Changing your own pressure settings

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:12 pm

uh... a little too tough I think. Let's see....

Doc agrees that upping pressure from 10cm to 12cm is ok.
Now... take an hour and a half off work and lose wages or take 20 seconds and do it myself?

The FDA can kiss my inflated Buddha belly. I'll take the 20 second route. This ain't rocket science or engineering. This is looking at a csreen, pressing buttons to adjust a setting you can see on the screen and then you're done. The DME doesn't do manometer checks after doing this adjustment. They simply make you wait, take your machine in back to keep the mystery alive, make the adjustment, and then charge your insurance company and at least in SOME cases....make sure the doctor gets their "cut". It's darn near criminal.The FDA doesn't say a darn thing about adjusting these things. There's just a sticker on them stating they need a prescription to be DISPENSED.

I do absolutely agree with Tridens about doing what the doc says because the doc has been good about other stuff. That relationship would be worth an hour and a half of my time. My doc won't ask me to do that. But everyone's situation is different. My doc knows I won't take crappy service. I never wait more than 15 minutes in the waiting room. I'm not grumpy and I'm not nasty about it. I'm honest and I move on. And now that I'm basically in control of my own therapy, I have to be good at it. After all... I won't accept crappy service from anyone else so it's gotta be the same with ME!

Snoozin' Bluezzz · Post by **Snoozin' Bluezzz** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:41 pm

I am with Yardbird on this one. A little tough. If you are going to blast folks, register and let us know who you are! You sound like a lawyer, a politican or a lobbiest.

This is one of the most responsible, saavy, tolerant, knowledgeable groups of people I have ever encountered in my long wanderings in the digital world. They do not deserve the "anonymous" blast.

I have the same discomfort with changing my settings but I have done it as well. I don't have a machine where I can download and monitor my own data. I am reasonably confident that my circumstances have changed due to weight gain and age. My sleep study was crap. My PCP is a good guy but overworked and hard to get to see. My sleep folks are good people too but overworked, hard to see and a little entrenched in the older ways. A new study is hard to get and cost big $$. I have had to fight tooth and nail to get as far as I have. If I were rich I could pay big $$ and get really great care but I have to live within the constraints of the system. I don't have a choice.

SB

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:43 pm

Snoozin' Bluezzz wrote:I am with Yardbird on this one. A little tough. If you are going to blast folks, register and let us know who you are! You sound like a lawyer, a politican or a lobbiest.
SB

or a DME!

Darth Vader Look · Post by **Darth Vader Look** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:22 pm

I find it real funny and surprising that, Guest a self proclaimed electrical and computer engineer, would even venture to post the statement such as,

These Regulations were established to protect us, not annoy us. If you aren’t happy with them, then I suggest you just plug a leaf blower to your mask and be satisfy with that. Understand people, if you are not a doctor or medical provider, changing settings on a medical device is illegal.

This would be a post more fitting and inline with the ASAA forum. They need more like you over there .

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:30 pm

Educate yourselves and stop giving our doctors and home healthcare providers a hard time.

I have and will continue to (educate myself).
I stopped seeing my sleep doctor after a couple visits because he was such a jerk and prescribed me an incorrect pressure for my machine.
I don't use local home healthcare providers so I don't give them a hard time.

I have an Electrical and Computer Engineer Degree and have been on CPAP for 13 years. So, I'm not an idiot who doesn't understand how to use Silverlining Software or figure out how to change settings on any CPAP.

Apparently it's OK for you to be able to change the settings on YOUR CPAP and interpret your software readouts since you have a degree or two, but you're talking to us like we're a bunch of dummies. WE'RE NOT!!!

Common sense tells me that these folks are farmers or ranchers, but unfortunately that is life.

So.....what's wrong with farmers or ranchers? I don't happen to be one, but I grew up on a farm and I take great offense to this statement. I'm afraid that OSA isn't that selective that it would put all of the apnea sufferers in metropolitan areas. In any case, there are about a half dozen DME supplier offices within 30 to 60 miles of where I live.....and many of them DO make house calls.

Your whole post seems very contradictory and egotistical to me.
I think YOU need some further education.....in COURTESY.

Thank you very much, but I will be in charge of my own sleep therapy!!!

Den

Brent Hutto · Post by **Brent Hutto** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:48 pm

I agree wholeheartedly with this forum's policy of unrestricted Guest posting. But you guys need to set your troll detector more sensitive by a notch or two. This "Guest" is the second obvious troll around here in as many days and there's not much to be accomplished by arguing with an anonymous troll.

Snoozin' Bluezzz · Post by **Snoozin' Bluezzz** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:14 pm

I suspect you are correct but I really do find the behavior unfathomable therefore I get caught. Why on earth anyone would invest that much time and energy on a subject they could care less about if they didn't have to suffer it is way beyond me. Morons come in all shapes, sizes, colors, nationalities and genders I guess.

Thanks for the tip. Perhaps there is troll moron board where they share addresses about "sensitive" sites. "Hey guys, check out cpaptalk.com it's really easy to get their knickers inna knot! "

SB

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:21 pm

Anonymous wrote: You folks are giving CPAP users a bad name.

