“C-PAP” Looking Back

[Dawico]

Yeah, making shit up about CPAP machines "reporting back" to some overreaching nefarious gubbmint organization for...whatever reason is idiocy. A CPAP machine has a memory card. The card in mine has neve been accessed by anyone. When my machine wore out I acquired another and it has an empty card slot - and it still works just fine. There's no wireless connection of any kind. It's not on a network. And without the machine I get about 30 minutes of good sleep per night and my BP goes up into "stroke risk" territory.

Some people have too damn much time on their hands.

So is it that you don't think the .gov would use every possible means to monitor us, or they just wouldn't do it this way?

 

[General Zod]

So is it that you don't think the .gov would use every possible means to monitor us, or they just wouldn't do it this way?

They're not doing it this way, despite what Dr ActivePilotBullshitter says. There's enough actual skullduggery going on without the tinfoil hat brigade making more shit up.

And WTF would it serve to monitor how well people are sleeping? Is that somehow going to give them leverage?

 

[General Zod]

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I don’t know anything about your equipment.

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And yet you started this thread off with blanket statements about all CPAPs "reporting back". So you claim you had to hook your CPAP machine up to a phone line? Because I know damn well if you ever were a pilot it was before wifi was a thing. Were you required to have a dedicated phone line for it, or did "they" require you to stay off the phone between certain hours when you were expected to sleep?

 

[red442joe]

My sister, a truck driver, was forced to use c-pap because she is fat.
She never had sleep problems until the fucks forced her to use the damn thing, then it disturbs her sleep. With remote control, they kept turning it up to max.
She finally bought her own and just has to submit reports.

Joe

 

[General Zod]

My sister, a truck driver, was forced to use c-pap because she is fat.
She never had sleep problems until the fucks forced her to use the damn thing, then it disturbs her sleep. With remote control, they kept turning it up to max.
She finally bought her own and just has to submit reports.

Joe

Prescribing a medical device when there's no actual need for it is malpractice. Who is forcing her to use it?

 

[deemus]

My sister, a truck driver, was forced to use c-pap because she is fat.
She never had sleep problems until the fucks forced her to use the damn thing, then it disturbs her sleep. With remote control, they kept turning it up to max.
She finally bought her own and just has to submit reports.

Joe

Wait. So you are saying that her C-PAP machine sends data to “someone?”

 

[red442joe]

Prescribing a medical device when there's no actual need for it is malpractice. Who is forcing her to use it?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
That is the thing...this turned into a big fight just because she was never "examined" or "prescribed" by a doctor.
Pretty much she told the people monitoring and adjusting it that they were GONNA get an ass whippin' or a truck driven through the front door if they keep ephing with her.
The company, Marten Transport, simply told her use it or get fired. Condition of employment pretty much wrecked the lawsuit angle.
The question of "doctor prescribed" is what led to getting her own machine.

Joe

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Wait. So you are saying that her C-PAP machine sends data to “someone?”

I was given the option to hook my cpap to the internet.
Instead, I just took the card in with me to the doctor, so they could see how many hours a night I used it.
They wanted it used a minimum number of hours, I think it was 4.5 to 5, I don't remember.

I quit using it altogether about a year later.

 

[General Zod]

Wait. So you are saying that her C-PAP machine sends data to “someone?”

Some do. But to claim that "every “C-PAP unit was designed to report back in, AUTOMATICALLY, to Big Brother daily" is bullshit. As is trying to say sleep apnea is not a real condition and was created to (for some reason) drive people into being required to use CPAP machines.

Without mine, I could very well be dead by now - if not from suffocating in my sleep, then by stroke from the high blood pressure I had or traffic accident from falling asleep behind the wheel. And no, my CPAP doesn't report diddly-shit to anybody. I've never even been asked to bring the memory card with me to any appointment.

 

[red442joe]

I am told I snore (I don't hear it).
I have used one of my sister old units, but really don't see a difference...

Joe

 

[ZX9RCAM]

. I've never even been asked to bring the memory card with me to any appointment.

This surprises me.
I would expect them to see how many "episodes" you were/weren't having while sleeping.

 

[General Zod]

This surprises me.
I would expect them to see how many "episodes" you were/weren't having while sleeping.

I'm generally just asked how I've been sleeping. Believe me, you can tell the difference. I feel like if I reported being tired a lot, the card would be asked for. The difference the CPAP made was like night and day - or like zombie and living person.

