The World's First (and possibly only) Unsolicited Testimonial 
about VPAP (Variable Positive Airway Pressure) Therapy

My condition and how I got this way:

 I am a 59 year-old male with extensive environmental exposure to asbestos throughout my life, beginning at the age of about 2 years old.

My life exposure to atmospheric suspensions of lung irritants include home heating with wood, in a high mountain valley where most homes were heated with wood in the winter time.  In the summertime, this valley was often filled with smoke from forest fires.  In the winter time, there was often an air inversion that sealed the stagnant air down to the valley floor for weeks at a time.

My dad was a heavy smoker who *by gawd* had fought in WWII and had the constitutional right to smoke anytime, anywhere he wanted to, ESPECIALLY in the car in the winter with the windows rolled up and I *by gawd* had the constitutional duty to breath it.  Opening up the window a crack to let some fresh air in was a capital crime because he was *so cold* all the time.

Later on, I became a professional welder and heavy equipment mechanic, where I was privileged to breath plenty of welding smoke, burning paint and oil, and as a mechanic, I breathed plenty of solvents, fuels and about everything carcinogenic ever discovered.

Thanks to my dad, I never had any temptation to smoke anything.  Which service as a bad example, he provided me with a special blessing -- Basically the only people whose lungs are full of ASBESTOS that get mesothelioma are SMOKERS.

I ended up being the "daddy" to a large family of kids (mine, hers, and ours).  Kids are absolute disease spreaders and carriers and when public school was in session, they brought me a new respiratory infection about every 3 weeks.

These continuous infections finally took me down in 1987 in Alaska.  The local clinic PA took x-rays of my chest and that's when it was discovered that I had "heavy calcifications" in both lungs.  Asbestosis. Plus Chronic Bronchitis. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), which oxygen deprivation caused the symptoms of left-side heart failure (Especially Edema- water buildup, and especially in my lower legs).  I asked how many more years I could expect to live with this condition and was told "Enjoy your next 10 years".

I had to retrain in Computers and started my own computer consulting business (because you can't keep a job when you are sick from the middle of October through the middle of June).  I lasted 13 years and finally crashed completely in 2000 (after months of malicious false allegations by CPS on a completely BOGUS CPS case) with Deep Vein Thrombosis in both legs and one arm.  My friends took me out of the hospital and hauled me, my wheelchair, and my nebulizer to the coast (where the air is fresh and more dense at sea level) and dropped me off at my RN mother's house.

Mom nursed me back to health and one day, I took one of those deep breaths all the way to the bottom of my lungs.  I never thought I would experience that again.  Life was pretty good.  Breathing is wonderful.

The hospital gave me Morphine and it KILLED ME.

The hospital didn't plan on resuscitating me.  They said I had been gone too long and undoubtedly had brain damage.  They told mom that I would probably be terribly disabled and since I was an idiot to begin with, there was no reason to bring me back  (after all, this is "suicide assisted" Oregon).  

My grizzly old RN head nurse mom would hear nothing of the sort and ORDERED them bring me back.   Had she NOT been an RN, they would have led her (the poor dear) to a "grief counselor".

Upon my regaining consciousness, a voice asked me what year it was, and I told him.  He asked me what month it was, I told him last I knew it was November. He asked me if I could name the last three presidents and I named them back to Woodrow Wilson.  He then asked me who the governor of Oregon was and I said it was that evil SOB "Ted the Red" Kulongoski.  (Come to Oregon and See How Communism Works- The Soviet Union of the West) He then asked me who the Lieutenant Governor of Oregon was, and I said "Do you mean Attorney General Hardy Meyers?".  The voice laughed nervously and said "Oh that's right, this is Oregon, not Washington".  And then I offered that the test he had just administered to me was called the "Folstein Test".

Turns out, the reason they thought I was an idiot was I arrived at the hospital in blue bib overalls and during the subconscious time I was dying, I was praising God loudly and continuously.  Which is rather dumbfounding because I don't do a lot of that.  In fact, I normally have quite a bad "Heavy Equipment Mechanic Mouth".

I was hospitalized again in the winter of 2006. They sent me home with an oxygen concentrator machine, which I depended on heavily for life itself.  I could hardly make it to the bathroom, and even though I had an oxygen tank in there, just walking 10 feet was inviting death.  My blood O² was measured as low as 75% in this condition.  I don't know how low it has to be before you are DEAD, but I am guessing from the way it feels, that's CLOSE.

A year later, in 2007, I arrived at the hospital in November, again for respiratory troubles.

This time, for some unknown reason, ON A LARK, I think, somebody strapped a VPAP machine onto me.  It scared me to death when they brought it close to my face because it was howling and blowing air like sticking your head out the window of a car at 100 mph.  I thought I was having plenty enough trouble breathing already without THAT.  

As soon as they strapped it on, much to my delight, every time I breathed in, my lungs filled to the brim with wonderful air! And when I exhaled, the machine released pressure so I didn't have to FIGHT to exhale, which is the problem with a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure).

The next morning, I felt 10,000% better.  I told them so.  I said "Just send me home with this machine!  My problem is solved!"

No, hell no, they shot me FULL OF DOPE again without my permission and shipped me in an ambulance for like $8000 to Oregon State Hospital University (OSHU), a terrible place to be sick.  Again.  For the third time. 

When I got to OHSU, there were about 6 people in my face "asking permission" to do this or that.  Then somebody said they were going to tracheotomize me.  

This time, I wasn't doped up enough to "be compliant", and the tracheotomy "offer" woke me up substantially.

I threw a royal fit and yelled "EVERYBODY GET AWAY FROM ME!  I AGREE TO NOTHING!  I DON'T NEED OR WANT TO BE HERE.  I AM HERE AGAINST MY WILL!  I would rather DIE before you EVER tracheotomize me again".  

As if the procedure isn't bad enough, those students could not understand that when they opened the system up to "suction" the phlegm, your diaphragm just goes dead and YOU CANNOT BREATH.  The more you desperately wave your hands, the dumb-ass student thinks you are saying "Do it more".  I would still like to kick their stupid butts for that.  

As far as I am concerned, they were using me to commit FRAUD upon the Medicare system for something close to $250,000.

Being a practice "pin cushion" for student phlebotomists is a real delight too- "oops, I'm sorry, I missed the vein again" as they drag the needle around in a circle inside your arm destroying your veins so NOBODY can get a good draw there or use it for IV anymore.

It took 3 days to finally talk my sister into getting me out of that awful place.  OSHU should be put on the list with Guantánamo as a torture prison (I am not trying to be funny).  My sister kept believing their lying crap about how "concerned" they were about my condition.  I finally told her I was DONE being there and get me out or I would call a taxi.  She finally took me to her home where I immediately got happier.  

I was STILL "coasting" on the fantastic boost in health and well-being that ONE NIGHT on a VPAP had provided!

My sister had to schedule a "Sleep Study" for me so I could get a prescription for a VPAP.  (This is ridiculous.  We all know it is only for PROFIT for the medical jerks and FRAUD ON MEDICARE).  

The sleep study was a joke because I had not been able to sleep laying down for 8 years.  They had all sort of "concerns" about me sleeping "Indian style" and put the bed rails up to keep me from falling on the floor.  (Admittedly this had been happening a lot).

The next morning- SURPRISE- they said I definitely had "sleep apnea".  I thought that was a royal understatement.  Sleep Apnea was the least of my troubles.  

The VPAP certainly had already made my life better for DAYS after I spent ONE NIGHT on it.

So, I began 2008 with a new VPAP with my oxygen concentrator adapted to it, on Warfarin (Rat Poison), and all sorts of pills for everything imaginable.  I had to get the blood clotting (PT) test twice a month.

Byron J. Richards, Founder/ Director of Wellness Resources, is a Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist and nationally-renowned health expert, radio personality, educator, and author.

I happened across an article by Byron Richards about Warfarin causing 25% bone loss in one year. (FDA Sleeps While Common Medications Poison the Elderly) Also see Google Search

Since I could no longer afford the Dr office visits, the blood tests, and the $200+ a month for the drugs, I took Richards' advice about nutrients and vitamins (which cost me $80 a month).  An important point is- I never believed in any of this naturopathic vitamin stuff.  But taking the nutrients and vitamins certainly did maintain me quite well as my prescriptions ran out.   I did quit the Warfarin IMMEDIATELY and I continued taking the blood pressure pills and water pills until the prescriptions ran out.

