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

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To get my cpap, the physician writes a prescription.
To get my Synthroid, another physician writes me a prescription.

Is it illegal for a person to take medication in a way that is different than what the prescription states? If the answer is yes, then it's illegal to do anything with your cpap machine that's different than what's on the prescription. To me, it's that simple. Each one is obtained with a prescription (or is supposed to be), so each one is bound by whatever laws are in place for prescriptions. If it's not the same for both, why not, when they're both obtained by prescription? Is there some law that differentiates between prescriptions for meds and prescriptions for medical equipment?

I don't know the answers to my questions above...just throwing them out there in case somebody else does.

Saying that, if for certain medications, I decide less or more is better based on any tests I may take at home (blood pressure monitoring, etc.), I'll make the change. If I decide based on data from my machine that I'd like to try a little different pressure, I will. (For most things, I do discuss it with my physician first, though.)

Changing the pressure on a cpap is definitely not as serious as, say, taking half my bottle of Synthroid all at the same time, or my whole bottle of beta-blockers (probably would kill me), but they're all obtained by prescription, and until that changes it would be really interesting to know the factual difference, if there is one.

Pam

Getting my house blown to bits by the CPAP machines however is a real concern but I fly often enough to have Home Land Security give my CPAP machine the thumbs up that it is not going to explode when I least expect it to happen.

Ok, do you know what PB&J looks like on a monitor? It's NOT pretty.....

Is it illegal for a person to take medication in a way that is different than what the prescription states? If the answer is yes,

Actually, depending on the medication, yes, it can be.

Debjax wrote:

Is it illegal for a person to take medication in a way that is different than what the prescription states? If the answer is yes,

Actually, depending on the medication, yes, it can be.

Please cite the statute.

I lowered my hypertension medications after going on CPAP when I started feeling dizzy due to over-dose induced hypotension. Later when I told my doc I halved the dosage he said that it was the right thing to do. He never changed my Rx and he didn't turn me over to Gitmo. I'm still halving my hypertension meds to this day and I monitor my BP every other day.

There are only laws for people licensed to practice medicine to prescribe and for people licensed to dispense precscription (pharmacist). There are no laws that specifically state that it is a violation of the law for a patient to take or not take the "recomended" dosage as "recomended". There are cautions and warnings but no laws.

Whenever I have said "show me" the statute(s), all I hear is silence and I suspect the reason is because there are no such statutes.


BTW - I live in Texas, so only Federal or Texas statute will convince me to change my view.

the genesis of this question, for the person who has asked, is this statement by an RT on the sleepguide.com site (http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topics/ ... -your-cpap):

"I support user involvement in CPAP therapy, but a caution is warranted: The FDA, for better or worse, has labeled PAP therapy to require physician prescription. Changing one's CPAP pressure is illegal, & to do so is in fact to practive medicine without license. My patients have heard me say many times that gladly there are no CPAP police enforcing these laws, but when we encourage the OSA community to take their therapy in hand, we must fully inform them of the regulatory environment."

sleepguide wrote:the genesis of this question, for the person who has asked, is this statement by an RT on the sleepguide.com site (http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topics/ ... -your-cpap):

"I support user involvement in CPAP therapy, but a caution is warranted: The FDA, for better or worse, has labeled PAP therapy to require physician prescription. Changing one's CPAP pressure is illegal, & to do so is in fact to practive medicine without license. My patients have heard me say many times that gladly there are no CPAP police enforcing these laws, but when we encourage the OSA community to take their therapy in hand, we must fully inform them of the regulatory environment."

Show me!!!!
Show me where it says that "changing one's CPAP pressure is a violation of the law" ... what are the penalties?

Here is the link to the Texas legislature
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/

I have done the search many times and come up with nothing!!

And so if someone gets a cold and goes and buys some cough drops they are practicing medicine too right? ... that is just plain nonsense!!!

Many chapters have sunk into nothing more than parties where everyone raises their pressure and gets high from centrals and aerophagia.

again, and to be perfectly clear, i was not, and am not, advocating the position that it's illegal. a RT was advocating that position. I was questioning it. now i'm satisfied there's no basis in the law for it. so i'm over it.

Actually, IF I have a script for morphine or vicodin or percoset, etc., etc., and I opt to overdose a bit on them to get a good buzz or high I "think" I might be doing something illegal. Should I drive while so "impaired" I put other lives in danger.

