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

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."

As others have written, without a citation of the applicable law (likely to vary by jurisdiction), the advice that was given isn't worth too much. It also reflects directly on the credibility of the one who posted it. Personally, I wouldn't consider them to be a credible source for anything. That RT has a conflict of interest! (Don't they all?)

Actually, I can guess about anything I want. May or may not be right, but I can make a guess. Sometimes, people's guesses turn out to be right.

Debjax wrote:

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.

Went to DEA site and searched your suggested terms --

There are two major patterns of narcotic abuse or dependence seen in the United States. One involves individuals whose drug use was initiated within the context of medical treatment who escalate their dose by obtaining the drug through fraudulent prescriptions and "doctor shopping" or branching out to illicit drugs. The other pattern of abuse is initiated outside the therapeutic setting with experimental or recreational use of narcotics.

That sounds like the definition of Rush Limbaugh. I'm not all that bright but I'm certainly not the dumb ass that he is.

If Rx is fraudulent then it is illicit clearly. I "guess" that is what your were referring to and not "recreational" as you mentioned ... but there is a 50-50 chance I'm wrong in my guess.

Still, I found no reference to either fraudulent prescription use of CPAP nor recreational use of CPAP in either schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of the Controlled Substances Act.

So I'm still waiting for someone, anyone, to show me a statute where it states that it is illegal to change pressure settings of my legally prescribed and non-recreational use xPAP .... well?

luke wrote:Can anyone recommend a good lawyer for those of us who have been charged with CPAP pressure tweaking ?



Sorry couldnt resist !

i am formally requesting a cell with a window, next to fortomorrow, if were all locked up together, might as well continue on with the starkers experiment.
(an old disucssion)
(speaking of fortomorrow, anyone seen her around ???)

rooster wrote:DMEs should only be put in cells with CPAP patients who have bad cases of aerophagia.

my cell could have been the gas chamber this morning

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):

OK, thanks.

You might want to ask the RT if he has any financial or job security motive for holding the view that it is illegal for patients to change their settings. That would get us a reading on how honest he is. I'm betting that if we could find a large group of disinterested parties (not OSA patients, not health care professionals) and showed them the little bit of statute you dragged out, upwards of 90% of them would find it ludicrous to draw the conclusion that it is illegal for patients to change their own settings. If so, then it is clear the RTs saying this are improperly motivated and don't have patients' best interests at heart.

you'd have to be a pathetic moron to change your settings based on what you read on a website forum. Consult your doctor!

Oh give me a frigging break!!!! Yer outta yer league here, Guest. Move on outta here and spread your BS someplace people are gullible enough to put any stock in the horsepuckies you are trying to spread.

shut up SLinky you dope

Guest wrote:you'd have to be a pathetic moron to change your settings based on what you read on a website forum. Consult your doctor!

Let me guess, you're an RT who found this thread via mention of it in another forum. You are worried that we might figure out a way to do this without you, aren't you? I'm working pretty hard to eliminate people who are merely lining their pockets with my money without providing a service or product I actually need at a fair price.

Honey, I may be dumb, but I am NOT stupid - and there IS a difference!

Slinky wrote: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.

I sure as heck wouldn't want mail out of a smoked-up car. Gross. Also, the smoke does not stay just in your space. One of the reasons I bought my own separate house was to get out of second hand smoke in apartment buildings. It was killing me. Only to find I can't enjoy my yard or open my windows because my neighbors sit on their porch all day and night chain smoking. I'm pretty damned sick of smoke and smokers myself.

Guest wrote:Consult your doctor!

I did. He told me to let him know what pressure I end up with.

Guest wrote:shut up SLinky you dope

How nice. I bet you have a really great rapport with your patients. So compassionate. Not.

the great self-prescribing clueless....I can't wait for the first COPD patient to come on here stating that they were harmed because they self-titrated based on advice received here.......just sayin..........it's coming.