CPAPtalk.com

Question for the old timers titrator, RG, and others. Who helped you over the adjustment hurdles pre-cpaptalk? Any special people you are grateful to?

THANK YOU JOHN, JOHNNY, TED, AND ALL THE CPAP.COM ELVES!!!!

BTW, Ted, on another thread you advocated setting the machine outside to air out the cigarrette smoke. I neglected to thank you for that great tip. It was such a DOPE SLAP! moment for me. I air all my CLOTHES outside to get the benfits of ozone, why didn't I think about running a machine outside to clear it out?

Because I'm sleep deprived. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

THANKS AGAIN TED!!!!
Babs

Anonymous wrote:Question for the old timers titrator, RG, and others. Who helped you over the adjustment hurdles pre-cpaptalk? Any special people you are grateful to?

I'm guessing Jim Beam, Johnny Walker, and Jack Daniels....

JUST KIDDING! Couldn't resist the opportunity...
B.

sleepycarol wrote:I have been following some threads on another forum and am so glad that cpaptalk is the one that dispenses invaluable advice on how to get the most good out of our cpap therapy.

One of the threads I have read is http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/message-b ... hp?t=22231
and am so disappointed that they seem to downplay the importance of cpap therapy and call it a temporary fix.

I DO NOT want surgery to correct this problem. I want a viable means of treating my severe OSA and my method of doing this is with CPAP.

Thanks for all of YOUR support!!

I had septo-rhinoplasty last year.... and I would have MORE surgery IF there was something PROVEN to be successful.

At the old saying goes, been there done that of sorts.

I had a deviated septum and sinus surgery back several years ago. I am unsure what all they did but it was extensive and required a 4 day hospital stay.

It did help -- I can breathe through my nose -- but it made my allergies so much worse and severe headaches to increase in number (we are talking migraines daily).

Do I feel it was worth it -- no!! When asked if I would do it again I would NOT. I know this is just one person's experience but my experience was very negative!!

sleepycarol wrote:At the old saying goes, been there done that of sorts.

I had a deviated septum and sinus surgery back several years ago. I am unsure what all they did but it was extensive and required a 4 day hospital stay.

It did help -- I can breathe through my nose -- but it made my allergies so much worse and severe headaches to increase in number (we are talking migraines daily).

Do I feel it was worth it -- no!! When asked if I would do it again I would NOT. I know this is just one person's experience but my experience was very negative!!

I, too, had my sinuses cleaned a few years ago. However, even with that and trying several steroidal nasal sprays, I've often had to breathe through my mouth. It was my sleep doc who told me that I needed to do the sinus irrigation nightly for the rest of my life (probably). And that has really helped.

Back to the original topic of this thread, I had to start CPAP before I even had my sleep study and titration. Rested_Gal and ozij provided some really helpful information for which I am quite thankful. The camaraderie and knowledge offered by this community empowered me to be more active in choosing my machine and all the equipment that goes with it.

CPAP therapy began to change my life within 2 days. I like to say that it gave me back my life.

Thank you list owners and Titrator. The service you provide for us is invaluable and unavailable anywhere else!

Guest wrote:Question for the old timers titrator, RG, and others. Who helped you over the adjustment hurdles pre-cpaptalk? Any special people you are grateful to?

-SWS helped me immensely when we were using the talkaboutsleep message board. Before cpaptalk came into existence. There've been many other people since, but he was the first that I reached out to for help in getting my autopap (PB 420E at that time) and my treatment going right.

Anonymous wrote:Question for the old timers titrator, RG, and others. Who helped you over the adjustment hurdles pre-cpaptalk? Any special people you are grateful to?

I don't know if I "qualify" in this, but I had my therapy "working" before I even started reading CPAPTALK.....and for about 2 months before I joined this forum. I didn't have ANY "adjustment hurdles". I also didn't realize there WERE other forums until some months after joining this one.

WHO am I grateful to? The Goodmans of CPAP.COM.....for making the software available to monitor my therapy.....AND.....to "Derek" for creating MyEncore.

Maybe I should also give my sleep doctor a "back-handed" thank-you for being such a jerk and making me realize that I'd have to count on my own wear-with-all to make the best of MY therapy.

Den

Wulfman... wrote:...One thing I've observed on the ASAA board is the higher number of "whiners" that they seem to get over there. The ... "This therapy SUCKS!" type of posts/threads.

...
.

Actually, it BLOWS.

I originally liked the idea of surgery to deal with my OSA. Until I found out the types of surgery I'd need that MAY - or may not - be successful in treating my condition (airway, deviated septum, jaw reconstruction). As it is, I plan to have my septum repaired.

I'll stick with the xpap therapy, even if I'm not terribly fond of it. It beats the alternatives.

I've also visited several other OSA forums. I have not posted on any of them, but I do "touch base" with them once in a while, just to see what's going on. This forum is the only one I have signed up for and post on.

I'd like to add my thanks and kudos to Ted and the Goodmans. I started here almost 2 3/4 years ago, when I was first diagnosed. At that time, we still had well under 10,000 posts! It was a small site, but extremely friendly. Probably the two things here that really blew me away were: The intense caring of the folks who post here......the caring that other folks succeed in the therapy that is literally lifesaving! The second, which is a personal one, is that when Sweetie and I got married, our hosts here actually went so far as to send a beautiful bouquet of flowers for the wedding! I can guarandamntee that there ain't another site anywhere in the world that cares as much about its members than this one!!

Again, thanks from the bottom of my heart to Ted, the Goodmans, all the folks that post here and to the folks who come and read and never get around to registering and posting. That, IMHO, is what makes this place the BEST ever!

Kajun

It's great to have a place where so much information is available - and we as responsible adults (for the most part) can make informed decisions about our healthcare. Most everyone here is very pleasant and patient with us new 'uns'.

In all fairness, I did receive prompt advice on another internet resource - one of the first I found for sleep problems .. although I still haven't figured out how "stick your head in a toilet 3 times and pull it out twice" would prevent my mask from leaking after ramp up. Sounds like somebody shoulda kept their CPAP .

Me? The crochety ole witch? The one who is so disgusted w/and rants about the medieval mindset of so many in the medical profession? The one who hates her local CPAP DME supplier? Surprised The one who rants about anything less than a fully data capable machine being provided to first time xPAPpers? The one who condemns sleep "professionals" who allows their patients to be provided w/anything less than a fully data capable xPAP and wants to drum those incompetents out of the sleep profession???

I am a first time cpap user...love it and wish I had done more homework before getting my machine..although I do love the little guy! Anyway, now I don't have a machine that is fully data capapble...and I wish I did. I don't know what I need to do...but, I am going to talk with my insurance company and my doctor to see if something else can be provided...at least as a way of monitoring my therapy. My family doc is great...but she is not monitoring my therapy either. I have my checkup in November...can't wait to see if and when I can upgrade my machine. I wasn't even shown how to program reminders on the machine...just told that the first reminders were done and that I would have to use a calendar to continue tracking. I found the clinicians manual online and can at least do that much! This forum has been a great source of info and an eye opener for me. For now...I have been compliant 207 days and counting, including trips to the lake, hotel rooms and summer Youth Camp! And I thought the machine would slow me down!

Ha, Bookwyrm! You're not one to let a little ole compliance data only CPAP cramp your style, eh? That's the spirit!!! Shame your doc for letting the DME slip a Compact instead of an Elite over on you, shame him/her for not having any interest in your data so they can better manage your CPAP therapy. Lay it on diplomatically but THICK every chance you get!!

Lay it on diplomatically but THICK every chance you get!!

I will...I think my doc will be very amenable...its the insurance company I'm worried about!