CPAPtalk.com

colomom wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 5:09 pm

Good for you! You’re to young and healthy to accept limitations without a fight! Hopefully they’ll keep learning more about long COVID and those who follow you in battling it won’t have as much of an uphill battle as you have faced.

Sounds like both you and your kitties are starting to gradually adjust to CPAP. Hopefully by your next annual trip next year to spectacular Grand Lake you’ll be breathing easy and climbing tall mountains;)

Me too! Thank you. That's my goal. And there are some other national parks I want to visit, too.

Did you manage to avoid fire damage? It was awful seeing the destruction from the various recent fires.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:12 am

...any self-respecting folk singer.

This thread has given me a flashback. No, not that kind. Memories. Re: folk singing and problems.

Training for the second of my myriad of Letters To Put After My Name, we were working on an amputee ward. There was this guy Lt. Wentzel. Infantry. Honest to God didn't look more than 16 years old. Triple amp, land mine. Despite that, his outlook on life and attitude was unbelievable. Could have been a Netflix movie.

One of my comrades was a troubadour, John Driscoll. Man he could sing. There were a few of us that brought git-boxes with us, but he was the best. Anyway we needed a final project to graduate, and he composed a song about Lt. Wentzel and played in front of the group, who needless to say were all brought to tears.

I admit to being a little peeved after writing this massive paper on Antibiotic Therapy that was a summary on everything and not getting the round of applause that John did (for writing a song for a final project? Really?) but hey, that's me. I got shortcomings.

Could've been worse.

I could have been in Lt. Wentzel's shoes.

Although not having legs I don't suppose he would have had any shoes.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:12 am

Me too! Thank you. That's my goal. And there are some other national parks I want to visit, too.

Did you manage to avoid fire damage? It was awful seeing the destruction from the various recent fires.

Dealing with wildfire has sadly become the new normal, but so far my family has been lucky. The smoke is also a nightmare for asthmatics. My asthma is mild my son’s is worse, it seems like every year there are more and more days that we’re stuck indoors because we can’t breathe outside. I live in the Southwest part of the of Colorado but have family in Estes Park; we try to do a Grand Lake, Rocky Mountain NP, Estes trip every few years but we haven’t done it since the fires. Hope your friends didn’t suffer damage. Having 2 huge fires back to back so late in the year was crazy. I can’t imagine having to quickly evacuate and even if your home survives having to worry about frozen pipes.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:04 am

I really think the only answer to improve both my asthma and apnea is to lose weight. I've tried for years, but I'm going to have to try harder.

There's a nasty stereotype belief that weight gain causes OSA and that losing weight will get rid of the OSA.

But the correlation is not causation. And while there is a statistically significant correlation between being overweight and having OSA, the correlation between them is much more complex than "Weight gain causes OSA". While excess weight can lead to excess neck tissues that can cause the airway to collapse more readily, there are other structural problems with the upper airway that can cause OSA, and there are a significant number of people who are not overweight who happen to have OSA.

And there is evidence that for some people with OSA, the OSA seems to cause metabolic changes that lead to it becoming much easier to gain weight and much harder to lose weight once it has been gained. There are people who find that once they finally get their xPAP therapy optimized, losing weight and keeping it off becomes easier to do than it was before they had the OSA under control. But losing the extra weight doesn't cure them of OSA---in other words, to keep their OSA under control and to keep the weight off, they still have to use their xPAP.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:38 am

I actually work with data for a living. I'm an MS statistician, who started my career analyzing data just like this for clinicial trials.

Then you should understand that without any data, those of us who are trying to help you fix your problems are flying blind. In other words, we have to make a wild guess about what's causing your specific problems. Seeing some data would help us help you figure out what is actually causing your specific problems, and that in turn will lead to decent suggestions on what to try to fix those problems.

I also don't actually trust random people on the internet with very technical stuff. I've gotten a lot of bad advice over the years that way. I realize I've given a fair amount too, when I thought I knew what I was doing and really didn't.

You came here looking for advice on how to make xPAP work for you. And there are a lot of folks with a lot of experience who are trying to help you. But when we say that we need more specific information (that can be obtained from your machine's data) before we can really help you, you say you won't provide us with any data.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:38 am

Right now I'm focusing on just using the machine despite night sweats and face farts.

Fixing the face farts requires understanding when your mask starts leaking, how long it continues to leak, and how big the leaks actually are. (Subjectively a small leak can feel like a huge one, and many people can actually sleep through some big leaks without realizing they're leaking at all.)

In other words, to help you determine what's going on in terms of the leaks so that you can fix them, we need an accurate picture of the leak problems. The daily detailed leak graph from OSCAR or SleepyHQ gives us the information we need to help you help yourself.

Or we can keep flying blind and offer suggestions that turn out to be totally useless to you because they fix leak problems that are different from the leak problems you are actually facing. But that will give you the satisfaction of deciding that no-one on this board has any idea of what they're talking about because we didn't somehow magically stumble on the "right" answer that you wanted to hear.

Robysue said: And there is evidence that for some people with OSA, the OSA seems to cause metabolic changes that lead to it becoming much easier to gain weight and much harder to lose weight once it has been gained. There are people who find that once they finally get their xPAP therapy optimized, losing weight and keeping it off becomes easier to do than it was before they had the OSA under control. But losing the extra weight doesn't cure them of OSA---in other words, to keep their OSA under control and to keep the weight off, they still have to use their xPAP.

