New and Abused - Confusion with the process

[SuperSleeper]

Does Sleepyhead incorporate the oxygen & pulse information automatically with the other data?

How does it do that, since the Oximeter does not write data to your card, does it?

For the ResMed S9 AutoSet with the ResScan software, you have to have the VERY EXPENSIVE ResMed Oximetry Kit to be able to do that.

I used that image because it showed the airflow waveform. I didn't really want to drag pulseox into this thread. However:

That graph comes from someone who was using both a CPAP machine and a separate pulseox. SleepyHead will work with the CMS 50-D+ oximeter and some other CMS models.

The CMS-50 D+ can be had for less than $100 shipped in the US. Be sure to get the "PLUS" model, there's a CMS-50D that is cheaper, but doesn't have a computer interface.

You may have to hook the pulseox up to your computer while using the CPAP, or you may be able to record the data into the pulseox and synch it up later. I've used it hooked up to the computer while sleeping, but the other way may be possible, too. There may be some fiddling necessary to synch the timestamps of the oximeter

The CMS pulseox data is NOT recorded on the CPAP machine's SD card. You have to hook the pulseox up to your computer separately.

I don't know whether SleepyHead will use the directly attachable S9 oximeter data off the SD card.

[1.41]

I've read this thread with real fascination, and indeed real sorrow. Best of luck to the OP in this journey.

[vcottom]

[parts of this thread were copied from our old forum]

'm sure many have had similar concerns as I and to be honest I first saw it when looking to find some non-scam information about all this apnea/CPAP/testing stuff and it looked like you guys may be honest enough to help someone who is just now trying to figure it out.

I have apnea. I snore so loud I can't sleep in the same building with others. I stop breathing and wake up a lot. I am tired all the time and ache, have chest pains, and back pains when I awake. I've been in the hospital for other things and they can't keep an O2 monitor on me because the moment I fall asleep it triggers the alarm. My GP says he thinks I may be waking up somewhere around 50 times an hour.

I finally have Medicare and so technically I may have some way to get the test and the hardware. I've been finding that this may not be true as so far the best I've been able to do is get so my co-pay just for tests is over $300. I live on $661 a month. Part of the problem is they don't want to get to the calibration stuff, they first want to do a test to decide if I have what I, my doc, and anyone who's tried to sleep within a mile of me already knows.

Then there are the equipment scams. One wanted $80 a month for 13 months and only then would bill Medicare. This gets them paid FIVE times the retail price of the machine. Another wanted to sell the machine but only if I agreed to pay $40 a month for 'maintenance'. The testing doc wants me to sign on for an endless number of visits at $50 per (my co-pay) and establish a relationship. Hmmm... I think for that kind of 'relationship' I'd at least want a movie and a meal before losing my virtue!

All this for something that MAY help me feel better and live longer. However, it seems at the cost of some real misery. I read about sores and gagging, and gas, and claustrophobia and on and on. Going by what I have HEARD but have no way to confirm, this CPAP stuff sounds only slightly more preferable than a fire ant enema. Like most things, I also suspect there's a lot I do not know and in the last few weeks of researching haven't got close to understanding.

I spoke to a doctor friend and he too is perplexed. He has tried to determine what the black magic of calibrating a CPAP is, but says the manufacturers and practitioners keep these secrets as if they were some kind of sacred religious documents and so has trouble helping his patients. (He does a lot of pro-bono work with very low income people and cost can be the difference between treatment or none, life or death.)

So here I am, looking for some wisdom so I can actually afford to get the treatment, be able to eat and have a place to live after the 'specialists' get done fleecing me, and actually get the right stuff. That it seems like almost a cult deal and I expect to be asked to drink Kool-Aide next is disconcerting. Would you fine people like to offer some wisdom to a semi-senile old man before he makes too many mistakes? (My idea to convert a WWII gas mask to accept a furnace blower fan and garden hose notwithstanding.)

Why two tests?
What should a CPAP really cost?
Do those nasal gear things work? (I am REALLY claustrophobic!!!)
Does this stuff work or is there a better way?
How often are people unable to adjust to having air pumped down their gullet (it looks like the air version of waterboarding to me!)?
What else should I know?

Thank You!!!

The Veterans Administration is investigating the massive prescribing of Sleep Assisting machines, along with the requirement to "sleep tests."