to experiment with both pressure ranges and masks whose vents might make more/less noise, as long as you get the therapy...natch.

I use earplugs.  Wife snores, and I do as well when I have a cold (just learned this from wife).

I do like that you're willing to make a concerted effort here. That counts for a lot!  Add that to your willingness to keep exposing yourself to the setup, even wearing it during the day, and I think you'll be okay..eventually.

DME is a sales outlet...mostly.  Despite the best credentials of their highest-paid employees.....they sell. We deal with their customers. 

Once you can post several nights' worth of data, we can help to dial you in.

[DaveL]

Welcome to the forum William!

You've come to the right place.  There are so many helpful people here. I've tried other forums, and they didn't work out for me.

You've received excellent advice.  I was diagnosed a long time ago; I had really poor results following the sleep doc's advice.  I regret I was in his care a long time.




A good machine was recommended n another post--note that a key is that you need to be able to remove an SD card from your machine to view results using OSCAR on your own computer. I *think* Philips Respironics machines won't allow you to read the card. My choice--I followed advice here and bought a ResMed S10 auto sense *for her* machine that has an SD card.  You're right---there is a modem within it.  There are videos on youtube that will show you how to disconnect the modem.

That's why I thought I would respond.  I hope this helps.

DaveL
Toronto