Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on March 3, 2010 at 9:38am

Wow jnk, Banyon I am impressed. You 2 our a great act! Down with sleep labs and all.

It is criminal, in my opinion, how many patients likely have already died because such information was hidden from them by so-called sleep professionals, resulting in the patients' giving up on CPAP therapy altogether due to lack of that knowledge, then dying.

Truly jnk a piece of art. Do you really believe that there is a big conspiracy to keep information away from you? That lack of information is causing people to throw their PAP units away, thus digging their graves. Really jnk! I do not truly believe that you can put all of the blame on the Sleep community. When someone gets hit by a car we don't blaim their Pre-school teacher do we? I mean technically they were the ones responsible for teaching us to look both ways.

If you choose to discontinue a Physician advised treatment and die as a result that's on you. In the words of the great Forrest Gump: " Stupid is as stupid does."

Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on March 3, 2010 at 10:07am

Nice jnk. Way to water down such a bold political statement. I thought that you and Banyon were running for office for a minute.

I personally support the AASM's stand on Bpap after 15cm with continued obstructive events. It makes sense. Unfortuantely without mandatory state licensure there is a lack of support from the communities for education. Sleep is a war of numbers. Right now the disorders our winning. Do the math 25,000 techs to how many millions of people with sleep problems. Then right here on sleepguide we have "down with sleep labs", and "Death by lack of education". That last one makes me giggle.

Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on March 3, 2010 at 11:49am

That is a pretty broad assumption jnk. I do not think that you can pin-point a cause of death in this situation. The fault of the system falls on our shoulders just as much as anyone elses. It all starts with "We the people".

Also your comments did not start out with "bad sleep labs" or "bad doctors". Your statements were very general. Pointing fingers and labeling problem makers does nothing to find the solution. I agree that the system need s to be changed. Down with the sandman is not the answer. Many of us our doing everything we can to fix the problem. Surfing policies and procedures is not an easy task to do without falling on your face a few times. There are many of us who stick our necks way out for the PEOPLE that we see every day. Rather than feeding anger lets try to give beneficial guidance.

Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on March 3, 2010 at 11:50am

The current system does save lives. Maybe not as many as we like. None the less.

Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on March 3, 2010 at 11:57am

By no means did I mean that jnk does not give beneficial guidance. I know him to be a pillar of the sleepguide community. My remarks are truly conversation specific. jnk makes sleep sound sexy most of the time.

Permalink Reply by Mary Z on March 3, 2010 at 1:50pm

I think we need to look at personal accountability here. As patients we need to learn to be assertive, to speak frankly and to the point. Write notes, stay on topic, don't waste your doctors, sleep techs, or DMEs time. I think they need to give you the time you need to answer your questions, but I also we need to go in prepared and organized and able to get to the point. If you do your part and they are not helping, if possible change providers. My PCP has 15 minutes with me. He does not run late. If I don't go in with notes, or prepared to discuss my issues I will run out of time. I have learned to be right to the point, to make as many appointments as necessary to resolve an issue. There is usually educational matter in most sleep doctors and sleep lab waiting rooms, read it. Research OSA on the Internet, talk to friends- you will be surprised at how many people have experience with OSA issues from a friend, themselves, or a family member. There are also company reps who we usually do not think of as resources, but our DME can connect us to them and they may be able to help us. If my doctor says I have OSA and it can damage my heart or cause a stroke, or he says I have high cholesterol and it's dangerous to my health, it's up to me to take that ball and run with it. What help do I need? If I need a diet counseling I find out who can help me, the doctors office usually has handouts. If I'm a newbie and need more time with my sleep doc or the DME I can tell them that and ask for a longer appointment. I know this is harder for some of us than others, but ultimately we are the ones who have to take the initiative to lose weight, change our diet, use our CPAP (and work with our providers so we can do that). This forum is invaluable in telling me what my rights are, but it's up to me to follow through and make the hard choice to take care of myself. We face hard choices every day of our lives, simple things- do I need that soda or would a glass of water do? Will one pain pill work or am I going to take two or three and get a little buzz, or conversely am I going to conserve medicine and not take what I need in order to save money, or just from stubborness.
This forum is a good place for advice and to vent, I've done my share of both.
Off the soap box now.
Good luck everybody.

Mary Z.

Permalink Reply by Brian Katzung on March 3, 2010 at 3:03pm

May I respectfully suggest that while all of this content is interesting (at least to me), not all of it relates to Smitty, and that perhaps some of this content belongs in a different thread?

Permalink Reply by Mike on March 3, 2010 at 3:07pm

Good point. I'll close this discussion and encourage anyone wishing to continue to do so in a new thread: http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topic/new

Brian Katzung said:

May I respectfully suggest that while all of this content is interesting (at least to me), not all of it relates to Smitty, and that perhaps some of this content belongs in a different thread?

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