Is it Illegal to Change Settings on One's CPAP Machine?

Good point, guys.

rested gal wrote:Yes, telling a patient, "It's illegal to do that" sounds scary, but I believe most of them are not tryinging to lie or mislead. I think they truly do believe that's so.

I don't. If they really do, they're ignorant and should brush up on the laws and "common sense". If it applied to XPAP therapy, it would have to apply to other forms of treatment and medications. There are no laws that can enforce how much (or lack of) prescription medicine a person can take at any given time. If you do.......you're probably going to suffer the ramifications of your actions. This would also have to apply to people treating diabetes with medications.

I've read and heard, first hand, of numerous situations where doctors have over-prescribed medications that were really screwing up the patients. In fact, just in the last two weeks, I've had two different co-workers experience this (in one case it was the son of one co-worker and in the other, the diabetes medications the person was taking caused their blood sugar to go very low). When the one (diabetic) mentioned her low numbers to me, I asked her what she was taking and then commented that it sounded like she was getting "over-medicated". A trip to the nurses office and a call to the doctor confirmed that her symptoms were the result of the medication. She quit taking the medication and now has been much better. In the other case, the son was taken off of the medications that were screwing him up and he's doing better.

Den

SharkBait wrote: Should there be a law telling me I have to wear a seat belt? Of course not.

At the risk of leading us even further OT...why do you think that?

When I get smacked by a semi and am careening down the road toward you, would you rather have me strapped securely in the driver's seat where I have a chance, at least, of avoiding a head-on...or bouncing wildly around the passenger compartment with not the slightest control over the vehicle?

I believe making seatbelts mandatory FOR DRIVERS is most appropriate.

LinkC wrote:

SharkBait wrote: Should there be a law telling me I have to wear a seat belt? Of course not.

At the risk of leading us even further OT...why do you think that?

When I get smacked by a semi and am careening down the road toward you, would you rather have me strapped securely in the driver's seat where I have a chance, at least, of avoiding a head-on...or bouncing wildly around the passenger compartment with not the slightest control over the vehicle?

I believe making seatbelts mandatory FOR DRIVERS is most appropriate.

As a citizen I think I'll weigh those very long odds vs my personal freedoms and choose the latter. I understand what you're saying and I agree that situation is better when the drivers are strapped in, I just don't like it being a law.

Well now...This is all very interesting. Seeing as I am to be fit for a mask this afternoon (but then it was supposed to happen last Friday so who knows?), I thought I might read up on some of the forums. I have read all 90 some posts in this thread.

Can I give you a professional advocate's point of view on this? *Blink*

First of course is our "Guest." He (or she) may well be right for all I know, but the fact they are hiding behind anonymity is a huge credibility buster for me. I don't do it. People know who I am when I have an opinion.

Second, regarding medical devices. I have been in pain for as long as I can remember. I have tried various methods, not all of them legal, to eliminate said pain. Some of you who were in the chat a while back will recall I found a CPAP online and was willing to pay probably more than it was worth to get some sleep. But once it was pointed out to me (by the good people here: THANK YEW!) that the humidifier had been recalled, I decided not to purchase it.

I have, however, over the years purchased no less than four TENS units (which I still have all of them), and none of them were with a prescription. Bottom line is I will do anything I feel is needed or necessary to be out of pain. And I do not think anyone can expact less of me. So far I have managed to avoid the narcotics, and I certainly pray it stays that way because that is a bridge so better left uncrossed! I have several college physical therapy text books on my shelf all regarding how to appropriately set and use a TENS unit. These books were ungodly expensive and TENS is all they covered. But I know well how important it is to know what you are doing.

And therein lies the problem. There are indeed people, I would say a vast majority of them, who simply do not know what they are doing. I can tell from reading so many posts here that y'all are well educated. So I say: GO FOR IT. It may be very naughty for an advocate to say this (will they take my license? ACK!), but my belief is that just as I have a right to be out of pain, so do you also (and me, too, it seems) have a right to get some sleep. I would caution you, however, to what you already know. Which is to be sure you are aware of what you are about to do and what the consequences may be. Some of us do have bad doctors. I got lucky. He immediately recognized that I have brains. As they are well hidden beneath the child-like veil of autism, it is not always easy to see. It makes me trust him that he spotted it right away. And I think because he knows I am smart, that he also trusts me to be telling him the truth.

I don't know what will happen to me down the road. I will not hesitate to change the pressure myself AFTER thoroughly researching it and IF I feel it is needed, but right now I am not feeling that it will be necessary because it seems I have a good doctor. SLOW, but at least he listens.

The RT, on the other hand, is a different story. She is pretty as can be. Very beautiful woman. But has ZERO personality. Spock has more than this angelic robot. And the lack of personality, unfortunately, makes her very unattractive to me. I hope I can manage to get along with her.

She told me SHE is the one who will decide which device I get, based upon what the doctor tells her. How can I persuade her to the Respironics Pro or the S8 Elite II, which y'all say I should have? (And I agree wholeheartedly, and for the reaons yew gave me.)

I don't have long before I see her (maybe), so any advice along those lines would be helpful. Sorry to kind of hijack the thread, but it all goes together. At least in my fatiqued, screwy head it does...

And what laws DO you like?

The odds of being murdered are pretty slim...let's abolish that one!

It is against the law to "doctor shop" in order to get prescriptions from multiple doctors for controlled substances. A local guy was just convicted for doing this to get plenty of oxycodone.

One sleep doc gave me a prescription for 10 cm pressure and the next one wrote the prescriptions for 19 cm. Is it illegal for me to set my machine at 29 cm?

