This forum section is a place for spouses of Apnea Patients to discuss among themselves issues that affect them, mutual support.  Spouses are encouraged to use the other forum sections to seek information about how to help their spouse who has Sleep Apnea or who may have it.  But this forum is to provide a place to provide mutual suport for issues that affect spouses or partners of Apnea Patients.


The following is a portion of the Apnea Support Forum Policies and Posting Guidelines.  For the full guidelines, view the guidelines posted in the main Sleep Apnea Help forum.



Welcome!

Welcome to the Apnea Support Forum provided to you by the American Sleep Apnea Association (ASAA).  We hope your visits to our discussion forum and chatroom are informative and enjoyable, for this site is all about helping each other with sleep apnea and to help people learn more about it.  

Please note that as a Guest, you may view any of the forums here.  But as a Guest, you will only be able to post comments and questions to the first forum, called "Sleep Apnea Help."   To post to the other forums, you will need to register as a member.  It's easy and it's free.  As a member, you can use the Private Message (PM) feature, and you will be notified by Email of topic replies and PMs.  We welcome all Guests and Members.

The ASAA is a nonprofit organization providing you a noncommercial alternative to discussion and information towards understanding and coping with this condition.  Below are our guidelines and policies along with helpful information about posting comments and questions to our forum.  Our guidelines reflect our noncommercial status, our commitment to promoting proper medical care for sufferers with sleep apnea, and our need to inform the public about this condition.  We operate our forum to be a welcoming, comfortable experience.  We thank you for your assistance in making it possible to help as many people as possible.


Conduct in the forum and chatroom:
We encourage lively discussion and debate, however discussions should be limited to conversation which will not be offensive to users of our forum and chatroom.  The forum and the chatroom are run to provide a non-threatening or offensive environment for people needing to discuss their problems and concerns about this condition.  Refrain from making comments which can offend and drive visitors away.  Messages and materials that are defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive to or about groups of people or individuals are not permitted. The forum administration reserves the right to moderate discussions and prohibit persons from continuing offensive discussions or discussions which are against ASAA policies and guidelines.  

We recognize the need of people suffering from this condition to chat with others who share their experience.  But keep in mind, the purpose of the chatroom is to assist people who have questions and concerns about sleep apnea.  Off-topic discussion is permitted, but participants are asked to make it a priority to help new visitors to the chatroom.  We ask for your assistance in welcoming new visitors and encouraging them to ask questions.

NOTE:  We do not allow links in your first post, or guests to link at all.  This is done to reduce the spam posting.  We apologize for the inconvenience, but we found that most spam contains links, and most of the drive-by spam is done on the first post.



Commercial Links and Solicitation:
No commercial links are to be posted on the forum.  The American Sleep Apnea Association does not promote or endorse a particular brand, manufacturer, or vendor of sleep apnea products.  Posts that contain commercial links will be moderated. (A commercial link is defined as a link to a for profit website that has a storefront)   This does not mean that you can not mention brand names, or experiences you have had purchasing or using equipment.

Note that posted language that represents commercial links is also not permitted.  Posts which direct people to commercial websites (i.e. use of "dot com" or other similar wording) will be moderated.  


The solicitation of sleep apnea products is not permitted.   The ASAA reserves the right to remove and restrict comments which are clearly efforts to solicit the sale of sleep apnea products by those with a commercial interest.  Again, this does not mean you cannot mention brands or experiences with products.  

Websites or Blogs operated by Patients or Medical Professionals:
Links to websites or blogs operated by patients or individual medical professionals will not be permitted.  Also, excessive promotion of these types of websites will not be permitted.  The ASAA provides this forum website as a source of open discussion.  This forum does not monitor, endorse or promote individual expressions of related issues provided on other private websites.  Therefore, posts which provide links to or promotes these types of websites will be moderated.

Posts about CPAP adjustments:
Although the ASAA advocates being proactive in ones treatment, we can not advocate or encourage making pressure adjustments or other CPAP clinical adjustments without consulting with your physician.  Please do not post instructions or how to guides for making adjustments or entering clinician menus to make adjustments.  We thank you for your understanding.

Trades, gifts or sales of cpap equipment on the forum:
Posts regarding the trade, gift, or sale of cpap equipment are not permitted on this forum.  This includes machines, humidifiers, masks or parts for these -- please do not post about trading, donating or selling equipment.  Posts such as these will be moderated.  While we understand the need to help each other out, we have several reasons for not allowing this sort of posting in our forum.  If you have any concerns about this issue or any issue posted in these guidelines, feel free to contact a Moderator.


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The info provided on this site is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice.
You should not use info on this website to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider.