I want to slap my sleep apnea doctor...so tempting

So far I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto Disease, PCOS, and pre-diabetes. I saw a doctor to have a sleep study & CPAP in 2wks. He said it is likely I have some form of sleep apnea. I started with only hypothyroidism and when I became very active in my health and investigating everything… I opened a can of worms. SO GLAD I DID THOUGH! I cannot stress how important it is to be your own advocate for your health! READ! RESEARCH! LISTEN!

My PCP is amazing and has already written out nice packet saying I am an excellent candidate for surgery and that I will succeed! *hugs to my doctor*

My dietician is amazing. She understands my struggles with dieting and not losing weight. She even asked if I even wanted to keep up on her guidelines because I was doing just fine on my own and didn’t need her advice. I informed her that I still needed her notes & instruction due to insurance requirements.  She even gave me this book on eating with bariatric surgery! It’s awesome! Good recipes that you can use from right after surgery to several months out.

My sleep apnea doctor is totally against surgery… and says bariatric surgery is no answer for weight loss….Also said that it causes more health trouble than actually solves anything….. WHAT?! He also stated dieting solves everything and that people are just lazy… I had to hold my tongue. As a doctor I can truly say he is not ‘educated’ enough in this type of surgery to be spouting these judgments. Does he not know that sleep apnea has a high chance of being CURED after surgery?

I never get luke warm people on bariatric surgery. Its either they are totally against it or all for it. Very very few were luke warm about it.

So within 2 months I should have all my requirements done for insurance! WOOT WOOT

Should I stick with my sleep doctor or find someone who isn’t biased towards my choices? I am afraid he will put something ‘silly & naive’ in my medical report…. which will go to my insurance….

What do you all think? Please let me know!

Get another doctor.  This guy is ignorant AND a jerk.

New doctor - pronto. 

If you had a doctor that said diabetes is simply a "laziness issue" and not a disease, wouldn't you go elsewhere?  What if he said that about cardiac issues?  Wouldn't you run for the hills? 

He's an uneducated jackass.  Move on.

Yeah, last night they replayed Dr. Oz's "Weight Loss" episode (as a guest on Oprah's show) because it was one of her "mos****ched" episodes. 

He says he has no qualms about weight loss surgery, saying "Yes. Listen, if you're one hundred pounds overweight at age fifty, you have the same mortality rate as if you have a solid cancer. Would you operate for cancer? Yeah. So if you cannot lose that weight, get one of these procedures. You have to do it with counseling and full awareness of what you're doing, of course. But if you get people to start losing 5% of their excess body weight, you're really taking a big whack out of the two-thirds of Americans."

So, I would hope your sleep doctor will just do the job he is supposed to, which is to test and treat you for sleep disorders.  If he goes beyond that, you can let him know you have a PCP and a bariatric physician who are advising you in the WLS regard, and "thank you very much for your concern."  There are many studies out there which prove him wrong if you want to "just happen" to have them with you on your next visit.

I really hope he just sticks to what he is good at. (he is good at his proffesion ... just really bad on bariatrics lol)

Well.....What kind of road trips would it take to replace him? If it's doable and you make a quick connection with another doc, I'd say go for it.

But if it's going to entail a run clear across the state, I don't know if I'd bother. The WLS part is none of his damned business. You're there for a sleep apnea evaluation, right? Is he a pulmonologist? And if so, do you need pulmonary clearance? That might be a little harder to deal with.

For the sleep apnea issue, you'll need something like three appointments total--initial and post sleep study for sure, maybe another one somewhere in there. It *might* be worth your time to just coldly stare at him and say, "Thank you very much for your opinion. I'll give it the consideration it deserves. Now, I am here for an evaluation for sleep apnea, so let's kindly stick to the subject."

If he then gets pissy about providing the services you need, I'd be out the door (and I'd refuse to pay a red cent). My online reviews would be numerous and scathing, too.

Great lines in there EN! If he says anything in my notes or on my appointments about anything besides my sleep evaluation. I am going to make sure he understands he is ONLY my sleep doctor and that is what i expect.

It will be a set back if I do switch doctors at this point but I wanted to hear from you all before a made a big change.

So I will stick to my guns and be as polite as possible and hopefully he keeps to what he studies. Because if he says anything in those notes and it goes to my insurance I am going to find that man.... not in a good way lol

Uggg! but at least my other doctors are amazing, I just can't love them enough!

Here's hoping he behaves himself :-).

Sorry to hijack the post for a minute.

Is it possible to calibrate your own CPAP by yourself?  My Grandma died in February and my aunt has her old machine.  I'm almost sure I have some form of sleep apnea.  Nightmares of drowning wake up gasping, sleep enough hours but still exhausted, been told I stop breathing etc. 

Anyway, I've got an appointment to get a sleep study done but they can't see me till January.  I thought I could use hers.  It was not on her when she died or anything, so I'm not creeped out by it.  It's not weird right?  A little?  OK maybe a little, I still want to try it.  I'm gonna buy my own mask and hose.

I thought all the machines can be set to have varying degrees of air force?  I know that you have sleep apnea and have used a CPAP for quite a while and may have some answers.

You probably CAN change the settings yourself, but not well.

You CAN use a used machine, though.  You'll have to pay for the tech to do the setting instead of just renting/buying a machine with the tech's charges included.  Call a Durable Medical Equipment company to learn about the price.

But JANUARY?  That's too long to wait.  If you do have sleep apnea you could be dead by then.