really frustrated! finding a doctor in boston?

[deerock]

ive tried 3 different sleep doctors, one at beth israel, one at MGH and one at St. elizabeths. none have been helpful. the most they have done is prescribe a cpap and send me for further testing.

its been a nightmare going through all the tests, using the cpap and not getting anywhere. i wear the cpap and my AHI is usually around 7 after 8 hours of sleep.

my first question is how can i research doctors properly to find a good one that will sit with me and think through the best options?

another question is how have people dealt with this kind of issue? its not clear what the problem is. i do know there is something up with my breathing even when awake, my throat closes easily and i get panicky but there is no real diagnosis for this. i have mild asthma but treatment for that doesnt really change the issue.

thanks for your help.

[Gideon]

We need to see data to help you.  The way most of us deal with your Dr. Issue is to do it ourselves.

Can you provide details of your sleep study(s).  That will really help us provide you with direction to proceed.
The issues with the throat closing is not uncommon and can usually be fixed with some minor tweaking of your settings, but it helps if we know what they are first.  Please include any ramp and EPR settings.

[deerock]

what kind of details will be helpful?

i had mild sleep apnea. the settings were CPAP at 8cm.
EPR is set to 3, RAMP to 5 minutes.

please let me know what other data would be beneficial to know.

[Gideon]

Did the sleep study find anything other than Obstructive events? any central events?

Can you upload SleepHead data from your SD card?  How to is in my signature.  

in your OP you said " using the cpap and not getting anywhere."  what do you mean by that?
What are the pressure settings on the ramp?  Can you turn it off?  

Your EPR is set at 3 meaning that your pressure is ranging from 5 to 8 on each breath.  It is possible that 5 is too low for you "throat closes easily and i get panicky"
can we decrease the EPR and see if that helps?  With your AHI "around 7"  it is not unlikely that your pressure needs to be raised.

The data in the charts will Definitely help clarify this.

[trish6hundred]

Hi deerock,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more answers to your question, good luck to you with your CPAP therapy.
You have come to the right place for help.