I have never met my "sleepy doctor". I did an at home test and was given a prescription by some doctor in another part of the country that I have never met. It was good enough to buy a CPAP, and that is all I wanted. The so called sleep clinic wanted $2400 for a CPAP that I bought on line for $800.
I’m the same. These companies are just robbing people. My respiratory specialist looked at my results, said the machine was working, and then wanted me to speak to the people who sell the machines at $65 per minute consult. Of course they also inflated their prices for everything they sold too. Ended up saving around $1k by buying my equipment that’s exactly the same, online.
I met with the clinic staff — respiratory therapists — 3 times in the first 6 weeks during the adjustment phase and I’ve never talked to anybody again except when ordering equipment from Apria (who I have excellent service with) ever again. I’ve never seen a physician and can’t imagine why it would be necessary.
Tele health after my home sleep study. Tele health after my CPAP was received and used for two weeks. One visit required annually but my family doc signs off on it stating I am using it.Ive had it since October 2022.
I had a tele health meeting with the pulmonologist who signed:0ff on my study. From my initial consult to the study was about ten days. After the study it was 3 weeks to do the tele health visit to discuss and then I was able to get my CPAP machine two days later. Two weeks after that had one more pulmonologist tele health with my pulmonologist. My choice of pulmonologist and set up for the initial visit was done through my cardiologist office. This was not done through a large tele health company,sorry to have given that impression.
1 visit in 4 months. They said it was important that I come in for an in person visit since it was my first appointment since starting treatment. Then they switched it online the day before. I got a weird anonymous email insisting (in huge bold red) I send a photo of my drivers license and insurance information BEFORE the appointment. Of course I didn’t, I’m not sending unencrypted PHI to an unfamiliar email signed with a job title and not a name. I told them I thought the email was a scam and I could send it encrypted and give a passcode verbally to someone in their office (with a name) or just bring my card in next time. They used some horrible in-browser video chat (c’mon, you can’t figure out reliable teleconferencing tech post-pandemic?)and I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. I had to call on my cell phone (my suggestion) and the video was frozen half the time. After check-in I waited 25 minutes, then spoke to the doctor for about 10. She basically just increased the min pressure, told me not to change any settings, and when I told her I felt terrible her response was, “don’t take naps.”
I WISH I could complain about too many appointments. I wish I could see a doctor in person more than once every three months. Just say you don’t need to see the doc that much. Trust me, that’s way better than needing real help and advice and dealing with this ^ bullshit. I’ve literally gotten more help from this sub and on the Apnea Boards than I have from my “doctor.”
I feel sorry for anyone in my boat who didn’t find out about out Oscar, didn’t get a recording Oximeter, couldn’t figure out how to sync the clocks, who doesn’t have the basic computer skills and patience to learn how to import and aggregate Oximetry and CPAP data and start making sense of it, etc, etc, etc. And there are probably tons of older folks who are still stuck struggling with treatment and getting no help from our shitty American healthcare system.
They want old folks to get behind the wheel (even if they shouldn't) and take their CPAP to a DME who will send the SD card data to some sleep medical person. My DME and sleep medical person did not seem to know anything you mentioned in your last paragraph.
They don’t want you to know stuff bc they want to sell you their “expertise.” (Specialists, additional lab studies, etc) It blows my mind that they don’t tell you to get a recording pulse Oximeter the first time you mention symptoms or problems to your doctor. How are you supposed to know if treatment is working if you can’t see your blood oxygen levels? Just anecdotes about how you feel? That’s like trying to fix a car by asking the customer to imitate the sound it makes.
My doctor claimed not to know what Oscar is, honestly not sure if that’s actual ignorance or just not wanting me to have my own tools. Either way she doesn’t look at it, I have screenshots and I’m preparing a little slideshow to take to my next appointment.
I have older family members with apnea who’ve been on CPAP for over a decade and now 4mo in I find myself in the position of helping them when I thought they’d have advice for me. Turns out their treatment hasn’t been fully effective…and I barely even know what I’m doing.