—————

I think Kittymom being overwhelmed is part of her hesitation to post the data and embrace papping. I am just glad she keeps coming back for help.

OSA AND*** menopause mess with metabolism and make losing weight harder I am 100% with her on that frustration. And we have additional conditions that make the extra activity difficult (her with her asthma). Double whammy.

That said my advice still stands- take what you need and leave the rest.

Rubicon wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:52 am

Memories . . . problems . . . outlook on life and attitude . . . tears . . . peeved . . . shortcomings . . . [but] could've been worse.

When you write your song encapsulating all of that, please give a link. I think it would be a good one, especially given the context and subcontext of this thread and these times.

Meantime, thanks for your being willing to look at people's data here, especially given your extensive background in the field. I wonder if some in present company would (eventually, anyway, after witnessing you in action a few times, perhaps) be more comfortable using a PM for providing data, like when you would offer the dropbox method in olden times?

Until then, the trick for us all during these COVID days may just be staying partly sane and optimistic while recognizing that there is often a fine line between working hard and pain, much like the idiot who wrote this song seems to suggest: https://youtu.be/X5k3eNjbBVM

Oh. And Ozempic seems to be dropping the pounds for me. But don't tell anyone; don't want the national shortage to get any worse.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:41 am

When you write your song encapsulating all of that, please give a link. I think it would be a good one, especially given the context and subcontext of this thread and these times.

Meantime, thanks for your being willing to look at people's data here, especially given your extensive background in the field. I wonder if some in present company would (eventually, anyway, after witnessing you in action a few times, perhaps) be more comfortable using a PM for providing data, like when you would offer the dropbox method in olden times?

Until then, the trick for us all during these COVID days may just be staying partly sane and optimistic while recognizing that there is often a fine line between working hard and pain, much like the idiot who wrote this song seems to suggest: https://youtu.be/X5k3eNjbBVM

Wow, is that you? Pretty good for a for a hillbilly;)

Beautiful song, you’re very talented!

On advice of counsel . . .

But thanks.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:41 am

Rubicon wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:52 am

Memories . . . problems . . . outlook on life and attitude . . . tears . . . peeved . . . shortcomings . . . [but] could've been worse.

When you write your song encapsulating all of that, please give a link. I think it would be a good one, especially given the context and subcontext of this thread and these times.

Meantime, thanks for your being willing to look at people's data here, especially given your extensive background in the field. I wonder if some in present company would (eventually, anyway, after witnessing you in action a few times, perhaps) be more comfortable using a PM for providing data, like when you would offer the dropbox method in olden times?

Until then, the trick for us all during these COVID days may just be staying partly sane and optimistic while recognizing that there is often a fine line between working hard and pain, much like the idiot who wrote this song seems to suggest: https://youtu.be/X5k3eNjbBVM

Oh. And Ozempic seems to be dropping the pounds for me. But don't tell anyone; don't want the national shortage to get any worse.

OMG that was beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing! I assume that’s you and if so you have a smooth voice. well done!

It actually is pretty inspiring for this cpap board.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:41 am

Until then, the trick for us all during these COVID days may just be staying partly sane and optimistic while recognizing that there is often a fine line between working hard and pain, much like the idiot who wrote this song seems to suggest: https://youtu.be/X5k3eNjbBVM

That is a great tune! I think you should send it to Hetfield! With just a couple of tweaks we're talking gold here!

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:41 am

Meantime, thanks for your being willing to look at people's data here, especially given your extensive background in the field. I wonder if some in present company would (eventually, anyway, after witnessing you in action a few times, perhaps) be more comfortable using a PM for providing data, like when you would offer the dropbox method in olden times?

I don't think it's a skill level problem, it's more like a gender problem.

Maybe if I came back as Muffy...

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:41 am

Until then, the trick for us all during these COVID days may just be staying partly sane and optimistic while recognizing that there is often a fine line between working hard and pain, much like the idiot who wrote this song seems to suggest: https://youtu.be/X5k3eNjbBVM

I told you - you are the "heart and soul of the forum" - well next to Muffy.
I remember hearing some of your music a few yrs back too. Great job Jeff - well next to Taylor.

I consider forums to be a team sport and a place to which everyone does well to bring their A game. Personally, I'm just glad we have Pugsy here setting the tone as team leader.

Didn’t mean to derail the thread. But maybe sometimes we all need to remind one another to breathe.

Signed: One of the many in this unpredictable, needy, skittish herd of cats.

Rubicon wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 11:11 am

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:41 am

Meantime, thanks for your being willing to look at people's data here, especially given your extensive background in the field. I wonder if some in present company would (eventually, anyway, after witnessing you in action a few times, perhaps) be more comfortable using a PM for providing data, like when you would offer the dropbox method in olden times?

I don't think it's a skill level problem, it's more like a gender problem.

Maybe if I came back as Muffy...

I know many value your knowledge quite a lot myself included.

some of us gals have learned to be guarded just as a way of life. we have to learn not to look at our phones while we are walking down the street, to walk to our cars in groups rather than alone at night, and other general mechanisms for keeping safe. some of the same rules apply online.

Don’t take it personally Muffy.

It’s not you, it’s us.

Edit: ps I don’t expect she would be any more eager to share with me as a woman.