Yeah....stop using it!

Suggestions? Yep. I'll pm you. The first one is: Never listen to that nut WebGizmos...a thoroughly seditious, contentious and maniacal skinner. Also a great guy. He does the work of three men: Larry, Curly and Moe.

Realize I have to remain "general" because I've never taken your medical history (and won't do it in a public forum) nor examined you (never in a public forum...lol) and because doing that could possibly incurr liability, because I didn't "see you" and do what MD's have to do to evaluate a patient and that would violate the Canon of Ethics...I hope you understand also that the machine might not be set optimally or might not be functioning correctly. The former should be addressed by a Pulmonologist, the latter can be checked by a Respiratory Supply Co.

Also there are a wide variety of masks....the Pulmonologist usually can be trusted to help you with the right one.

Re the heat problem...sometimes lengthening the tubing helps with that. I'm telling a redneckdude about tubing and cooling things? LOL...you got a 'still maybe? That's the principle, though. There are also cool air humidifier options, I think. LINK. Looks interesting.

Hey....why not create a "Medical Dx" (That's the way we abbreviate the word diagnosis, btw).

This thread lost it's formatting and is fubar with FireFox at Reply # 112. In IE8 it retains it's format.

Jim, that sucks.

Lack of sleep will make your life miserable. I know, due to a fractured L4 in my back I only get 4 hours a night.

Maybe an adequate painkiller at bedtime would help...or if you awaken for another reason, to take one then? That's a pretty painful problem, CG.

* doc asks should I be starting a "Medical Advice Column" ? 

I had decided to not post or leave comments anymore but this has got my blood up.

I want to see how you Obama haters out there are going to explain this away.......

Doc,

I take  Lortab 10/500 but alas they do not work as well as they used to. They tend to wear off after 4 hours and the pain lets me know it's time to start moving around. As long as I don't stay still to long, I can deal with it.

I prefer to funtion as part of the awakened world to take anything stonger so my sleep tends to suffer. I've done the percocet, oxycotin and morphine route and decided that it wasn't for me. The odds of something going wrong is too great for me to concider another surgury at this time but I'll probably rethink that once the pain gets too strong for me to handle.

As long as I can still walk, work, and be productive, all is good.

Thanks for the concern...you are a true friend.

Chasbo, I'm nether an Obama hater nor a Republican, but in all honesty currently health insurance is essentially 1) Gov't. (VA, Medicare, Medicaid).  2) Private  3) Employer provided.

In the case of the Military, and 1), this equates to the Employer based since it is, basically, an untaxed benefit. That's how FEHB pretty much equates with that. It shouldn't continue after employment terminates anymore than with any other job.

Yet another reason why HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM is necessary.

Carguy1 - Have you seen a pain specialist, yet?

I broke Forums?  

Please don't rat me out to Jafo.

That's easy--they're government employees. Governments always take care of themselves. I've worked in government, and there are plenty of benefits. Have you noticed how government workforces practically never shrink, no matter what happens? Obamacare will increase the federal workforce immensely, so there will be even more people collecting those benefits that you don't like.

That helps. I haven't studied the system. In Canada, if you're born, you get a health card. I know that the proposals aren't a universal system like Canada's, so there will still be a lot of people who will remain uncovered. It might not make any difference in Karen's or kona's situation.

i do so find it just amzaing that the discussions here still are one side versus the other side.  I hope you do realize we are doing just what the Polictions want, fight amongst ourselves.

Both Political Parties have done thier best, no matter what you may think, to essentially take care of thier 'own'.  I know you all understand that, it's a given. 

Lets face it, they got to Washington for only one reason, and they remain there for only one reason.  Every time there is an election, whether for Senator, Representative or President, the folks running should have strong serious doubts whether they will receive enough votes.  There should be no 'sure thing'.   

What do I mean by the above, the only people that are going to change anything are the votes or 'We the People', the Politician are never going to change anything except thier address.

Government based healthcare is an open checkbook. A corporation has more reason to contain costs than a government ever would, and that's the way these government schemes always work in the real world. The costs will be shifted from the insurance pool to the taxpayer.

Au contraire. They are very interested in entering peoples homes and workplaces. That is very clear if you read the act passed by the HELP senate committee. Aside from that, that's their style. Check out the latest snitch e-mail fiasco perpetrated by the White House.

It's actually about taking over the health care industry. It's being done under the guise of reforming insurance. They have every intention of introducing a single payer system, and they will start that process by creating onerous conditions for the insurance companies, such as requiring them to provide insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, and not allowing the companies to charge more for people that smoke, for instance. That is in the proposed legislation.

You're good at it. I've seen a few of them here and there, and they've almost always been appropriate, and well-put together, not to mention clean and clear, maybe even good-looking. I hope I'm not spoiling you.

I know what you're getting at, but there are honest differences of opinion among the participants here. No politician is making us argue about the different understandings we have, and different they are. We can't just wish them away.

As far as the raising taxes issue, taxes are already being raised to offset the cost of the inunsured, but it's being done on the local level through property taxes.

We can do better than what we have right now, really!  Not enough is being done when it comes to preventative medicine because there are too many people who can't AFFORD preventative medicine, so they have to let things escalate until they end up with a life-threatening emergency (always much more costly than preventative care) -- SOMEBODY pays for it!  If that person ends up having to file for bankruptcy the hospital has to pass the expense on to people WITH insurance -- sort of like a tax -- so if the government got into the health insurance business, it wouldn't have to show a profit, and the expense passed on to the taxpayer would be less!  (I've actually heard some opposition to the public option BECAUSE it would put insurance companies out of business). 

I suppose because I've lived in the US my entire life, and worked in health care for the past 20 years, I don't understand the pitfalls of the sort of socialized medicine Canada and Europe have -- I just see the tragedy and sorrow of the have-nots here in the wealthiest country in the world that supposedly has the best health care in the world.

Correct....that and the CEO's fat salary/benefit package. On whose back? The shmendrick who bought a policy. Thus, we already have rationing.

Enough. I'll never convince anyone. They only become more firmly entrenched...can't hack it.

Thanks...but you should have seen my first efforts. I caused poor Fuzzy to have dreadful bouts of retching. Po' will probably never speak to me again, starkers, angus1949 and Zubaz hope to meet me on a dimly lit street or even darker alley. Most just ignore me hoping I'll go away soon, or sooner. Mostly they say, "I like your approach. Now let's see about your departure." or "The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist." and "You sound reasonable...Time to up my medication." also, "I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

So, all in all another success story for the "Eff Up Fairy".

With April coming up soon it might be a good idea for people to serioiusly check out this website  http://www.losthorizons.com/index.html and get educated about how your getting ripped off. And NO...it's no tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theory stuff. Here's your chance to stop bitching about how your taxes are spent...waiting for "tax reform"...LMAO...and do something about it. Or keep paying...they would really love it if you did...no really...they would.

Look, Bud...if I have to give up my tinfoil hat, you can keep your money and the website. In fact, if you do, you probably will keep your money!

But keep your feeelthy hands off my tinfoil hat.