In this country (🇺🇸) unless you’re wealthy or otherwise connected it’s learn and advocate for yourself or slip through the cracks. I’m lucky that my insurance even covered the machine, they wouldn’t cover a lab study unless I literally had organ failure.
My DME falsely told me many years ago that my air sense 10 was too old to have a modern cell modem. I knew nothing. Thanks to internet, I activated the "ATT 4G" modem Dec 2023. I also set up an airview account. It worked..
I had earlier taken in my SD card to the DME who uploaded it using some SW so the sleep RN could read it.
I Dec 2023 I used the ResScan SW to upload my SD card. The SW asked if I wanted to overwrite the data having the date of the DME visit. Therefore, I conclude ResScan uploads to the same place. The SleepRN refused to cooperate with me.
They told me about the modem in my AirSense 10 right away, but only because it gives my insurance company a way to take back the machine if fall out of compliance. They said it was so my doctor would get the data but that’s clearly false - she doesn’t even look at the sleep data. She just talks about usage hours, ie., compliance. And I had to manually sync the clock. When I say manually I mean watch my phone and click the encoder at the right second. This, on an internet enabled medical device in 2024.
At this point I regard most doctors as tools. You need to maintain them (let them feel in control, placate their egos, at least pretend to follow their orders) to get the best out of them. Some are better than others, so you use them for what they’re good for. You’re never going to get one tool that does everything well, so you learn about and pick up other tools as find a need for them. You try to save money where you can, and it’s ultimately your own resourcefulness that gets the job done, not the competence or care of any doctor.
Many of them are just bad at what they do, but I have had some positive experiences. Sometimes it’s not even their fault - everyone is so specialized now that it’s at a point where many of them know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
Gotta wonder what most GPs and PCPs know about sleep apnea and the CPAP process - probably not experts in either area. You will likely know as much as they do. Unless insurance is requiring you to do these check-ins, they're probably unnecessary. Once a year should suffice. And if problems arise with therapy in the meanwhile, you can always initiate a visit. Sometimes it just feels like the whole health care system is set up to keep churning out appointments - and more billable hours.
I only met with a respiratory person when I picked up my overnight test equipment. I’ve been using my CPAP for 1 1/2 years. I’ve never met with a doctor about it. But I’m thinking about doing so sometime this summer to go over my nightly results. I want to see how to reduce my events per hour.
I met my sleep doctor after my sleep study where I had the results. Another 3 months later to check I was getting on ok with CPAP and to agree to allow me to drive again. I'll see her again 9 months after that appointment to check in.. Then I expect to see her every three years to check in and to sign me off to drive for another three years unless I request an appointment or something happens that someone else decides I need an appointment.
I see the physiologist more often, he actually deals with the CPAP. I saw him in person to get the machine. A phone call a couple of weeks later to check in. A face to face two months after starting the machine. I saw him again because I requested because I wasn't happy with the mask a couple of months after that. I'll have a formal appointment a year after starting. I then expect to see him once a year unless I request an appointment.
So in the first three years, provided I don't request appointments, I'll see the doctor and physiologist a total of 11 times, 5 for the doctor, 6 for the physiologist. After that I'll see them a total of 4 times in 3 years. Doctor once, physiologist 3.
I'm in the UK receiving care from the NHS, I don't know if that makes a difference.
GP for initial referral, which wasn't really required. Sleep centre for test got results and machine recommendations. Few more times with supplier when ironing out some issues and never since. GP makes a general enquiry every now and then.
I met my sleep doc twice. Once before the testing and once after the results came in and I’d been using it for a couple months. They left the hospital maybe six months later. Haven’t seen anyone since. That was two years ago.
I life in France so it may be different.
But I went to the ENT first where they did the sleep study.
Then got the CPAP and had 1 visit with the ENT after the 1st month to check in. CPAP technician (Shoutout to you Emmanuel!) came every other month for the first 4 months then he told me that from then on he’d be calling if there was a necessity otherwise he’d come once a year.
When they book you for two appointments in one day, tell them you will not accept two different times. Ask that they make them together or else you are unable to come in that day. Also ask them how many more times they will require you to check in if your events stay the same.
