Well, the latest mask from Resmed, the F40, arrived last week. It doesn't work as well as the F30i so I am going back to the F30i.
It was uncomfortable and it leaked.
The biggest problem was that the cushion was too wide. I couldn't get it adjusted. Maybe for someone with bigger jowls. From the web
"What are jowls? The term 'jowls' describes sagging, loose skin below the jawline, which most people develop with age. Aside from ageing, a number of other factors can also contribute to having jowls."
I also fired my 'sleepy medicine' doctor. I mentioned previously that she has only provided a technology, no discussions on SLEEP. And when I mentioned the book "Why We Sleep" I was dismissed -- who was I to bring up something like this to an exalted doctor! They provides a prescription for a CPAP? They are deploying a technology - a pseudo pill to follow in the successful business model of Big Pharma.
I mentioned that I had a sleep study on 2/18/24 and scored 64 on Apnea index thus eligible for Medicare support. I had a titration study scheduled for this Sunday evening. The sleep lab is a separate company. I wanted to talk with the sleep technician about a couple of graphs that my wonderful helper here, Sierra, does not deal with. And I wanted to talk with the technician about the difference between the F30i and the F40 mask and how they fit on my face. FAIL. The technicians can only put machines on and send the results to the exalted doctors. The very doctors who for 13 years have only deployed a technology. I can go in on my knees and have a consultation with the "sleepy doctors" on the graphs that I produced. I declined. I am so upset with them that I don't want to see them again. The same doctors that scheduled a TITRATION study that lasts one night. That produces a REAL fact. Daily monitoring with 14 graphs from OSCAR is not real in their business model.
Why not talk with the sleep technician? That is forbidden for political/organizational/social boundaries. The sleep technician can only put on their machine and send the results to the doctors. The sleep technicians score the study which includes Stages 1, 2 and 3, and also REM sleep. But they are forbidden to talk with the patient. They are second class citizens.
But on reflection, what can the sleep technicians add? They don't go over daily results and do the real titration which is a human machine interaction over many days, they are lab machine operators, they don't have any contact with human treatment. So I probably placed too much faith in the technicians because they don't do what has happened in the dialogue here over these many days. I just looked and I have now posted here 73 times. In 13 years of experience with this 'sleepy doctor" practice I bet that they have never really done the job that has been done here on MyApnea. In other words this experience has exposed the fraud big time.
The REAL results only come from a LAB which is where SCIENCE is done. If TITRATION has the same charge as a sleep study, it will be $6,500 US dollars which for me after insurance was about $100 charge. (Wonderful!!! see what a bargain I got! Only $100 for this lab result!! I should be so happy! Does anyone care that the government got ripped off???) Like resource extraction of oil, health care is resource extraction - using humans to mine the system for $.
I got a new doctor. I searched for "Functional Medicine Sleep Doctor" That will be in a month or so. So far I only need them for the annual update of Medicare services.
With the new doctor I might be entered into yet another medical information system. Here in Central Ohio they use EPIC. And the different medical practices do not have interoperability between systems! Remember when Electronic Medical Record would make health care better and save money? It turns out to be another Mafia money laundering approach. USA health care costs are totally out of control and getting worse. (I was one of the initial system engineers in 1982 when AT&T was going to automate medical records. It was clear in the first week that the project would fail. AT&T spent $100 million dollars and the project failed. Now, 40 years later, many companies have information systems for medicine and they work as well as the automated telephone robot answering systems.)
Then there is the CPAP equipment. This is another company. I thought that the F40 would work better so I got the system - head gear, strap, tubes and all that stuff for the F40. I get the system replaced every 6 months on Medicare. So to go back to the old F30I, I will order itself on line at a cost of $159. Then I will stay in the regular rotation of equipment covered by Medicare.
Sierra in his last note said that he finds that apnea score, AHI, can do OK with many different masks. And comfort is an issue.
The F40 did OK with AHI - max 3.8, min 1. But large leak was too much. And it was not comfortable, so I am going back to one that worked. Overall, it failed for me. But since the Resmed 4 scores are directed toward compliance: hours, mask seal, mask on/off and AHI, I was a "success" because my total was 100 on most nights. Hence a scoring system that is unreal. Using the system to cover up real treatment!
I know that people often try many masks so this is not unusual.
The arrogance of the medical Sleep "treatment" fraud that a one night TITRATION would be better than daily monitoring with OSCAR - arrogance unbound. They will do anything to preserve their prestige and payments. I hope the new sleep doctor will be one that is a real doctor, you know, an old fashioned doctor that you can talk to.
A friend of my wife was making an appoint for her physician and mentioned two conditions to discuss. For insurance reasons she could only discuss one condition in one 15 minute session. She asked if she could schedule two visits back to back. That was OK.
It is not a health care system, it is a sick care system to deploy pills and hospital treatments.
This site with Sierra has been a lifesaver for me. I will be eternally grateful.