I continuously improved throughout the spring and summer of 2008, and finally all my prescription refills ran out.  I figured "It won't take long to see if I have entertained a folly".

By late spring, my oxygen concentrator got unplugged and put in the closet.  Just plain O2 up the nose is almost useless. The VPAP is superior in every way.  Lots cheaper to use too. That O2 concentrator machine will heat a 12' x 12' room IN THE WINTER with no problem.  The $45+ a month (I am guessing, Maybe more) for the electricity to run it was not small change to me, either.  This VPAP couldn't cost $2 a month for electricity.  LOTS quieter too.

By late summer, I was "forgetting" to take the vitamins more all the time.  I got better and better, stronger and stronger to the point that I could walk perhaps 100 feet without dying.

I had also abandoned the Nebulizer.

Here I am today, taking only a vitamin D and a vitamin C every once in a while.

To what do I credit this miracle?

The VPAP.  I live with it pretty much strapped on most of the time.

I can go up to 6 hours without it, if I do not walk too far, too quickly.  I am Certainly in trouble if I do exert too much or go too long without it.

No small part in my miraculous recovery would be that by saving my Social Security Disability checks from the ravages of doctors, lab tests, and medication, I could afford to eat MEAT, fruit and vegetables instead of noodles and cheap margarine.

Why do I think the VPAP has improved my life so radically?

I think it's simply because having my lungs "turbocharged" has utilized what little lung capacity I have remaining (perhaps 15%).  By oxygenating my blood back to normal levels, ALL of the downstream collateral damage from low blood O² has been reversed.  

The Edema has almost entirely disappeared.  My skin now wrinkles around my ankles. I can now sleep comfortably flat on my back or on either side.

Low blood O² certainly DOES cause DVT's (blood clots) because the body is detecting low blood oxygen and tries to compensate by generating more and MORE red blood cells to compensate, until your blood turns into SLUDGE.

So my new evangelism is to try to get more people to understand what a VPAP could possibly do for them.

Even with my advanced COPD and deteriorated lung capacity, my health and sense of well-being has been rolled back TEN YEARS.  I feel better now, and suffer less illness and discomfort than I did in 1999.

If I'd had this machine 20 years ago, I would have a net worth today of at least a half million dollars, instead of being virtually penniless and in peril of being homeless and on the street.

Sleep Apnea is almost a contrived reason to recommend these units.  But for people with lung difficulties and possibly real heart problems, a VPAP could be a miracle for them too.

I think many heart problems ARE from insufficient  O².  Mostly related to smoking cigarettes causing degraded lung performance. (not that I am a doctor.  But I'll bet I am right).

The beauty of it is, VPAP machines are quite inexpensive.  Low maintenance.  Low power consumption.  

And a VPAP is absolutely harmless*

If a VPAP yields the sort of benefits it has for me, the cost of maintaining a life, a vastly improved quality life and sense of well-being with vastly reduced need for drugs or medication, it seems like a "win" for everybody except doctors, clinics, and the dope companies.

Try it!  You might like it!  Breathing is a wonderful thing.

Leonard Henderson
December 14, 2008

*The only possible way a VPAP could be dangerous would be if you had a FULL FACE MASK, and the power went off while you are asleep.

See UPDATE- February 2009 Below

Tips on LIFE with a VPAP machine-

Fitting the mask-

Don't cinch the straps up too much!  The right amount of tension is JUST ENOUGH to hold the mask to your face MOST of the time.  It's not the end of the earth if some air leakage happens once in a while.  Cinching the straps too tight will quickly cause skin damage or even HEADACHES.

It's easiest to hook the top head-strap up and one side of the lower strap.  Put the mask on, pull the lower strap around and hook it up.  To remove the mask, just unhook one lower strap.  It's good to practice this a little until you become comfortable doing it and it becomes easy to do.

Locating the Machine-

I have tried the machine located behind my head on a table, at each side of my bed, and at the foot of my bed.  It seems that because of the natural routing, at the foot of the bed works best for allowing me to roll over either way.  Anyplace else seems to result in being awakened because you have rolled in such a way to pull the mask away from you face enough to let the seals vibrate against your skin, making an annoying sound.  This reeding will also cause skin irritation if allowed to continue for long.