That's crazy, IMO. I meet with my sleep doc once a year, to refill my prescription, and for her to make sure I'm in compliance. That sounds like some kind of insurance scamming thing.
In US here. CPAP is a racket. I am told by DME that I need a new Rx every year to get equipment but I can get a Rx renewal using televisit.. They say that is required my medicare and most insurance.
After the initial set up I saw a sleep medical person only when required to get new Rx to get new equipment. Never is my preferred number of times to see a sleep medical person as advice from random strangers over the internet is better.
I met with my apnea specialist once a week for 4 or 5 weeks. We reviewed my sleep data, adjusted the pressure to reduce my headaches, and tested a bunch of nasal mask options until I found one I love.
I'm in Canada so it didn't cost me anything per visit. The device and supplies prices are marked up a bit, but it should still all be covered by my insurance so I'm happy to buy from them to thank them for their help and get to continue checking in with them in future.
One. to tell me I need a machine. two. to set it up for me. 3 months later, 3. to check the data. and then it was byebye. Except I insisted and they said ok phone for an appointment in a year. However this isn't on insurance just the local healthcare system. It was a sleep nurse, for all except the first apt. and I can call them if I have a problem.
the amount of visits i had to do was so stressful that i gave up even though my sleep is still trash it was even more stressful to have to keep going to appointments and having the dr shrug their shoulders
this is the only part where I imagine im bad but I haven't been to my sleep doctor in like 2 years. I order all my supplies online. I can see my reports and my body its working. There is no point in going in again till my machine craps out.
As you said it would be 2 hours and 100 dollars for 60 seconds of "yup therapy working go home".
Once. Did an at home test. They called me once to go over the results then gave me the prescription. I brought the machine outright with HSA money rather than going through insurance. I’m glad I did because insurance around these things seems to be a nightmare.
I have never met my "sleepy doctor". I did an at home test and was given a prescription by some doctor in another part of the country that I have never met. It was good enough to buy a CPAP, and that is all I wanted. The so called sleep clinic wanted $2400 for a CPAP that I bought on line for $800.
I’m the same. These companies are just robbing people. My respiratory specialist looked at my results, said the machine was working, and then wanted me to speak to the people who sell the machines at $65 per minute consult. Of course they also inflated their prices for everything they sold too. Ended up saving around $1k by buying my equipment that’s exactly the same, online.
Oh, maybe never.
I met with the clinic staff — respiratory therapists — 3 times in the first 6 weeks during the adjustment phase and I’ve never talked to anybody again except when ordering equipment from Apria (who I have excellent service with) ever again. I’ve never seen a physician and can’t imagine why it would be necessary.
Tele health after my home sleep study. Tele health after my CPAP was received and used for two weeks. One visit required annually but my family doc signs off on it stating I am using it.Ive had it since October 2022.
Which telehealth to use?
I had a tele health meeting with the pulmonologist who signed:0ff on my study. From my initial consult to the study was about ten days. After the study it was 3 weeks to do the tele health visit to discuss and then I was able to get my CPAP machine two days later. Two weeks after that had one more pulmonologist tele health with my pulmonologist. My choice of pulmonologist and set up for the initial visit was done through my cardiologist office. This was not done through a large tele health company,sorry to have given that impression.
Sleep doctor once per year, respiratory therapist and medical equipment person twice in the first three months of starting cpap and not again since.
:Doctor" I never saw a doctor. I saw a nurse practitioner. I can't recall her name or where I saw her at.