[quote="ThomasMcKean"] How can I persuade her to the Respironics Pro or the S8 Elite II, which y'all say I should have? /quote]

The key is to get the the doc to write a 'script specific enough to limit her options. Ideally, it should specify make/model, especially if she is the control-freak you suggest she is. Failing that, insist on an option that's only available on what you want. The other option is to get your prescription and go "shopping" at another DME.

For the two you mentioned, "fully data-capable" should do it.

My salvation (when offered a ResMed in lieu of the Resprionics I wanted) was that my prescription specified "with a-flex", which is a trademark of Respironics!

My C-Flex script didn't prevent my DME supplier from providing the S8 Elite when I insisted it was the Resmed S8 Elite or nothing. She just used the C-Flex setting to set the Resmed EPR setting. Not the same, I know, but close enough.

LinkC wrote:And what laws DO you like?

The odds of being murdered are pretty slim...let's abolish that one!

LOL. Nah, I like that one...

SharkBait wrote:

LinkC wrote:

SharkBait wrote: Should there be a law telling me I have to wear a seat belt? Of course not.

At the risk of leading us even further OT...why do you think that?

When I get smacked by a semi and am careening down the road toward you, would you rather have me strapped securely in the driver's seat where I have a chance, at least, of avoiding a head-on...or bouncing wildly around the passenger compartment with not the slightest control over the vehicle?

I believe making seatbelts mandatory FOR DRIVERS is most appropriate.

As a citizen I think I'll weigh those very long odds vs my personal freedoms and choose the latter. I understand what you're saying and I agree that situation is better when the drivers are strapped in, I just don't like it being a law.

I used to feel the same way. Then that seatbelt that I wore to keep from getting another ticket saved my life and kept my kids from needing a new mom.

Looking at it another way....I have read many comments in here from various users about the abuse / overcharging of health insurance for CPAP supplies, that they consider it awful for people to take supplies they don't need at the time, just because insurance will pay for it, and as a result we all pay increased rates for health insurance.

I wonder how many of those folks are against the seat belt laws, because I will argue that we are ALL paying for those who will not wear them. Three years ago, at the age of 26, my son put his Jeep into a tree. The Idjit was not wearing a seatbelt (oh, and he also did not have any insurance...making him a double idjit.) Three and a half weeks and a quarter of a million (yes, a QUARTER OF A MILLION) tax payer dollars later, my son came home from the hospital, with more surgery needed after that to put his skull back together when the brain swelling went down. Had he been wearing his seatbelt, he would have walked away from that accident with MAYBE a broken hand....

I am all for seatbelt laws and helmet laws. Driving is a privilege, not a right. If you want to go without belt or helmet, I believe you must prove a minimum of 1,000,000 coverage for medical....my son was lucky, most don't get away with less than 1 mil in health costs from a traumatic brain injury.

Debjax wrote:

SharkBait wrote:

LinkC wrote:

SharkBait wrote: Should there be a law telling me I have to wear a seat belt? Of course not.

At the risk of leading us even further OT...why do you think that?

When I get smacked by a semi and am careening down the road toward you, would you rather have me strapped securely in the driver's seat where I have a chance, at least, of avoiding a head-on...or bouncing wildly around the passenger compartment with not the slightest control over the vehicle?

I believe making seatbelts mandatory FOR DRIVERS is most appropriate.

As a citizen I think I'll weigh those very long odds vs my personal freedoms and choose the latter. I understand what you're saying and I agree that situation is better when the drivers are strapped in, I just don't like it being a law.

I used to feel the same way. Then that seatbelt that I wore to keep from getting another ticket saved my life and kept my kids from needing a new mom.

Wearing seat belts is a good idea. That doesn't make it a good law.

Debjax wrote: Driving is a privilege, not a right.

When I see this all too common mantra, I just say "we'll have to agree to disagree".

Anyway, we're way off topic and it really doesn't matter. It is what it is.

ThomasMcKean wrote: ......... I would caution you, however, to what you already know. Which is to be sure you are aware of what you are about to do and what the consequences may be. ...

Good advice.

We need to develop some guidelines for changing pressures. Something like:

1. You need the software.
2. Monitor the daily detail report for one week before changing pressure.
3. Change your prescribed pressure no more than 0.5 or 1.0 cm per night.
4. Read the detail report the next day.
5. When you settle on a new pressure, read the detail report every day for two weeks. Thereafter review it at least weekly.

What would you propose for guidelines?

SharkBait wrote: .........
Wearing seat belts is a good idea. That doesn't make it a good law.

........

My political leanings are to the libertarian side. People are responsible for themselves. But now comes the hard experience of life.

For the last nine years I have had children in high school. The next high school over is in a somewhat rural area of the county. My kids have many friends who went to school there.

The boys at this high school have a tendency to run their small pickups into trees or roll them over. Too many times my kids received text messages or calls that another one of these kids had just died. None of these kids were wearing seat belts. A distant relative, age 17, showed up at the family reunion in a wheelchair. He will never have the use of his legs again due to a spine injury. He also had one of these small pickups and was thrown through the sun roof when he rolled it. The investigating officer said if he had been wearing his seat belt he would not have been hurt.

These kids are not afraid of death or crippling injury. Maybe we can scare them with fines and threat of loss of driver's license?

ozij wrote:

CollegeGirl wrote:Doctors who don't listen to their patients' concerns are much more dangerous, IMHO, than a patient who makes informed decisions based on data, peer interaction, and research.

Perfect.
One of these days, CG, I may want to put that in my signature line. Is that OK with you?

O.

Of course you may, O.