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+--- Thread: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? (/Thread-Maybe-I-have-apnea-maybe-not-are-all-sleep-doc-jerks)
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - sheepless - 04-28-2021
my 2 cents: if you want insurance to pay you have to jump through hoops. it's an uphill battle, takes time and you'll have to educate & convince the 'authorities' about stuff they should know but few do.
alternatively, unless you can find a better informed and patient responsive sleep doc, you can find used vautos around for roughly $100 to $750. if it works better for you, your oscar or resscan charts should be enough to get an rx for it if necessary. if it doesn't work as hoped, you can easily resell it.
btw, your comments about your hand issues rang a bell for me as I have similar problems (inflammation, swelling, redness, tendon issues like trigger fingers, can't make a fist, and lately my hands repeatedly 'fall asleep' during sleep). I had been thinking I just have to live with it but now I think I'll get it checked out.
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - cathyf - 04-28-2021
(04-28-2021, 06:51 AM)Gideon Wrote: You have a sleep study coming up. Ask for a split study with the NP. BUT this is with and without the cervical collar and both on your back.
Those results should be interesting.
Actually don't know whether this is enough to get me another sleep study. My experience with sleep medicine all along has been that if I don't take control of my data and my machine and my health that I'll be dead long before any of these clowns figure out anything to help me.
(I started this adventure on May 12, 2014 with an ApneaLink home study which showed an AHI of 8, RI of 14, and had a desat down to 79%. Which got me a sleep study on July 29, 2014, where I had an AHI of 15, (9/45 NREM/REM) and the verdict was "moderately severe obstructive sleep apnea with associated hypoxemia and sleep disruption -- minimum SpO2 of 80%. My first night on therapy was October 10, 2014 -- five freaking months after the 79% desat that was the bottom of 18 minutes of saturation <= 90%. When my PA called me like 3 hours after I turned in the ApneaLink device she was clearly freaked out by the desats -- but obviously no one else felt any need to hurry!)
This time too they have been extraordinarily casual about reacting to events. The second sleep study -- with the AHI of 18 -- got me a phone call 4 days later and they did renew my prescription at the DME. (And to be fair, my sleep study was Holy Thursday night, Good Friday through Easter Monday are holidays at a Catholic hospital, and so 4 days later was Tuesday after Easter and the first workday after the study.)
This is the front page of the report:
[attachment=31827]
which was signed by Dr Wizard with his fancy credentials: "Diplomat, ABIM-SleepMedicine and ABPN"
Obviously didn't remember the whole argument about carpal tunnel and back sleeping, or that he recommended psychiatric treatment rather than sleep therapy because it was clearly all in my head. I brought my data card with me to the consultation, and the tech disappeared with it and then brought it back later, but it's hard to imagine that he actually looked at the data. Here's what would have been the most recent data on the card, the night before I drove the 70 miles to my appointment:
[attachment=31828]
Yeah, right, nuthin to see there!
(04-28-2021, 06:51 AM)Gideon Wrote: 2nd thought. UARS and a clinic that was trained by Dr. Barry Krakow. They know flow limits and how to manage them.
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php/Flow_Limitation/UARS_and_BiPAP
Yeah I've thought of something like that... My husband is a college physics professor, so I know something about what motivates research scientists. Part of what makes me think that sleep medicine aren't serious is that paying attention to me and people like me would clearly be worth multiple publications!
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - cathyf - 04-28-2021
(04-28-2021, 12:59 PM)isheepless Wrote: btw, your comments about your hand issues rang a bell for me as I have similar problems (inflammation, swelling, redness, tendon issues like trigger fingers, can't make a fist, and lately my hands repeatedly 'fall asleep' during sleep). I had been thinking I just have to live with it but now I think I'll get it checked out.
