VA will not give me a CPAP without travel to major area clinic

[broncovet]

As far as I know, at least to some extent, VA does not make exceptions for one Veteran.   Again, cpaps are not "zero knowledge" even if that information is probably easier to learn than is a smart phone.  

There is no doubt in my mind that one or more people messed up the machine.  Frankly, I dont know how to "set" the pressure..it was set by my technician and doctor.   There may be a code that you can not set it..Im not sure.  

CPAP's are not the only things that are like that.  

You have some choices:

1.  Get a mask and travel and get the cpap.   A mask should greatly reduce your chances of getting infected. 

2.  Try the methods mentioned including the white house hotline, the directors office, etc.

3.  Do nothing.  Since I use a cpap, that would not be a good choice, because I use my cpap every night.  

4.  If your cpap is not broken, completely, then just wait until the corona virus blows over.  

[Guest]

Look at it this way, you say travel is not a problem because your wife does most of the driving. The only time you need to put on a mask is in public (around people other than your family)  You can set up a private appointment.  You will have to take a class or be instructed on the new machine even if VA gives you the same model.  Now the most important information that I can share is that sleep apnea is life threatening and if you fall asleep without it you can die.  Not trying to scare you, just telling you the facts.  I hate the feeling when I fall asleep taking a nap waking up gasping for air. It is your call, when I was told I had to drive two hours away to get my Cpap machine I had no problem.

Edited April 5, 2020 by pete992

[GBArmy]

Rexlan There are several ways to work this, but the easiest and quickest I can think of is: call you congressman. Preferably, one that actually cares about veterans. It is a human interest story; he'll jump on it. Or call the VAMC director as Buck suggested.  I also get a sense that possibly you have not been completely open minded about using the VA Health system. The health side of the VA, not the VBA, has become pretty user friendly and acomodating over the last several years. If a dept. has policies and procedures, you're not going to get very far demanding something that goes outside them. If you were to get a complicated piece of diagnostic  equipment and something bad happened to you, the VA would be in a tough spot if they couldn't show you were trained" in its use. Try thinking outside the box on your problem; could you meet the VA tech someplace and get whatever instructions necessary ex. parking lot/ Could your pcp be instructed on whatever and you meet him/her instead? Videoconference.? etc. 

[rexlan]

GBArmy:

This started because the tech at the sleep clinic suggested (no me) that he could come to my area and I could pick up locally ... then he waffled and then my primary said she would not authorize the travel and here we sit.

You are very observant -  I haven't been open minded because from my point of view my primary is not qualified to treat a dog and she has not been helpful at all so I got a bad taste right off the bat.  However, I am not unreasonable and did not get this far in life being a jerk.

I offered every accommodation I could think of including the video conference, sending to a local DME and to my PCP and they said "we don't do that".

Perhaps I am being unreasonable.  I am not broke and I can just go buy a new machine.  I resisted filing a claim for 50 years and was finally persuaded to do it in August.  It has been an unpleasant experience even though I was treated very fairly and given 70% rating.  I had much higher expectations for VA Health Care and I cannot use this PCP.  She simply is less than half speed. 

Thanks for the input.

[rexlan]

@pete992 I am very familiar with sleep apnea and as I said I am 100% compliant.  I download my data every week and use Sleephead SW to review it.  I also lay my oxygen on top of the data so I have a real timeline.  I get along very well with it so I am fortunate.

 

@broncovet  ..... I can help you with the settings if you like ... what machine do you have?  It took me a long time to get mine right and I now use 5 min and 7.5 max.  I found that the labs really crank them up and this causes allot of issues, especially mask leaks that used to wake me up.  Now my AHI is less than 2 always.

 

 

[GBArmy]

Rexlan Sure sounds like it was bad from the start. One thing, though. You can request another PCP if you just aren't clicking with the one you currently have. But remember, the grass isn't always greener. The VA , just on shear numbers alone, has a lot of barely competent docs. But if you don't have good vibs with who you currently have, it is a good idea to make the change.  Good hunting.