Coaching

I am nervousness about getting started on my CPAP journey. I'm elderly and not on top of complexities the way I use to be. I am, however in a position to pay for the services of a coach who could answer questions and make suggestions and be able to offer advice that I hadn't realized I needed. How would I go about finding such resources?

Read all you can at this website. Search for issues you have or ask all the questions here. I've never seen a sleep doctor, because of this site. I do like beer though.....

Sheriff

Sheriff Buford wrote:Read all you can at this website. Search for issues you have or ask all the questions here. I've never seen a sleep doctor, because of this site. I do like beer though.....

Sheriff

The next time I'm in Kingwood I'll pay close attention to the speed limit and buy a round for the house at your local watering hole .... thanks for your encouragement.

This forum IS the coach... who else would you get who actually knows anything useful? DMEs don't, that's been proven!

Julie wrote:This forum IS the coach... who else would you get who actually knows anything useful? DMEs don't, that's been proven!

The forum is driven by the person asking the question and it is his/her responsibility to ask the right question and provide adequate background and context so that the experts can offer helpful feedback. The advantage of having a so to speak personal coach is that they with knowledge of my history will discern from my consistent displays of ignorance what information I am lacking. And because we have agreed on a financial arrangement I will not feel that I am imposing on this person's generosity and have no reluctance ask as often as like.

Josiah wrote:... The advantage of having a so to speak personal coach is that they with knowledge of my history will discern from my consistent displays of ignorance what information I am lacking. And because we have agreed on a financial arrangement I will not feel that I am imposing on this person's generosity and have no reluctance ask as often as like.

Josiah,
You seem to be mentally sharp to me (I've been reading your posts) and if you're not feeling as mentally sharp as you used to be, that is probably due to your sleep apnea. Everyone here pretty much has the same goal of helping themselves as they help others. So I don't think you are imposing on anyone.

If you have the means, and you are not confident in the doctors at the VA, why not pay for a sleep study at a sleep clinic with a doctor who specializes in sleep disturbances? He/she should be able to take a lot of the guess work out of your treatment.

In my case, my doctor is pretty sharp and helpful. I have greatly improved since starting my BiPAP treatment just over a month ago. His technician dialed in my pressure very well and set me up with a great machine. Easy peasy.

If you still feel like you need more help than this forum, I'm sure he can steer you to another person to advocate for you.

I think the people here enjoy helping others, as they have enjoyed being helped earlier.

A few pointers that might help you get better advice are:

•do some early reading in the announcements section ....there are three sections I highly recommend.....Pugsy's Pointers .......CPAP basics .........Where a newbie should start
.......don't worry if it all goes over your head......it goes over everybody's head at first

•edit your user profile to include your equipment, machine, mask and pressure settings

•download Sleepyhead to your computer (pugsys pointers and CPAP basics will help with that)

•Get an Imgur account to post Sleepyhead images (see link in my signature line)

•start a thread for your questions - it is easier to keep all your questions together in one thread, so forum members can see your history

•post your sleep study results so members can see what type of issues you deal with as well as severity (make sure to remove your name for confidentiality reasons)

•post your Sleepyhead images so we can see how your therapy is working (see signature like for instructions)

If all this seems too much, don't worry. Take it one step at a time.

If you don't have your equipment yet, let us know, we will help you get a good machine.

If you are having problems adjusting, let us know, tell us what the problems are, we will give you lots of ideas to resolve your issues



Before you know it you will feel like a pro

Most of us fill out our profile with our equipment and pertinent info.
Once you do that, we can help you more easily.
Many of us are "paying it forward", as we ourselves were once helped here.
The forum sponsor provides space here for the free exchange of mutual support.

I am very appreciative for all the encouragement I have received about using this forum as a source of technical and emotional support.

I especially wish to thank MrsRinPDX for her expression of confidence and Cpapian for the detailed list of useful steps that she recommended.

I wish you all very low AHI's in 2018.

Hi- well here's a thought. I bet there are enough helpful people here that could handle most cpap issues and very willing to help. If you have some money that you would normally pay for cpap advice,, just keep it and watch here for anyone who posts that they need financial assistance, and you can help them. Every once in a while, people post asking for assistance with getting new supplies, or masks or machines, or paying for shipping costs of donated items. That would still be in the spirit of you giving something for the advice people give you.
Merry Christmas.

Many of us are no longer considered young. I started using a machine just before I turned 73. My wife got her machine this year and is 72. We have managed to adapt to using the machine every night. It took six months to get pressure to where it needed to be. Ask your questions and we will answer them as best we can.

If I still lived back home in Cincy I'd take that job. Then it would be my responsibility to come here and ask folks what to do next. Ideally the DME would have an RT to serve this function. My early DME actually came to my home and also had one night a week of open house for users to come in with their questions and for personal attention. Coaching has been discussed on here before. I think there's a place for it. There is so much about this treatment that could be learned. Fortunately the average user will never have a need for most of it. If you can get your numbers on the machine to look good, get a good mask fit, and feel fairly sure nothing about your treatment is a cause for poor sleep, then that's enough to get by. If Sleepyhead and imaging storage sites are more than you want to deal with, is there a young family member or family friend who is computer savvy who would enjoy doing this aspect for you? If all you are looking for is someone to do the tech stuff, depending on where in Cincy you are, I may be able to connect you with someone, but can't say for sure without asking them and would prefer for your own comfort you could find someone known to you.

Josiah wrote:

Julie wrote:This forum IS the coach... who else would you get who actually knows anything useful? DMEs don't, that's been proven!

The forum is driven by the person asking the question and it is his/her responsibility to ask the right question and provide adequate background and context so that the experts can offer helpful feedback. The advantage of having a so to speak personal coach is that they with knowledge of my history will discern from my consistent displays of ignorance what information I am lacking. And because we have agreed on a financial arrangement I will not feel that I am imposing on this person's generosity and have no reluctance ask as often as like.

This is true...so...why don't you provide your equipment information ...You have been asked.

LSAT wrote: This is true...so...why don't you provide your equipment information ...You have been asked.

He's waiting on his DME to get with him to deliver all his cpap stuff. They aren't very speedy.
He's not actually had a chance to get started with things ....if I remember past replies correctly.

From an earlier post

Josiah on Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:08 pm
I will be beginning CPAP therapy in the first week of 2018. The device I will be using is a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet. My sleep study AHI was 17.9.

Josiah wrote:

Sheriff Buford wrote:Read all you can at this website. Search for issues you have or ask all the questions here. I've never seen a sleep doctor, because of this site. I do like beer though.....

Sheriff

The next time I'm in Kingwood I'll pay close attention to the speed limit and buy a round for the house at your local watering hole .... thanks for your encouragement.

ah.... I'm tired and I'm retired.... but I have had a few times to line forum folks here on the wall and spread em' and ask them if they go anything that will cut, poke me, etc.... Especially when they end up passing a doobie around... I've also had to put out an all surveillance out on a certain lady from Missouri who had some 2 X 4's in her back seat, along with some of smushed in nose-dogs (Pugs) and a stack of sleepyhead read outs in the back seat.

Sheriff