CPAP ripoffs and reprogramming of machines

junkman55 · Post by **junkman55** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:19 am

I have been using a Resmed CPAP machine for 4 years with a nasal mask and chin strap. About 6 months ago, the machine started shutting down for no apparent reason. I took it in to the medical services company I had purchased it through. They kept it for a month, (provided me a loaner) and after the month said "nothing wrong with it! Works perfectly" I later received a bill of $260 for the "adjustment" and another $130 for rental of the loaner. Since I have only "catastrophic insurance" with a very large deductable, I had to pay 100% out of pocket. I fought for three months with the company regarding the rental charge, but after they sent it to a collection agency, I paid it. Ever since the "adjustments" they "made", I started getting alot of intestinal air. Very uncomfortable, almost painful. I talked to my doc who suggested going to a full face mask. I wanted to lower the upper end pressure. It was obvious to me that the company in question had caused some changes to be made.
I went with the full face mask, still got the intestinal air and still get the mask launching off my face when it kicks into high end pressure.
I do not want to go through the time and needless expense again!
I would like to know how to adjust or reprogram the machine myself. When I asked this of a new medical company my doctor pointed me to after I complained about the business practices of the former, I was told that this was proprietary information. I feel differently about that.
This is my machine,
This is my life and my health
This is information that is needed by me to maintain my health and my life.
The companys out there that service these machines are making massive profits and still providing mediocre service and using very questionable business practices.

Any comments?

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:47 am

What's the full name of your machine, junkman? The name written on the top of the machine.

JimHillTx · Post by **JimHillTx** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:48 am

I know I am going to get blasted over this, but have been down the same road too.
First, everyone will tell you that you have to have a Dr's Rx to have the machine reprogrammed. Very good reasons for this, as you are counting on YOUR machine to get you through the night alive. If it doesn't work right, your sleep suffers. Unless you can spend nights in a sleep lab to recheck your needs constantly, sometimes it doesn't work right
That said, I have been using CPAP's for over 20 years (they used to sound like a vacuum cleaners ) and have found that many times I have needed to fine tune my needs. I always let my doctor know what problems I am having and what changes I have made. I too have very limited insurance coverage now. Of course, they will tell you that there was nothing wrong and they did not change anything. If they messed up, they would have to fix it.
1st find out what your settings should be, purchase a accurate device to measure pressure, you don't have to spend a lot of money on this. Verify that your machine is doing what it is supposed to do, called patient involvement with you health, change a pill I have to take, my doctor know he is going to have to tell me why, what it does. Your doctor should be able to make pressure adjustments for you in his office, (are you seeing a specialist?). If all that fails, send an email to me at HappyNcamping@yahoo.com and I will help you on how to change some of the settings. Again, warning you that to change your settings yourself can mess things up, but have found that sometimes good sleep has to be fine tuned by the person who is trying to find good sleep. They don't always understand, we can not sleep in a Sleep Lab every night.
My two cents worth, and good luck.

CollegeGirl · Post by **CollegeGirl** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:17 pm

Hi Junkman,
I'm curious as to your issue with the machine cutting off. Is it still?

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:57 pm

More then likely the machine was sent by your DME to an authorized repair place, which is typically only the manufacture when it comes to xPAPs. It would have been nice if they could have lent you a machine without charging a months rent and I would have been pissed about that too. Did you ask what the estimated charges would be before hand? I know when I got an older model BiPAP STD of my own, I asked my DME about having it gone over and they told me there was a basic 'bench fee' if we sent it to the repair techs just to have them look at it. Since the BiPAP STD had less then 20 hours on it and was still in the original packaging, they advised me to just bring it in and they checked with a manometer in the office & set the pressures for me free of charge. Ironically, the DME at my sleep doctors offices did the same thing the following week to the same machine, at no charge. I was returning the BiPAP ST they had lent me free of charge for the first month so we could see if it helped or not, since my titration showed only a 50% reduction in central apneas and I didn't have the heart to tell them my regular DME had already checked my new-to-me machine.

Mile High Sleeper · Post by **Mile High Sleeper** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:06 pm

Junkman, echoing the advice of JimHillTx, there is info on taking charge of your therapy, including pressure settings, and working with your DME and doctor if you click on the light bulb/our collective wisdom and read the article on CPAP Pressure Settings at cpaptalk-articles/CPAP-pressure-settings.html

You're going in the right direction!

