Homeless W/Severe Sleep Apnea

[Todzo]

What I find amazing about people in America is how effectively they oppress their poor. I wish they would stop that.

[cpapist]

Well Todzo, that calls for a political reply and I will quote Charles Barkley.

"Poor people have been voting for Democrats for fifty years and they are still poor."

[Bobshouse]

Sorry if I upset a few people, but come on, live in the real world. Did anyone read the story about the father who was murdered responding to a craigslist post? Wonder if he went to pick up a cpap? It was in the news just yesterday. There are bad things out there all around us. Has anyone here been a victim of a violent crime, howabout a family member?

I look around me as I walk.

I was suggesting in my last post that before everyone sends everything in their cupboard to him, make sure he really is in need.

Has anyone here ever been scammed?

[herefishy]

It wouldn't be much of a scam if we all chipped in and could find an old legacy "m" series. They run forever and would be an improvement over nothing, and can run on batteries, which I don't think an s9 can. C'mon folks, let's get this guy fixed up.

[Stormynights]

Years ago I met a woman that told about her daughters dying wishes. We all chipped in with money and everything imaginable for a dying 14 year old. One man gave the mother a car. I hate scammers and moochers but but we can't all just turn cold and dismiss all pleas for help. There is a forum member here that has been given 3 machines under 3 user names. He could pass one along.

[Julie]

BobsH - the point is that you assume a homeless person is likely a crook... and that's what stinks.

[Todzo]

BobsH - the point is that you assume a homeless person is likely a crook... and that's what stinks.

Often what BobsH is doing amounts to slander!

From my own research I would guess that at least a third of those in shelter deal with undiagnosed unknown Obstructive Sleep Apnea. It disables many parts of executive functioning intermittently. So the person looses essential parts of their effectiveness at the job and at home. So the quality of life drops like a stone and their ability to fend for themselves is compromised.

May those who oppress the innocent here be like chaff before the wind!

Todzo

[johnthomasmacdonald]

Well Todzo, that calls for a political reply and I will quote Charles Barkley.

"Poor people have been voting for Democrats for fifty years and they are still poor."

and people have been going to doctors for thousands of years and yet they ALL still die. Obviously it's a total scam and everyone should stop going to doctors when they are ill.

[johnthomasmacdonald]

If people want to start a fund to buy one for this guy,i'll certainly donate $100. If it's a ripoff, so be it. I've been ripped off before and i'll be ripped off again but i'll certainly start the pot running - I also have an S8 type auto asv enhanced that i barely used that i'd be willing to donate ( i have 2 hoses for it - it has a weird dual hose - with one unopened) - although i thought it might be better to wait to donate this to someone who needs an asv and doesn't have the insurance.

[lastlib]

I note cynics say that this a fraud. However, how could he gain? I am a criminal defense attorney and as cynical as they come but the market for used cpap is not profitable enough to do this kind of work.
Even if this is a scam it is sad that it could be true. No one in this intelligent group (I am speaking to you small government conservatives) can give even a hypothetical solution to this problem. We send our sick out to die in the snow. After you flame me please solve the problem.

[Julie]

JTMcD - Good for you! How should we organize the rest of us to throw in and have it all go the same place? I'd be happy to do it, but I don't know if being in Canada would somehow preclude or complicate it (tho' I'm not sure why it would), but I bet JTMcD would volunteer... though I know he's got so much other personal business to take care of.

[Todzo]

I note cynics say that this a fraud. However, how could he gain? I am a criminal defense attorney and as cynical as they come but the market for used cpap is not profitable enough to do this kind of work.
Even if this is a scam it is sad that it could be true. No one in this intelligent group (I am speaking to you small government conservatives) can give even a hypothetical solution to this problem. We send our sick out to die in the snow. After you flame me please solve the problem.

Working on it.

As CPAP is administered now it is not, in my opinion, a likely solution for this man as I understand his situation from these posts.

Over the last ten years I have learned:

That the objective long term data on CPAP usability shows that if you are in a rich environment and very very well managed your chances of being able to use the machine at the one year mark for over four hours a night may well be above 60%. In the general population I believe the number is under 50%. We will probably never know. When some low numbers came out a few years ago (one at 17%!!!) the research apparently dried up!!! At least in this nation.

So I believe that in general your chances of finding CPAP a usable therapy are somewhat under 50% to start with and that this varies very much according to the quality of care your medical teams can provide. I also know that the poor in general do worse with CPAP.