Humidifier-  

Even though I live on the coast of Oregon, where the humidity is high all the time, I find that not using the humidifier causes sinus troubles, dry throat, and unpleasantness.  This machine has cured most of the nasal congestion problems I have experienced most of my life.  I have had 3 bouts with cold or flu since I started using the VPAP, and have had remarkably less nasal congestion.

The humidified air also seems to have vastly improved my lung congestion problems.  Everything seems to maintain more viscous and I am producing no HEAVY phlegm and what little phlegm I have is easy to cough up.

Condensation in the hose-

When the weather turns cooler, there is a tendency for the humidified air to condense in the hose leading from the machine to your mask.  When you hear a freaky gurgling, bubbling or popping sort of noise, it's not your lungs,  it is because enough water has condensed and collected in a low spot in the hose to fill the low spot, blocking the air flow.  

If this happens, sometimes the water will come into your mask while sleeping.  I guarantee you will wake up instantly with the water up your nose.  It's not really life-threatening.  Just sort of icky.

Best to catch it before that happens.  Just pull the hose off your mask and "milk" the hose out like you would drain a water hose, allowing the water to go into a cup or the garbage can.

Living with the nose mask-

When you take the mask off, it howls full tilt for a few seconds and then goes into sleep mode.  You have to take a suck or two to alert the machine that you are back. 

When I get up and walk somewhere, when I come back I am sort of winded.  I like to hold the mask out slightly to let the fan really spin up and then let it seal good the moment I start to breath in. That REALLY forces the oxygen into your blood stream in a hurry.

It doesn't take long to figure out you can't drink from a cup. One of those "spring water" bottles works GREAT.  You don't have to BUY water this way.  If you have good drinking water on tap, use a half-gallon or so cranberry juice jug for refilling.  One of those cheap little plastic funnels helps keep the mess down.

It is important that your water bottle is slim so it fits easily under the nose mask.  It is also HIGHLY IMPORTANT that it has the re-cappable "nipple".  This is because when you open your mouth, air is flowing through your nose and out your mouth.  You can't really drink until you close your lips around the "nipple" to normalize the pressure.  You can squeeze the bottle a little to help the water flow. 

You MUST PAY ATTENTION to what you are doing!  If you are conscious about what you are doing, swallowing is effortless and natural.  If you aren't paying attention, the PRESSURE from your VPAP machine will blow the water "down the wrong pipe".  When you are already in a delicate position with your lung situation, some water down the windpipe does not improve your day!

You can talk with it on, but the air blowing out your mouth makes you sound like you have a cleft pallet (hair lip).  I generally just take it off to talk on the phone. Easier to enunciate the English language without it.

Don't bother trying to eat with it on.  Just don't do it.  OK?   I haven't tried it, but I don't think chewing gum with it on would be a good idea either.  Especially not going to sleep with gum in your mouth.

Smoke with it on?  Are you just stupid, or what?

Clean up your mask once in a while-

Hydrogen Peroxide in a pump bottle works GREAT!  Hydrogen Peroxide is pretty harmless, and is definitely a good antiseptic.  Just squirt it into, around, and UNDER the face seals.  Just shake it off and let the air blow through to evaporate what's left.  It is good to disassemble it once in a while and do a better job sanitizing the mask.  DO NOT try to wipe the foam rubber insert!  It is extremely fragile and you can easily pull it in half.

The Velcro adjusting straps get lint in them-

Every once in a while, the adjustable Velcro Straps get lint fuzz caught in the male side, preventing the Velcro from engaging well.  This is especially a problem if you are using a fuzzy blanket.  It's pretty annoying to be woke up in the middle of the night by loud "fart noises" caused by air escaping around your face mask because a Velcro strap has popped loose.  I have found that my toothbrush works OK, pushed sideways diagonally across the male side.  That more or less rolls the lint into little balls, which you can pick off with your fingernails or tweezers.  Seems like the fuzz fibers also gets trapped in the female side too, although you can't see it.  A good brushing of both surfaces every once in a while is a good plan.

Refilling the humidifier reservoir- 

With my particular unit, you are supposed to detach the tank, and then pop the clips holding the tank halves together.  Then you carefully separate the halves, rinse them out, refill the lower half to the mark, place the top of the tank back on, clamp the clips back down, and then re-insert the tank onto the VPAP.  Make REALLY SURE the tank snaps back into place!  It can look secured, but it can move out slightly from the pressure blowing into it and a leak will develop, making the machine fan speed at top RPM.  The first time this happened, I thought the machine had failed and gone FULL BOOST.  

I think it is a pain in the rear to detach the tank for every refill.  With my particular unit, you can just pull the hose off the front of the unit and use your drinking water bottle (above) to fill the reservoir up to the line.  The caveat here is, DO NOT do this for more than a week at a time!  It seems not to take too long before living organisms (maybe yeast?) get a toe-hold in there and if you have a heated humidifier, minerals start cooking onto the pan.  (That's why you are supposed to buy distilled water to put in this, but my spring water is pretty pristine).

I find that one of those battery-powered toothbrushes works GREAT for helping clean up the reservoir.  Hydrogen Peroxide works fine here too.  I am sure not pleased with using Chlorine or such, but sometimes you have to do a good sanitization job.  A little Lime-Away or Simple Green helps clean the deposits cooked on the humidifier pan.  Definitely rinse every trace of that out!  Breathing these vapors are likely to make you wish you hadn't.

Power Outages-

One of the hazardous things about having a mask of any kind on is, if the power goes off, so does your air.  This is NOT a "fail-safe" life support system!  With the nose mask, you can just open you mouth and breath.  I have awoken several times (the power goes off here fairly often).  I am perplexed that I did not subconsciously breath through my mouth.  Maybe that's just me.  But with a full mask, your only goal in life (literally) is to GET THAT MASK OFF!

Since I am an old computer geek, it seems to me that having a computer uninterruptible power supply on this unit could be pretty cheap life insurance, making it more of a "fail-safe' life support system.

My VPAP has a serial port on the back and the company has computer software  to play with the settings and download the breathing patterns recorded over a length of time.  Being an old computer geek, I would LOVE to get that software.  But my healthcare vendor says they don't even have it and it's highly doubtable that I could ever get a copy.  Darn it.  I have an inquiring mind.

UPDATE-

In February 2009, my home oxygen guy brought me a bag of new "supplies" for my VPAP.  There was a new Mask, a new Headband, a new Hose, and a bag of 8 new Filters (about 3/4" wide and 1-1/4" long).

I asked why he brought them, since I hadn't asked for them.  He said "You are entitled to have these parts replaced on a regular schedule". 

I said, "But I am MAINTAINING my equipment (as detailed above).  Nothing is worn out.  Everything is FINE".

He said "Well you are ENTITLED to them and I brought them".

I said "But I don't NEED them." 

He said "Well you got them".

I said "I don't need them and I don't want them.  This looks like FRAUD upon the Medicare system to me".

He said "It's not fraud.  You are ENTITLED to them".

I said "IT IS FRAUD".

He said "Here, sign this.  I gotta go".

So I signed it and he left the bag.  I was going to put it in the drawer for the future and I noticed the INVOICE for $350.  The new Mask was $129, the new Headband was $110, the new Hose was $64, and the bag of new Filters was $8.*Price update 4-25-2010 below And whatever else was in there, I don't recall.

The more I thought about it, the madder I got.

I called the home oxygen people and told them to have the guy come back and get the stuff.  I told them it WAS FRAUD.  They argued with me about it until they REALLY got me mad.  

I said "I hereby RESCIND my signature on that invoice.  Come and get the bag of stuff."

And still they argued with me.  I said  "Pick up your Concentrator machine and your oxygen tanks too.  This VPAP has completely replaced my need for them".

So their bull shit not only cost them the $350 bag of parts, but it cost them about $300 a month rental on the Concentrator machine and about $200 a month for the oxygen bottles.

I had to sign another paper saying that I held them harmless if turning in the oxygen machines caused my death or whatever.

I saved Medicare something on the order of $500 a month on me.  I am sure I will get accolades and "atta-boy's" for that.  Yeah.

OK fine.  So now I have no oxygen to take with me if I go on a trip.

No place I want to go anyway.

*Price update 4-25-2010

I went hunting on the internet for replacement parts.  I found THIS-

New Mask $45.50, new Headband $17.50,  new 6' Hose $8.75