I am a lot peeved

[ElleCee]

TF,
I will call James in the morning.
I made a decision today, the car is going up for sale.
I need a change. We have been together for 9 years now and it is someone elses turn to drive with a big smile. I am far too miserable these days.

Now what to get.... a VW Beetle in red with black spots? Hmm, not sure

Lorraine

[Berneta]

VWBeetle

Red with dots? ITs too late Lorraine--you've gone off the deep end. But at least you would make other people smile!
Maybe you should try another country to check you out. That they are doing nothing is CRAZY. Please do talk to James--he might have an answer that will help. xBerneta

TF--I tried that addy for the republic in the UK-- and they wouldn't let me on. Are you sure that was the right addy for the site? I gave them my name and email--then repeated the test word and it just sent me back to the original site. Couldn't get anything at all--maybe the Queen is on to it.
Send me an email about it, if you get some time. Would love to know whats going on. Just be careful--losing your head is bloody business. xBerneta

[Tom @ Intus]

TF,
I will call James in the morning.
I made a decision today, the car is going up for sale.
I need a change. We have been together for 9 years now and it is someone elses turn to drive with a big smile. I am far too miserable these days.

Now what to get.... a VW Beetle in red with black spots? Hmm, not sure

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine,

I spoke to you earlier about the situation. If I'd read this thread before hand it would have been easier to get up to speed with what had been happening. It does sound like you've been fobbed off by a load of people who don't seem to know what they're talking about, or what you're talking about.

I know you rang us earlier to see if there was anything we can do to help but there is not much we can do unfortunately. We are neither qualified, or have the equipment, to give you a new setting for your CPAP. All we can do is supply you with the pulse oximeter that your clinic no longer wants to provide you with. All that will show however is whether or not you have sleep apnoea or if your machine is being effective. It can't tell us what pressure you ideally require.

The only thing we can do is provide you with an automatic machine, but obvious they cost a decent chunk of money. However if your weight continues to change, in either direction, then its likely you will need a new pressure anyway and find yourself in this same situation a few weeks or months down the line. At least with an automatic machine you know that you're always going to get the correct pressure, regardless of your weight or other factors.

I'm sorry that we can't help out any more than this. Ultimately we're only resellers (although we'd like to think the most knowledgeable resellers out there) and are not qualified to provides you with a new fixed pressure. All we can do is offer the pulse oximeter or an APAP machine.

Other than that, I really hope that this problem gets sorted for you soon. Having not been in this situation myself I'm not in a position to offer advice, but having read through this thread it seems there are plenty of others who are well placed to offer it instead

[symmit]

I know I'm new here, and probably not qualified to comment, but as I'm currently using an Auto machine on a months rental and am going down this path with the intention of losing weight and improving my fitness in general I figured that I'm going to stick with the auto. I was going to buy myself a flashy new laptop, but an APAP is both cheaper and hopefully more worthwhile (tonight will be my 7th night and I'm feeling great), why not when you've sold the car throw some money at a machine?

What's surprising me at the moment is the difference in pressure required just from night to night, whether this is acclimatisation or normal I don't know.

I got an oximiter from one of the many Ebay far eastern sellers as well, the software was a pain to set up but between that data (which is reassuring me that it's worthwhile) and the data from the APAP I'm satisfied that I'm getting the therapy I need to help get my life back on track.

Plus at the moment the stats / IT geek in me is getting a strange sense of satisfaction that I can not just feel the effects of decent sleep but see them in numbers and graphs too!

[ElleCee]

2nd hand apap

Well, with those replies and the kowledge that the local hospital is not going to help me I am now looking for a second hand apap. Cheap as possible cos I don't have much money before I sell my car.
Anyone know of one for sale?

Thanks
Lorraine

[gvader]

Hi Lorraine,

You can rent an APAP from ResMed, trial period is a month, cost is somewhere around £50.

I did this a year or so ago to see "whether an APAP would suit me better than a CPAP". The letter I got from the sleep clinic advising that I had OSA and needed a CPAP was enough for them to supply the APAP (if I remember correctly they need a prescription to provide a CPAP as they need to set the specific pressure but as an APAP sorts itself out then they only need proof that you require the machine).


Give them a call, 0800 917 7071 (Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm GMT).

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[ElleCee]

Thanks for that, I will certainly give them a call and bear it in mind.

Lorraine

[Sparticus]

Apap

Apap has no fixed preasure, its variable like VPAP, so lets say if your getting better and you dont need as much preasure as before the machine will notice and drop the preasure automaticly. It will only give you what you need so you can use it even if your cured so to speak. Its so much better than CPAP as I dont need my preasure checked because the machine alters it but again everyone to their own as some dont like the feel of it.



.....APAP is usually the first machine you use to find out what preasure you need

[Tigers Fan]

You can hire an even better one from Respironics!

Humble opinion mutter mutter mutter

[ElleCee]

Thanks Sparticus and TF,
Can you advise on what is good and what isn't?
I do not have the faintest idea. All I know is I dont want to spend any mroe than I have to cos I am pretty much broke (in every sense!).
Do I need one with a reader and if so can I do the reading myself? I have a pc (I expect you knew that) so am halfway there.
Cheers for the replies. I am begining to feel a little more positive now
Lorraine

[Sparticus]

Lorraine you dont need any reader or hook up to the pc for your readings as the machine is automatic. If your settings need changing the machines does it all for you. Thats the beauty of apap, if your preasure changes and one night you need more your machine compensates for it, all you have to do is use the machine and the rest cares for itself. I asked the hospital how I went about checking my readings and all they said was, why? theres no point so I left it at that.

[symmit]

Indeed you don't need a reader, the stats can be read off the machine and you can adjust the min and max pressures from the clinicians menu (mine has pressure settings for Ramp start, Ramp end, min and max therapy, response speed, mask detect pressures and times etc - all at default appart from the ramp end and min pressure).

My machine (not sure if I'm allowed to mention it here as it's not an Intus one) also has a serial lead that just plugs into my PC and lets me download all the nightly graphs and stats, so you and your doctor / sleep tech can see the effect of pressure changes on the number of "events" (apnoea / restriction / hyperventilation etc) - but it's not essential.

Was nice to see last night my AHI according to the machine was under 1 for the first time since starting! Woohoo! (and today I feel great even though I went to bed late and got up for a meeting this morning!)

[ElleCee]

Hiya,
You can always tell me what machine it is in a private message
Although I don't suppose that Intus will mind too much anyway.

Anyway, what consultant and technician? I don't have them. That is my main gripe and why I need an apap.

Thanks
Lorraine

[symmit]

Hiya,
You can always tell me what machine it is in a private message
Although I don't suppose that Intus will mind too much anyway.

Anyway, what consultant and technician? I don't have them. That is my main gripe and why I need an apap.

Thanks
Lorraine

Ahhh - mine is from "another" online provider who are a competitor of Intus so in fairness to the people who run this site for the benefit of us all I'm not going to mention them...

They are giving me good support though, phone calls every couple of days, emails daily after I send them the data, moral and practical support etc. I'm sure Intus are the same.

[Tigers Fan]

Hi Lorraine

Good luck tomorrow!

TF