What should I ask a sleep doctor (NHS consultant)?

[Ploppy]

Some background (that I posted recently in another thread):

• I think that I have had sleep apnoea for years.  It has very recently got worse; I keep waking up in the night (and have problems getting back to sleep).
  
• I am in the UK.  I saw my GP and was put on the waiting list for my local NHS sleep centre (Papworth).
  
• I found out that its waiting time is 7-8 months, so I went private and got a WatchPAT sleep test from thebettersleepclinic.co.uk.
  
• I have just got the results back: "Your AHI was 44.2, which indicates severe OSA".
  
• I have got a consultation with a doctor (NHS sleep consultant) who works for thebettersleepclinic.co.uk scheduled for 12th September.
  
  

Are there any questions that I should be asking the sleep doctor?

The thebettersleepclinic.co.uk sells the "AutoSet CPAP - Sefam S.Box", which looking on here doesn't seem to be a particularly good model.  Maybe because this is used in the NHS and they are used to it, being NHS doctors?  If I did buy it from them, they would provide a "set-up appointment and two follow up appointments and free ad-hoc advice for the first six weeks".  Should I consider this model anyway?  It has the advantage that the NHS sleep clinic could support it when my referral eventually comes through.

Thanks!

[Psychotech]

Don't go for sefam s.box it's notoriously bad, go for resmed if they they don't have resmed then go for Luna g3

[Gideon]

Go with a device that is OSCAR compatible. I have a strong preference for ResMed devices for this reason.

[DrJelly]

@Psychotech

Hello,

I noticed you said Sefam S.Box is 'notoriously bad'. Thi is what I was given by my health care provider, there was no choice (unless I decide to pay for one fully out of pockect, for which I would probably need to also pay for separate private assessment to get a private prescription so it would be at a substatial cost). Should I be woried about this machine and look into getting a private asessment and a private Rx to buy the machine of my choice? Or is S.Box still okay, just not as good as Resmed (given that I get it for free, including the masks, hoses etc). 
Many thanks

[Sleeprider]

DrJelly, the Sefam S Box is a good CPAP machine but its auto adjusting algorithm is not fast enough to prevent apnea when the pressure is not optimized. NHS moved to these for cost savings and due to shortages created when a major manufacturer, Philips Respironics had a major recall and could no longer supply demand. You are using default settings of 4.0 minimum and 20.0 maximum which strongly suggests your CPAP is not optimized. Data makes it a lot easier to optimize the pressure range and settings, and the lack of data is a big drawback to the Sefam. Sefam Analyze software is only distributed to professionals, and is not normally available to patients. Fortunately, a kind member of Apnea Board has made the software available to us so we can let our members make use of that to optimize their therapy. Here is the link. Download the software, and consider starting a new therapy thread so we can help you get dialed in. https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread...sion-3-2-0

[DrJelly]

Sleeprider, thank you for your helpful response. I have downloaded the software this morning and played around with it. There's so much information in there. It's a great idea to start a new thread trying to interpret the output and how to optimise treatment. I will do that.