 

[General Zod]

I am told I snore (I don't hear it).
I have used one of my sister old units, but really don't see a difference...

Joe

Yeah, even prescribing one because of snoring is inappropriate. It's not a snoring remedy, it's for an actual medical condition that can be dangerous or life threatening.

When I did my sleep study to see if I needed a CPAP, I had to spend the night in a nice replica of a motel room inside a medical office, hooked up to monitors to track my sleep and my breathing. After about two hours, the attendant woke me up and said "okay, we can't let you sleep without a CPAP, it's too dangerous." She showed me the data - my breathing was stopping for 5 minutes or longer 3 to 4 times an hour. The rest of that night was the first time I had ever worn a CPAP, and it was the best sleep I'd had in several years.

Once I started using one every night, my BP dropped enough that my doctor went from worrying about finding a BP med that could get it under control (I was literally at high risk for a stroke at that point - at 40 years old) to actually discontinuing my BP meds. My personality changed and I had more energy - everyone I knew commented on it. I lost a little weight. I did better at work because I was less forgetful. And even on the drive between Dallas and Austin at night, I didn't nod off behind the wheel - something I had actually done a few times before the CPAP because I was so damned exhausted.

 

[benenglish]

the first time I had ever worn a CPAP, and it was the best sleep I'd had in several years.

Same here. The first morning I thought I was going to hit the ceiling when I stood up from the bed. It felt like I had lost 50+ pounds. All that from my first good night of sleep in years.

I did better at work because I was less forgetful.

I did better at work because I stopped hallucinating.

I remember everyone in the office being puzzled by me running down the main aisle in the cube farm. I was merely chasing the two 3-foot-long water bugs that were scuttling through the office. I was sure I could surf them down the hall if I could just catch up and jump onto their backs.

It's nice to no longer see shit like that.

 

[benenglish]

I was given the option to hook my cpap to the internet.
Instead, I just took the card in with me to the doctor

My doc has never done any of that. If he wants documentation of how I'm sleeping, he orders another sleep study. He trusts me to report any changes in my sleep quality.

 

[General Zod]

I remember everyone in the office being puzzled by me running down the main aisle in the cube farm. I was merely chasing the two 3-foot-long water bugs that were scuttling through the office. I was sure I could surf them down the hall if I could just catch up and jump onto their backs.

It's nice to no longer see shit like that.

I never had it that bad, but I did constantly fall asleep at my desk and in meetings. And then I didn't anymore when I started actually sleeping instead of struggling for breath all night.

 

[General Zod]

My doc has never done any of that. If he wants documentation of how I'm sleeping, he orders another sleep study. He trusts me to report any changes in my sleep quality.

Yeah, I had never even heard of an internet-connected CPAP until this thread. I can guarantee that the statement that they're all "reporting back" is sheer bullshit.

 

[SA_Steve]

I've got a C-pap, never able to use it successfully. I went to one of the sleep mills when they first started (around 2005). Their pitch was "you get a machine and all the Ambien prescriptions you want". My sleep test date had at least 30 participants (in Atlanta,
Ga).

Every small town suddenly had a sleep center doctor and good stream of Medicare income.
Took a few years for the gov to catch on to the scam. No one was ever denied a machine based on the sleep test. My experience with the 3rd follow on appointment was that no one even read the test results. 3rd follow on appointment, new nurse: "Oh, look you have restless leg too, here's an additional prescription".

 

[DaBull]

Yeah, I had never even heard of an internet-connected CPAP until this thread. I can guarantee that the statement that they're all "reporting back" is sheer bullshit.

Here's my CPAP with wireless active. There is an SD card slot on the side, but it's empty. The VA can query my machine whenever they want to check my usage but I am pretty sure they just do the min which is query in prep for my annual check-in.

 

[benenglish]

Yeah, I had never even heard of an internet-connected CPAP until this thread. I can guarantee that the statement that they're all "reporting back" is sheer bullshit.

We diverge a bit on this. I've known about net-connected and/or recording machines for a long, long time. I never wanted that feature so I never had one. In fact, just automatically choosing the cheapest unit on CPAP.com has been the way I've chosen my machines. It even pisses me off when the makers disguise how to change the flow rate but I've had to accept that situation for many years. Learning which buttons to hold down while turning it on in order to get into "service mode" is something I've learned to deal with.

Unfortunately, as I think I said earlier, I did some poking around online and I don't see any of the simple, $200, unconnected machines I prefer. I guess I need take good care of the two I already have.