I have both psoriatic arthritis and osteoarthritis, and last fall along with everything else I managed to give myself De Quervain's Tendonitis in my right wrist. I had a cortisone shot in my wrist two days after the November sleep study. My rheumatologist sent me to physical therapy in March and they gave me two wrist exercises for the carpal tunnel which seem to work pretty well. And those wrist splints that Dr Wizard wanted to tell me would solve all my problems? Yeah, I have professional-grade splints that I got back in 2009 and have been wearing off and on since. Actually was wearing a brace on my right wrist during both sleep studies!
Hand and wrist stuff is pretty scary. OMG -- I couldn't post 1000-word rambling rants on apneaboard if my hands become crippled!
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - Sleeprider - 04-28-2021
The path of least resistance is the one I follow. I bought a used Resmed Aircurve 10 Vauto recently from a seller in Colorado, and it works great. Best part is, it cost only $175 including shipping. Well, 6300 hours is okay, right? I have pointed you to deals before, so I don't expect you to do this one either. Thee is a "new" Aircurve 10 Vauto in a suburb of Chicago (Westchester), advertising on Craigslist at $400. Still a good deal. Airsense 10 For Her with 1-hour in Chicago for $300
I am under the impression you know exactly what you need to do, and that even with the collar, you are going to sleep better with pressure support. Just keep your prescription in effect so masks and other stuff is covered, and keep the Autoset that is easy to get for backup, or that summer home in the Hampton's.
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - 2SleepBetta - 04-28-2021
SR....and Off Topic but in same vein, there may be a need your are helping:
Looking to see what VAutos were out there for such as cathyf, I saw an AirCurve ASV in Lincoln, Neb, CL for $400. I got a used VAuto in '19 for $300 through OfferUp--taking the path of least resistance with only my FL to complain about, the OSA whipped by AutoSet.
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - SarcasticDave94 - 04-28-2021
It appears far more often that the Three Amigos fail us. DME's, Dr. McQuack's, and insurance combine together to treat us with ignorance. If we attempt to fight them, we are tempted to stoop to their level of idiocy where they inevitably beat us with their superior experience.
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - cathyf - 04-28-2021
(04-28-2021, 05:37 PM)SarcasticDave94 Wrote: ...we are tempted to stoop to their level of idiocy where they inevitably beat us with their superior experience.
Wow, you speak deep truth here, Dave
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - SarcasticDave94 - 04-28-2021
Thank you. It's an Apnea patient's experience speaking there ma'am.
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - cathyf - 04-28-2021
(04-28-2021, 02:25 PM)Sleeprider Wrote: The path of least resistance is the one I follow. I bought a used Resmed Aircurve 10 Vauto recently from a seller in Colorado, and it works great. Best part is, it cost only $175 including shipping. Well, 6300 hours is okay, right? I have pointed you to deals before, so I don't expect you to do this one either. Thee is a "new" Aircurve 10 Vauto in a suburb of Chicago (Westchester), advertising on Craigslist at $400. Still a good deal. Airsense 10 For Her with 1-hour in Chicago for $300
I am under the impression you know exactly what you need to do, and that even with the collar, you are going to sleep better with pressure support. Just keep your prescription in effect so masks and other stuff is covered, and keep the Autoset that is easy to get for backup, or that summer home in the Hampton's.
Back on April 16th I found a "resmed Aircurve 10 vauto Cpap/ bipap - $350" on craigslist in Springfield, which is only 140 miles from me and a pretty great price. I've never bought anything on craigslist (we don't have a list anywhere closer than 50-60 miles from me) so I don't how it works There was a "message seller" email (a long gobblygook string @sale.craigslist.org) on the listing, and I sent an email to it, but got no response at all. It seems to have disappeared. I tried to search for "resmed Aircurve 10 vauto" within 600 miles of my zip code and came up with nothing, even though Westchester is only 200 miles from me.
Any ideas other than craigslist?
RE: Maybe I have apnea, maybe not, are all sleep doc jerks? - cathyf - 04-28-2021
Oh, and Dave you are the wiki editor?
I bought another one of the cervical collars and I'm planning to cut it and remove about 4 inches from the length and then stitch it back together. If I take some pictures and write up a detailed set of instructions, would you pit it on the wiki?