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:10 pm

my comments are:

What machine do you have? Is it a S7 or Spirit? It should say on the top of the machine. If it was a Spirit and they changed the mode from Autoset to cpap, that would explain your aerophagia.

DME's rarely do anything for free, then when they charge they charge like 3 times what is thought to be reasonable. Reason I don't use them.

You probably need to go through your machine and make sure it is programmed correctly.

I hear there is some special finger manipulation you have to perform on the machine, not the one the DME performed on you

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 2:29 pm

Wow Junkman, I am really sorry to hear about that kind of experience. That just stinks. I've never heard of someone being treated that badly by a company.
For the most part DME companies don't charge for services like that and they certainly don't charge just for a loaner piece of equipment. That's ridiculous. There are tons of posts here about companies all over providing free loaner equipment so it shouldn't be too hard to find one.
I damn sure wouldn't ever do a shred of business with that one. Call around a bit and find another company.
It seems the consensus here is pretty much split down the middle on changing settings. A lot of people have posted that increasing the pressure too high will cause a dramatic increase in Apnea events. Lots others have posted that they don't think this is true.
My feeling would be to work closely with your doctor and a DME company that is more mainstream and doesn't charge for simple little adjustments.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:48 pm

Why is it that I get the feeling that Junkman, JimHillTX (whose very first post was answer to Junkman!) and the Recent Guest are one and the same person?

O.

JimHillTx · Post by **JimHillTx** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:52 am

>>>>>ozji >>>>Why is it that I get the feeling that Junkman, JimHillTX (whose very first post was answer to Junkman!) and the Recent Guest are one and the same person?

javascript:emoticon(':x')
As far as being the same, too bad your first thought is to question people who join or attempt to help someone out with a problem. For me, I just joined this forum and using the search for topics that this forum has, was brought to that message. I guess I should have waited for you to reply to him first.
You could check the profiles and see, if you don't know how to do that, I guess you will loose sleep over it.
javascript:emoticon(':)')
As for anyone else, never met the other two posters, and I will respond to any messages left for me here, or sent to any of my 3 emails - I/M's that I have provided to the system for people to use.

Having been a CPAP user for over 20 years, actually closer to 25, before sleep apnea was even really reconnized for the seriousness that it is now. I have been down many of the roads that many of you have to go with your hose and mask as your best friend, (to sleep). I got to be the "test subject" for many of the treatments. My doctor recommended this site to me as it could help me, and that I might be able to help someone else. I am not here to play any posting games, pretend that I am someone else, or other childish things. Is that not why we are here?

That said, (I am known for being opinionated and will voice mine) If I can pass something on to someone else, I will gladly do so. Being "flamed" does not bother me, although it is a waste of everyones time having to read the cr*p. (that is not CPAP if someone mis-understood)

As for his questions, it is a damn shame that he was treated the way he was. He will have years of very personal involvement with "his" machine as when you are told you have to use one, it is usually for the rest of your lives. Too bad the first post by a guest resulted in his being accused of bad posting. To both, I apologize for your treatment, although it is not I who should.

My condition is caused by too short of and too many muscles in the neck. Too much football an weight lifting in my younger days, as opposed to others. Several of the people I know have to loss weight to help their condition, some have too narrow of a windpipe. But all of us have one thing in common and it is to learn to live with it, get better, and help others.
Tried the surgery, 15 years ago and it brought my pressures down to 9, back up to 14 now. They tell me will probably continue to climb over the years and have found this to be the case.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 11:09 am

JimHillTx wrote:My condition is caused by too short of and too many muscles in the neck. Too much football an weight lifting in my younger days, as opposed to others.

Did you happen to play for the Chargers, Packers and Browns?

Best wishes,

Den

Junkman · Post by **Junkman** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:21 pm

Thank you all. I am very appreciative of the support! Its great to know that there are others dealing with the same issues and doing so successfully and with creativity and humor. Such a wonderful human condition.

I emailed a question in to cpaptalk.com and they have responded with the information I need.

After reading some of the other posts here, I decided to try sleeping without a chin strap and use the full face mask I had given up on last night.

Definitely an improvement, now to get the pressure down a bit!

Thanks again to all of you!

CPAP ripoffs and reprogramming of machines

CPAP ripoffs and reprogramming of machines

Had same problem before, long time ago

Thanks to All!