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

As a former Electronics Engineer come Computer Engineer come Software Engineer come Systems Engineer come IT Architect, I find your post somewhat offensive. Your title alone is a put down.

With you as a logical thinker, I hope you can see logically where I am coming from.

All I can read into your post (unless you qualify it a lot more), is an ill-mannered rant where you appear to be taking a swipe at people you do not know nor seem to understand.

Take it easy & relax

Cheers

DSM

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:53 pm

Darth Vader Look wrote:I find it real funny and surprising that, Guest a self proclaimed electrical and computer engineer, would even venture to post the statement such as,

These Regulations were established to protect us, not annoy us. If you aren’t happy with them, then I suggest you just plug a leaf blower to your mask and be satisfy with that. Understand people, if you are not a doctor or medical provider, changing settings on a medical device is illegal.
This would be a post more fitting and inline with the ASAA forum. They need more like you over there .

Maybe he's been tightening his seat belt to tight. Laws are made by fools for fools.

Amigo · Post by **Amigo** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:34 am

Brent Hutto wrote:I agree wholeheartedly with this forum's policy of unrestricted Guest posting. But you guys need to set your troll detector more sensitive by a notch or two. This "Guest" is the second obvious troll around here in as many days and there's not much to be accomplished by arguing with an anonymous troll.

Thank you, Brent, for saying just what I was about to. It was patently obvious this "Guest" had an agenda, and I laughed out loud at the comment that he/she would fit right in at the Sleep Apnea Support Forum. He echoes their philosophy to perfection.

notsorested · Post by **notsorested** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 10:38 am

I teach critical thinking, and I see a great deal of sound logic on this site. In principle, the guest has a point though. (Don't throw anything at me, please.) I'm certain my doctor has significantly more training and education on health and the human body than I do. I couldn't do his job as well as he. Likewise, he couldn't do my job. I have a Dr., though, who listens to me a great deal before making any grand pronouncements. Sometimes he listens to what I think would be the appropriate course of action. THAT, my friends, is where "guest" messes it up. Did he listen to the specific circumstances? Part of being a logical thinker is weighing things in such a way as to know when to--and when not to--listen to the Dr., right? I haven't heard anyone here say to always ignore the Dr., right? If my Dr. responded to me the way "guest" did here, I would find another Dr..
Of course (and his is just a question), are there warranty issues on a Cpap machine if you change your own pressure? I guess I could just read my warranty. As far as the sinus infection goes, my RT says I shouldn't use the CPAP when I have one. No, she didn't say it was okay at lower pressures. She says that the pressure keeps the sinuses from draining (makes sense to me), something necessary when fighting an infection. Now I get to make the decision of whether to listen after considering what I lose when off CPAP. My two cents. . . .

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 10:59 am

Anonymous wrote: Understand people, if you are not a doctor or medical provider, changing settings on a medical device is illegal.

This is not true. Every so often, someone (probably an RT) comes along and tries to say it is illegal for us to change our own settings. There is no law stating this.

Here's a previous thread you can click on regarding this subject if you're interested:

cpap pressure setting

SleepDaddy · Post by **SleepDaddy** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:29 am

IMHO the heart of the issue is that this forum provides "free" information to a community of users that have tremendous experience in treating their own Sleep Apnea and are willing to share that information with those of us who are less knowledgable at no cost.

This practice poses a significant threat to those who make their living out of "selling" this very same information (DMEs, Sleep Docs, CPAP Manufacturers, etc.).

Those that make their living on "selling" information can't really compete with those who are willing to give it away for "free". Their only alternative is to either find a way to limit the utility of this free good (e.g., by designing in features that can only be accessed by a DME), limit the availability of this free good (e.g., only allow software to be sold to "licensed" sleep professionals), or ultimately to find a new profession.

In my last appointment, my Sleep Doc (after reviewing the Encore Pro/My Encore charts I brought with me) indicated that I had all the information I needed to manage my own Sleep Apnea condition and, other than satisfying any requirements imposed by my insurance provider, didn't really need to come back for any follow-up appointments. My Doc indicated that I can adjust my own pressures as needed and that the information I am obtaining from this forum is actually superior to the info she could provide.

This should be the ultimate goal of our Health Care system, to identify our health conditions, find a solution that works, and ultimately turn over the long term treatment to the one most likely to care, the patient.

Just another voice in the wilderness!

hoyle · Post by **hoyle** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:49 pm

i strongly recommended that you seek treatment for the sinus infection which can definitely lead to a brain infection which can lead to you being mentaly slow for the rest of your life. Which i do not think you would want to happen.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:14 pm

Can Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Titrate Their Own Continuous Positive Airway Pressure? Published: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Vol 167. pp. 716-722, (2003)

Oh, almost forgot to mention. The answer was "Yes."

P.S. I don't think the Guest was a troll, who said "I have an Electrical and Computer Engineer Degree and have been on CPAP for 13 years....etc." I think there are many people who feel the way that Guest does. I disagree with most of what the Guest wrote, but I do think the Guest was sincere in stating what he thinks.

Changing your own pressure settings

Re: Any logical thinkers here?

RE: Any logical thinkers here?

Re: Any logical thinkers here?

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