Where did the old ASAA support forums go?

I can see the value of these forums as a place to discuss the research issues around sleep apnea and the uses of MyApnea.org.

BUT... why reinvent the wheel regarding general questions and issues on sleep apnea treatment that were being effectively handled in a patient to patient forum in the old ASAA support forums.

In posting a response to questions about CPAP camping and battery use I am frustrated as the old ASAA forums had old threads and stickies covering normal questions like those posted. There was an active community of users who would have provided good information much quicker than it took here.

Personally I have gone into the details on batteries for CPAP use, inverters, trade offs of various battery types, where to find battery draw data for models based on pressure, dealing with lack of humidification with sinus irrigation, and other topics many times on the old ASAA forums.

Instead of having to retype answers being able to link to threads where the answers had already been discussed in detail by multiple forum participants makes much more sense than starting over here.

Also, from having been active for over a decade the old ASAA forums had a high ranking in search engine results for sleep apnea related search terms. Using the forums to generate interest in and traffic to myapnea.org would be possible if the server issues with ASAA were given a priority. I can understand the need to address myapnea.org start up issues. But....

Just my personal opinion.

I'm also looking for the old forums. there were specific users who were super helpful and made all the difference for pre-auth and getting a BiPap approved. Any idea where I can go now to find a similar community? I have to replace my machine and need advice fast!

Apneaboard.com. is an active online community that might be helpful.

Just remember this is a moderated forum. All posts get checked by a wonderful caring sleep professional before they are publicly available.

Other forums are more "wild west". Often posters walk close to the line of practicing medicine without a license.

So beware. .....

+1 for apneaboard.com -- and it is also moderated, but by board owner and other volunteers. It is nice that members can post immediately. Innocent until proven guilty of trolling. I appreciate the "borderline medicine" as well :D I am a big girl and can decide for myself what advice to swallow.

+2 for apnea board... I like it too.

Just to clarify terms.....

A moderated board - like this one. All posts are reviewed by a moderator before they are visible to other users.

Off the wall or medically incorrect posts never are seen by other users.

apneaboard.com has moderators who work to keep the board civil and posts within the board's guidelines.

But, It is an un-moderated board. Moderators can and do take action such as deleting or removing posts as appropriate. But posts are visible to other users as soon as posted. You don't know if a moderator has seen or reviewed a post like you do here.

I like both kinds of forums. and Daria... you're an experienced and wise forum user. Not everyone is.

I worry about some users taking forum posts as medical advise or ignoring medical advise based on bad postings by some forum user (not you). Not everyone on line is a big girl....

as far as worrying about taking forum posts as "medical advice" 1) Personal responsibility. The more we create a nanny state, the more people need to be nannied and the less prepared they are in all respects. 2) I think that the adhoc advice is a net gain.

I am not impressed by the majority of the medical profession. I suffer from conditions that are "rare" and getting a doctor to understand how those conditions need to be managed is usually 2 or 3 yrs worth of "training" every time I must make a switch, and I still have to be vigilant on my own behalf so that they don't try to send me down a standard protocol path that would be inappropriate under the circumstances. All the standard protocols and requirements to adhere to them have created a nanny state for medical professionals and cured them of needing to apply analysis. :D

Miss the old ASAA forum also. Hope that this one keeps growing as that will make it better in many ways. Guess it is up to us ‘pioneers’ here to get the word out. One other forum has changed from being informative to very cliquey. You can still get good information, but the other input really turns me off.