> One of the hallmarks of incorrect diagnoses is that a lot of her patients stop the _PAP machines after less than a year because they’re not helping anything.
Without commenting on the behavior of the doctor in question, I'd like to offer a rebuttal to this point. CPAP is the gold standard for apnea treatment, but there are a lot of reasons people don't stick with treatment. It's hard enough to get used to sleeping with something on your face at night, and even harder if your machine isn't configured to the exact right settings, something that requires experimentation and data.
The machine sends telemetry to your doctor, but it's just averages for the night and offers no useful insight. Doctors literally have no tools to help you debug the process. My doctor barely tried. She tossed a few mask samples my way. I really needed support and their office told me that I should see a therapist instead because my insomnia was in my head. I was having less than 5 events per hour with the machine on, who cares if I was waking up choking 3 times a night? I can't fully blame them, because they didn't have any more information to go on.
There is an amazing open source application for analyzing the data from your CPAP called OSCAR. The data available to you is quite granular and useful. I didn't go see a therapist, and instead resolved to get to the root of the problem. From start to finish it took me a year to get a full night's sleep with a CPAP, and that was only through learning to read and analyze the data. It was a tremendous effort, and the only reason I didn't give up was because I had just been tired for so many years that there was no other option.
CPAP isn't a pill that you can swallow and just start feeling better. My point is just that people not sticking to CPAP is very very common. I'd be curious to see a source linking this to incorrect diagnoses.
> There is an amazing open source application for analyzing the data from your CPAP called OSCAR. The data available to you is quite granular and useful
WHOA! Thank you for this. I will be checking this out now!
It's really ridiculous to have all this data and not use it. We pay good money for the device and the doctors, and this data should be investigated.
Without commenting on the behavior of the doctor in question, I'd like to offer a rebuttal to this point. CPAP is the gold standard for apnea treatment, but there are a lot of reasons people don't stick with treatment. It's hard enough to get used to sleeping with something on your face at night, and even harder if your machine isn't configured to the exact right settings, something that requires experimentation and data.
The machine sends telemetry to your doctor, but it's just averages for the night and offers no useful insight. Doctors literally have no tools to help you debug the process. My doctor barely tried. She tossed a few mask samples my way. I really needed support and their office told me that I should see a therapist instead because my insomnia was in my head. I was having less than 5 events per hour with the machine on, who cares if I was waking up choking 3 times a night? I can't fully blame them, because they didn't have any more information to go on.
There is an amazing open source application for analyzing the data from your CPAP called OSCAR. The data available to you is quite granular and useful. I didn't go see a therapist, and instead resolved to get to the root of the problem. From start to finish it took me a year to get a full night's sleep with a CPAP, and that was only through learning to read and analyze the data. It was a tremendous effort, and the only reason I didn't give up was because I had just been tired for so many years that there was no other option.
CPAP isn't a pill that you can swallow and just start feeling better. My point is just that people not sticking to CPAP is very very common. I'd be curious to see a source linking this to incorrect diagnoses.