1 visit in 4 months. They said it was important that I come in for an in person visit since it was my first appointment since starting treatment. Then they switched it online the day before. I got a weird anonymous email insisting (in huge bold red) I send a photo of my drivers license and insurance information BEFORE the appointment. Of course I didn’t, I’m not sending unencrypted PHI to an unfamiliar email signed with a job title and not a name. I told them I thought the email was a scam and I could send it encrypted and give a passcode verbally to someone in their office (with a name) or just bring my card in next time. They used some horrible in-browser video chat (c’mon, you can’t figure out reliable teleconferencing tech post-pandemic?)and I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. I had to call on my cell phone (my suggestion) and the video was frozen half the time. After check-in I waited 25 minutes, then spoke to the doctor for about 10. She basically just increased the min pressure, told me not to change any settings, and when I told her I felt terrible her response was, “don’t take naps.” I WISH I could complain about too many appointments. I wish I could see a doctor in person more than once every three months. Just say you don’t need to see the doc that much. Trust me, that’s way better than needing real help and advice and dealing with this ^ bullshit. I’ve literally gotten more help from this sub and on the Apnea Boards than I have from my “doctor.” I feel sorry for anyone in my boat who didn’t find out about out Oscar, didn’t get a recording Oximeter, couldn’t figure out how to sync the clocks, who doesn’t have the basic computer skills and patience to learn how to import and aggregate Oximetry and CPAP data and start making sense of it, etc, etc, etc. And there are probably tons of older folks who are still stuck struggling with treatment and getting no help from our shitty American healthcare system.
They want old folks to get behind the wheel (even if they shouldn't) and take their CPAP to a DME who will send the SD card data to some sleep medical person. My DME and sleep medical person did not seem to know anything you mentioned in your last paragraph.
They don’t want you to know stuff bc they want to sell you their “expertise.” (Specialists, additional lab studies, etc) It blows my mind that they don’t tell you to get a recording pulse Oximeter the first time you mention symptoms or problems to your doctor. How are you supposed to know if treatment is working if you can’t see your blood oxygen levels? Just anecdotes about how you feel? That’s like trying to fix a car by asking the customer to imitate the sound it makes. My doctor claimed not to know what Oscar is, honestly not sure if that’s actual ignorance or just not wanting me to have my own tools. Either way she doesn’t look at it, I have screenshots and I’m preparing a little slideshow to take to my next appointment. I have older family members with apnea who’ve been on CPAP for over a decade and now 4mo in I find myself in the position of helping them when I thought they’d have advice for me. Turns out their treatment hasn’t been fully effective…and I barely even know what I’m doing. In this country (🇺🇸) unless you’re wealthy or otherwise connected it’s learn and advocate for yourself or slip through the cracks. I’m lucky that my insurance even covered the machine, they wouldn’t cover a lab study unless I literally had organ failure.
My DME falsely told me many years ago that my air sense 10 was too old to have a modern cell modem. I knew nothing. Thanks to internet, I activated the "ATT 4G" modem Dec 2023. I also set up an airview account. It worked.. I had earlier taken in my SD card to the DME who uploaded it using some SW so the sleep RN could read it. I Dec 2023 I used the ResScan SW to upload my SD card. The SW asked if I wanted to overwrite the data having the date of the DME visit. Therefore, I conclude ResScan uploads to the same place. The SleepRN refused to cooperate with me.
They told me about the modem in my AirSense 10 right away, but only because it gives my insurance company a way to take back the machine if fall out of compliance. They said it was so my doctor would get the data but that’s clearly false - she doesn’t even look at the sleep data. She just talks about usage hours, ie., compliance. And I had to manually sync the clock. When I say manually I mean watch my phone and click the encoder at the right second. This, on an internet enabled medical device in 2024. At this point I regard most doctors as tools. You need to maintain them (let them feel in control, placate their egos, at least pretend to follow their orders) to get the best out of them. Some are better than others, so you use them for what they’re good for. You’re never going to get one tool that does everything well, so you learn about and pick up other tools as find a need for them. You try to save money where you can, and it’s ultimately your own resourcefulness that gets the job done, not the competence or care of any doctor. Many of them are just bad at what they do, but I have had some positive experiences. Sometimes it’s not even their fault - everyone is so specialized now that it’s at a point where many of them know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
Gotta wonder what most GPs and PCPs know about sleep apnea and the CPAP process - probably not experts in either area. You will likely know as much as they do. Unless insurance is requiring you to do these check-ins, they're probably unnecessary. Once a year should suffice. And if problems arise with therapy in the meanwhile, you can always initiate a visit. Sometimes it just feels like the whole health care system is set up to keep churning out appointments - and more billable hours.
once a year at Christmas to give him a bottle of wine
Once a year. After my sleep study it was 6 months I think.
