CPAPtalk.com

WOW ............I really wish I had the gift of "Proper Wordage" (meaning ....using the correct words to convey the intended message) BUT I don't....AND I know I'm going to mess this up..but here's goes anyway......
1. DME problem... they are certified thieves. AND that's not just an opinion.
example.. I received an Activa Mask, water chamber and a 6 ft long hose.
I paid a co-payment BUT here's what they charged my insurance company.
Mask...$222.50.......headgear extra $43.90.......water chamber $41.00 and $63.00 for a hose (I got one free from CpapPlus for ordering a mask.)
In 2000 my DME charged my insurance company over $5,800 for my Bipap machine. (rental fees plus purchase price) I can buy it on Ebay for $600.00
2. This is a Public forum....not private. If you know anything about Message Boards, you should understand that you're going to get "chit-chat" from time to time. The bottom line here is ............chill out or find another site.
3. Are there things on this Board that I don't like ??? Sure , but I take the good with the bad. No one has every forced me to click on CpapTalk.
4. I would trust some of the folks here (regular posters) more than I would trust my Doctor. (if you knew my doctor , you'd understand)
5. Grrrrrrrr trying to control myself here >>>> further more.... I really think Cpap.com is a wonderful company. I trust them %100...
I had better stop

53now,

Well Said! ...and you though you couldn't do it. Congratulations on restaining yourself...you're a better man than me.

We need a good Rodney King quote here:

"Why can't we all just get along?"
http://www.mediate.com/articles/noll9.cfm?nl=42

OK, the beatings are over. You'all get back to helping me cope
with this horrible condition. Every night my brain is trying to kill
me by not telling me to breathe. [Central apneas]. When I do breathe, my throat decides to attempt to murder me by sealing itself closed. [Obstructive apneas]. Some how my nose gets envious and decides to completely stop up, so I don't get any air. Can you say asphyxiation? My mind says lets
give him a good dose of anxiety as his heart races off the chart trying
to get Oxygen to his organs. Why not throw in soome good depression for fun?

So I don't really care if you guys are Doctors or not. If you are willing to
give sympathy to a tortured soul, or suggestions to a desperate man,
than I greatly appreciate any help that I can get. Let's just say if the real Doctors had a solution, I wonder why they keep saying, "Let's see how
you are doing in a couple of months." As for the posters of humor,
I can't thank you enough for taking my mind off this horrid affliction long enough to laugh at some stupid little snippet of prose. Especially from the master bard, Liam.

meister,

You made my day! I hope sometime I can return the favor.

Meister, that article in your URL OUTRAGES me!!!!! Heheh! Just kidding. I agree with you. The humor found here is a much needed diversion for many of us.

Wonder how and why humans developed that sense of humor? My own admittedly very wacky guess is that humor evolved as an immediate means of (psychological) stress relief. Abundant worry and anxiety in a hostile environment tempered by neurological relief known as humor.

Liam very likely comes from a long line of humorous Bards as it turns out! At least that's my far fetched take and i'm stickin' to it!

This is great, we not only gave advice, but we added humor to it...

Trolls begone!

Bards? No. Silly senses of humor? Oh yeah. Mom and her mother were both silly in quite the same ways that I am.

So perhaps "Bardettes"? "Bardots?" Nah, that has problems on numerous levels. Too hot, too out of date, and damn it I refuse to think of my Mum or Grandmum in those terms.

Liam, sick to the core.

The advantage of this forum is to share experiences, things we have discovered or heard about. Are these facts? Possibly, possibly not. Another advantage, as Liam has found out, is SUPPORT, and yes, I'm putting that in capital letters. Ask Liam where he would be right now if we hadn't badgered him, consoled him, rationalized with him and made limitless suggestions for him to be able to comply with his CPAP and mask.

Yes, he is our resident clown, but when you know his story, and how he has suffered from depression for many years, and now, from what we can see, has a new lease on life, and is hopefully beating that depression horse into the ground, you will appreciate his humor even more.

If it hadn't been for this forum, I wouldn't have known what to do when I started having pressure runaways with my 420E. I'd still probably be waiting by the phone to hear back from my DME RT. As it was, it took 3 weeks, a call to the DME HQ and several phone calls to get some satisfactory response from the RT. And they never did address my pressure problems, but surreptitiously changed a setting that I already knew about and checked once I got my unit back. No, they never said they changed a thing. But I knew they did.

Now, if I had not been an informed consumer I would have suffered these pressure runaways, with possibly extremely bad effects for over a month before the unit was reset, and then only after complaining. If not for this forum, I might have thought that was normal. When I called the RT about it her response, was "Gee, I don't know but I'll find out". More phone calls after no call back and more silence. Some kind of "find out"!

I am a rather frequent contributor, querier and answer person on this forum. I feel at home here, welcome here. A group of folks with a common problem and dealing with it in a positive and supportive way is a very friendly community. But like any community there will be arguments and disagreements and the occasional bad egg. But that is certainly no reason to accuse everyone of being a bad egg.