But when it comes to changing my xPAP settings, I don't give a rat's rear about the law, I'll do as I dibblety-darn well please and the law be damned it if does apply. It affects no one but me.

It is NOT government's job to protect me from myself regardless of what those bleeping idiots in Washington or the state legislatures may choose to think. They can go piddle up a rope for all I care.

USPS tried to tell me I couldn't smoke in my car whilst delivering mail as they considered my car under contract to them during delivery because I was paid an Equipment Maintenance Allowance. Actually, it was my PM who tried to tell me that. I set my handful of mail down on my case ledge and told him he could consider that my resignation. He then said it was just a ruling that was being considered and I told him that the day such a ruling went into effect he could finish my route for me because I would IMMEDIATELY quit. My car, I will smoke in it if I choose to - on the route or off.

Of course, I have COPD now. No one's fault but my own. I still say it is NOT government's place to protect me from myself. As long as I smoked in the privacy of my home or car and wasn't subjecting anyone else to it I was not endangering anyone but myself.

DreamStalker wrote:

Debjax wrote:

Is it illegal for a person to take medication in a way that is different than what the prescription states? If the answer is yes,

Actually, depending on the medication, yes, it can be.

Please cite the statute.

I lowered my hypertension medications after going on CPAP when I started feeling dizzy due to over-dose induced hypotension. Later when I told my doc I halved the dosage he said that it was the right thing to do. He never changed my Rx and he didn't turn me over to Gitmo. I'm still halving my hypertension meds to this day and I monitor my BP every other day.

There are only laws for people licensed to practice medicine to prescribe and for people licensed to dispense precscription (pharmacist). There are no laws that specifically state that it is a violation of the law for a patient to take or not take the "recomended" dosage as "recomended". There are cautions and warnings but no laws.

Whenever I have said "show me" the statute(s), all I hear is silence and I suspect the reason is because there are no such statutes.


BTW - I live in Texas, so only Federal or Texas statute will convince me to change my view.

She said "depending on the medication" which means some meds, not all. And I'm guessing (again, TOTALLY guessing) that narcotic-type meds might fall into that category.

I don't know if there's a statute or not, and really don't care, because I'm the kind of person that will do what I want to anyway. Just curious. My life, my meds, my medical equipment, etc. But if I do make changes with any health stuff, I do so with a lot of education behind it, and usually after discussion with a physician.

EDIT: If I was on government healthcare, I guess my statement would have to read: My life, my meds, my medical equipment, my lifestyle---and your (taxpayer) money, if something should happen to me in making those decisions on my own!

It goes round and round and never stops, me thinks!!

Pam

Just the facts mam. Guessing only works when you are throwing hand gernades or invading a country for WMDs (well, maybe not so much the latter).

I have taken Rx narcotics for pain and I think the bottle said 1 every 4 to 6 hours or as needed (long time ago). Did not say if you take less or more you go to jail, directly to jail, and not pass go.

DreamStalker wrote: ...or as needed ...

Kinda hard to violate a prescription that vague!

(Why would anyone care if Texans OD themselves out of existence anyway? )

While it is not illegal what user would care if it was? I hit 63 in a 55 today and that is CLEARLY illegal.

Uh huh, one of those who "borrow" 5, steal 10, huh? Like most Michigan drivers on the xway. Tsk, tsk.

Actually, a couple of years ago I had some experience w/the Atlanta drivers. My driver was doing 80 in a 70 and most all the traffic was passing us! Including the State Troopers who paid no attention to us going 80 much less the others who were passing us. The troopers just whizzed on by us and they were NOT chasing anyone. Just running w/the traffic and no one - but my driver - was slowing down when they saw the troopers.

DreamStalker wrote:

Debjax wrote:

Is it illegal for a person to take medication in a way that is different than what the prescription states? If the answer is yes,

Actually, depending on the medication, yes, it can be.

Please cite the statute.

I'm not referring to your bp meds, I"m referring to narcotics, and there are a variety of laws governing the use and misuse of them. Crush that oxy pill and snort it instead of taking it whole with water is a violaion of Federal regs (you can research the DEA site yourself. hint, look for the laws and penalties section regarding recreational use of prescription narcotics)

Take the morphine and then get behind the wheel of a car....you are violating most state (yes, including Texas) regs regarding DUI. The label told you not to drive for a reason.