Still there is the possibility that he might improve. But what then? He gets all excited and actually lands a job - the stress of which causes his therapy to become ineffective so he looses the job. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick". OSA causes real brain damage which is only modestly reversed by effective CPAP treatment after months and years. xPAPs effectiveness for a person placed under new stress is very likely to be compromised by changes in breathing stability owing to the combination of stress + the pressure from the pap (both drive up respiratory control system gain and so move one toward breathing instability which I believe to be the greatest contributor to CPAPs lack of usability).

For the possibility of improved health (maybe 25% in his case?) he should pursue CPAP. I do not think it will enable him to become employable however. And I think that attempts at employment are very likely to frustrate his CPAP therapy.

Right now my heart is toward finding out what causes OSA and working to change that. I do have some letters out. It is better to prevent these tragedies if we can.

I am also working to change the crazy ways of the sleep medicine community in their management of OSA – which is simply ineffective and a very sorry story. They need to change their thinking and their ways.

I am also finding what works to reverse OSA.

And yes, the men and women on the streets and in the shelters are ever on my heart. But I know I need to find effective tools that will really work for them where they are at. And I am not there yet.

[Stormynights]

JTMcD - Good for you! How should we organize the rest of us to throw in and have it all go the same place? I'd be happy to do it, but I don't know if being in Canada would somehow preclude or complicate it (tho' I'm not sure why it would), but I bet JTMcD would volunteer... though I know he's got so much other personal business to take care of.

STL Mark is a trusted seller. He refunded me 70 cents. We could just contact him and see what he has and then contribute through Paypal.

[dotyj]

Bonjour to all of you wonderful people of this forum.

I have read through the thread and understand why people have doubt of another's position in life.

I am almost at an elderly age which i am told starts at age 55.

I lost my employment when Bush Jr. came into office. Many of were told that it is the administrations proposed economic plan that drove companies to cut back. That was 2001 when tens of thousands lost their jobs in the technical industries.
Buy 2009, I was finally able to get into the county sponsored medical and mental health. I desperately needed insulin for my diabetes, high blood pressure meds, and anti-depressants.
From 2004 to about 2009 the county and state had no medical help for white men of Michigan. Except there was a medical plan but it had a closed enrollment. Until 2009 I was excluded.
I did not realize I suffered from severe depression for eight years. I know I was not functional with my breathing problems, having a pulmonary embolism and about and a large number of heart attacks.
My last heart attack I was in my home (2009) when I could not breath. I felt as tho I was drowning. I managed to call the nurse practitioner that I see in the county plan and was told to get to the hospital. So, I drove to the hospital; about a mile. took me a few minutes to make it into the Emergency door. I was told to have a seat and some one would see me soon.

Well I am alive. last year I moved from the house where I raised my children. No longer able to pay the mortgage nor the property tax.

I am frugal in my spending and lived on my savings for a number of years during my undiagnosed depression.

It is funny losing one's employment and four family members very close in time, what it will do to some folks minds.

I live in the woods in summer, spring, and fall. Then in an unheated car I bought new in 2000. I have no monies left for gasoline; the winters below five degrees Fahrenheit are painful to the bones.

I am good with my life and living the way I do now. At first it was hard going from 65k per year to 20k then nothing. It took a few years for the rest of the United States to catch up with my situation.

I have been working with Michigan Rehab Service for more than a year just to find a simple job like sweeping and cleaning. But nothing after a year. I do not think I can yet focus on technical ideas that I had in the past.

My education is such that I spent many years at Ferris State University; I think enough for just more than two 4 year degrees and ran out of money.
I guess one might think I should have spent more monies on my English and less on sciences. Some day I will return and finish my last semester, so I get some paper with which I can file away. At my age I still have aspirations.

As for the political ramifications of my losing my employment. Well all my life as long as I remember, when Republicans arrive in office life becomes more difficult for the worker. But, I do not blame Mr. Bush Jr. It is what it is. It seems the industry I worked made a great shift and my skills were no longer needed/wanted along with thousands of others who remain unemployed/underemployed.

No, there are very few public assistance programs for single white males of middle age or early elderly disposition. But there are a number for women and children.

I can panhandle and collect deposit containers enough for a post office box which is thirty US dollars per six months.

As for wants and warrants: the county police have run my information and then gave me a lunch and sent me on my homeless way. The county police also showed me the directions for the mens shelter. But because of my disorder I am not able to stay with others in close proximity. They would linch me for making so much noise in my sleep and would have problems with my personality disorder. I am very much a introvert.

I may have lost my mind in some respects and my home but the basics of how I was raised I retain.

Now that I have shed some light, I should and will extinguish it for this day.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

There are two members of this forum that asked me if I would use an good older pump and masks and I accept their offers with gratitude and thanks.

Merci!

jos

[Stormynights]

Does this mean you have a machine on the way?