I don't know how long I'll be a part of this community, but while I am, I will share what I know, freely, and I will continue to learn all I can.

Good folks,

As the second "guest" posting to this thread (a.k.a. Bullwinkle), I wish to sincerely apologize for adding fuel to an already rumbling concern for guest posts. I actually agree with Liam and others that guests should be allowed to view but not post.

In fact, I actually thought that I had registered and successfully signed on before posting. Sigh, not quite as good at these electronic thingy's as I thought I was.

Anyhow, was merely trying to express my feeling that no matter how good the doctors, each patient has to look out for his/her best interests in the ever increasingly complex world of medicine. I clearly did a poor job of that. I also posted an equally useless post trying to clarify the TX laws that an original poster was facing in earnest, through no fault of her own in another thread with the lifesucks moniker and signature of Bullwinkle. At the risk of screwing things up again, I will apologize here once since most of you folks read/post to just about all the threads anyhow.

That's it. Sincerest apologies, no conditions, no snide remarks. I wish everyone the best in attempting to deal with OSA and the trials of treatment. As a now triple-disease patient with Crohn's disease (16 years and counting), Diabetes (last year), and now OSA (just diagnosed), I really do recognize the special type of support that a forum like this brings to the table. Being able to share thoughts and emotions openly is a major part of dealing with these vicious diseases. Best of luck to everyone here; hope the variety of treatments brings relief to everyone.

Regards,

Jeff - who was obsessed with Bullwinkle as a child and the multiple levels of humor in the cartoons pale to the honest humor that all of you manage to keep giving in this forum.

How much did Liam pay you to post that?

Don't know Liam, though after reading his thoughtful posts throughout this forum, I wish I could say I did. IMHO, Liam has the unique ability to stare things in the face without the baggage that I seem to carry with me everywhere. As such, he always manages to keep things in perspective and provide both insight and wit in every comment he posts. Never defensive, never personal in any criticisms, and always focused on trying to help the other members (and guests) of this forum improve their quality of life.

-Jeff

Sir, you give me too much credit. But I thank you, nonetheless.

This is a great place, here. In spite of the complaints to the contrary, I still feel very supported and very loved here.

And previous posters were quite right, I was ready to chuck this stupid machine out the window and give up about a week or two into my treatment. I'm still struggling with it a lot more than (I think) most people seem to, but because of the support of the wonderful folks here, I'm continuing to put it on dutifully every night.

Obviously, I'm in favor of humor as a way to get through the problems we face. I do think that some of the joking around is what makes this a fun place to hang out and stay. I am sorry that it puts some folks off, but as has been said before, there are moderated apnea discussion boards for people who like their discussings on-topic all the time.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words!

Liam, if only you knew what he was like in real life. A monster, I tell you. A complete monster.

This whole thing reminds me. Have you heard the one where a Priest, a Rabbi and a monkey walk in to......

lifesucks wrote:Don't know Liam, though after reading his thoughtful posts throughout this forum, I wish I could say I did. IMHO, Liam has the unique ability to stare things in the face without the baggage that I seem to carry with me everywhere. As such, he always manages to keep things in perspective and provide both insight and wit in every comment he posts. Never defensive, never personal in any criticisms, and always focused on trying to help the other members (and guests) of this forum improve their quality of life.

-Jeff

Pssst! Hopefully Liam has left and isn't watching........but we feel the same way about this critter we know as Liam. Still, Jeff, let's keep it mum, for we wouldn't want Liam to get all hoity-toity.....could take the edge off of his unique style of writing. He's like an addiction, we can't seem to get enough of him, darn it all. Be sure to check out his website. .....but you didn't hear it from me!

Linda

You are the best. We are all in the CPAP mish-mosh together. Your humor is priceless. We are here for you 24/7. Every day is a gift I've been told, and finding out CPAP ''stuff'' and humor rolled into one person is just great. Just great.

I sign my name, GAILZEE. No hiding for me.
don't you give up. I struggle and curse my way thru the straps, yanked out hair, stuffy swift, etc. etc. Keep plugging..Tonight's 5 wks for me.
But I will keep at it, so long as this board is here! (and beyond for sure).

What's life if we can be smiling, even for a little while..!!
I appreciate your humor and if others don't, they can read on about something/someone else, that's all!!

Liam1965 wrote:Sir, you give me too much credit. But I thank you, nonetheless.

This is a great place, here. In spite of the complaints to the contrary, I still feel very supported and very loved here.

And previous posters were quite right, I was ready to chuck this stupid machine out the window and give up about a week or two into my treatment. I'm still struggling with it a lot more than (I think) most people seem to, but because of the support of the wonderful folks here, I'm continuing to put it on dutifully every night.

Obviously, I'm in favor of humor as a way to get through the problems we face. I do think that some of the joking around is what makes this a fun place to hang out and stay. I am sorry that it puts some folks off, but as has been said before, there are moderated apnea discussion boards for people who like their discussings on-topic all the time.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words!

Liam, if only you knew what he was like in real life. A monster, I tell you. A complete monster.