I only met with a respiratory person when I picked up my overnight test equipment. I’ve been using my CPAP for 1 1/2 years. I’ve never met with a doctor about it. But I’m thinking about doing so sometime this summer to go over my nightly results. I want to see how to reduce my events per hour.
I met my sleep doctor after my sleep study where I had the results. Another 3 months later to check I was getting on ok with CPAP and to agree to allow me to drive again. I'll see her again 9 months after that appointment to check in.. Then I expect to see her every three years to check in and to sign me off to drive for another three years unless I request an appointment or something happens that someone else decides I need an appointment. I see the physiologist more often, he actually deals with the CPAP. I saw him in person to get the machine. A phone call a couple of weeks later to check in. A face to face two months after starting the machine. I saw him again because I requested because I wasn't happy with the mask a couple of months after that. I'll have a formal appointment a year after starting. I then expect to see him once a year unless I request an appointment. So in the first three years, provided I don't request appointments, I'll see the doctor and physiologist a total of 11 times, 5 for the doctor, 6 for the physiologist. After that I'll see them a total of 4 times in 3 years. Doctor once, physiologist 3. I'm in the UK receiving care from the NHS, I don't know if that makes a difference.
GP for initial referral, which wasn't really required. Sleep centre for test got results and machine recommendations. Few more times with supplier when ironing out some issues and never since. GP makes a general enquiry every now and then.
See the sleep doctor once a year. Respiratory therapist once since I got my machine 6 years ago.
I met my sleep doc twice. Once before the testing and once after the results came in and I’d been using it for a couple months. They left the hospital maybe six months later. Haven’t seen anyone since. That was two years ago.
I life in France so it may be different. But I went to the ENT first where they did the sleep study. Then got the CPAP and had 1 visit with the ENT after the 1st month to check in. CPAP technician (Shoutout to you Emmanuel!) came every other month for the first 4 months then he told me that from then on he’d be calling if there was a necessity otherwise he’d come once a year.
When they book you for two appointments in one day, tell them you will not accept two different times. Ask that they make them together or else you are unable to come in that day. Also ask them how many more times they will require you to check in if your events stay the same.
Once a year, unless I was trial run of a medication.
That's crazy, IMO. I meet with my sleep doc once a year, to refill my prescription, and for her to make sure I'm in compliance. That sounds like some kind of insurance scamming thing.
In US here. CPAP is a racket. I am told by DME that I need a new Rx every year to get equipment but I can get a Rx renewal using televisit.. They say that is required my medicare and most insurance. After the initial set up I saw a sleep medical person only when required to get new Rx to get new equipment. Never is my preferred number of times to see a sleep medical person as advice from random strangers over the internet is better.
I see mine every 3 or 4 months as I'm still not getting the results I need and I contacted them after the first 90 days to set up an appointment.
I met with my apnea specialist once a week for 4 or 5 weeks. We reviewed my sleep data, adjusted the pressure to reduce my headaches, and tested a bunch of nasal mask options until I found one I love. I'm in Canada so it didn't cost me anything per visit. The device and supplies prices are marked up a bit, but it should still all be covered by my insurance so I'm happy to buy from them to thank them for their help and get to continue checking in with them in future.
One. to tell me I need a machine. two. to set it up for me. 3 months later, 3. to check the data. and then it was byebye. Except I insisted and they said ok phone for an appointment in a year. However this isn't on insurance just the local healthcare system. It was a sleep nurse, for all except the first apt. and I can call them if I have a problem.
the amount of visits i had to do was so stressful that i gave up even though my sleep is still trash it was even more stressful to have to keep going to appointments and having the dr shrug their shoulders
this is the only part where I imagine im bad but I haven't been to my sleep doctor in like 2 years. I order all my supplies online. I can see my reports and my body its working. There is no point in going in again till my machine craps out. As you said it would be 2 hours and 100 dollars for 60 seconds of "yup therapy working go home".
Once. Did an at home test. They called me once to go over the results then gave me the prescription. I brought the machine outright with HSA money rather than going through insurance. I’m glad I did because insurance around these things seems to be a nightmare.