CPAP without prescription

Henning said:
I'm sure the instructions are available to adjust the pressure. Yeah, the Internet pharmacy business changed the face of the medical provider industry. You don't need a prescription for much anymore and education is a few key strokes away.
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Mine has a SIM card that goes into a slot on the side of the machine. Once a year I take the card to my sleep doc. She reads it with gadgetry not available to me and makes any necessary pressure changes on the card. I'm not sure how a layman could pull this off.

Bob Gardner
 
bobmrg said:
Mine has a SIM card that goes into a slot on the side of the machine. Once a year I take the card to my sleep doc. She reads it with gadgetry not available to me and makes any necessary pressure changes on the card. I'm not sure how a layman could pull this off.

Bob Gardner
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Bob,

Sleepyhead is the s/w you can use to read the card at home.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Beginner's_Guide_to_SleepyHead

Making changes yourself is a matter of getting into the "hidden menu". However...any change you make on your own that isn't documented by a supporting statement from your doc might raise an FAA eyebrow.
 
It's all covered by insurance, so I let the doc do the worrying.

Bob
 
DFH65 said:
In theory yes. Probably not a great idea. You could buy say a resmed s9 or similar auto-cpap with variable pressure and then go into the set up menu (not hard) and set the pressure for a wide range. The machine would basically auto-titrate you by adjusting the pressure accordingly. It would also provide some data about what your AHI was with the machine.

Just about any doctor could write you a prescription for a cpap though. According to cpap.com

The prescription can be written by any of the following care providers:

Medical Doctor
Doctor of Osteopathy
Psychiatrist
Physicians Assistant
Nurse Practitioners
Dentist
Naturopathic Physicians

We will not accept prescriptions written by:

Chiropractor
Podiatrist
Optometrist
Psychologist

I do think insurance companies will eventually push for simple home study and script for an auto-machine set to a reasonable range it would save a lot of time and money. I think the sleep study business is a bit of a racket.

I just went through the whole sleep study thing two months ago it was a couple nights of bad sleep but in the end it was only a few hoops to jump through. It is not cheap and I have high deductible insurance. My employer does put some money in an HSA. I have not been through the SI process yet but don't see that as a huge roadblock from what I have heard. I think if the FAA would let the AME just sign off on a well treated patient that would make the whole thing a yawn as far as flying goes.
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My health insurance is a bit high for me as well. I haven't needed to use it in years and now I need to use it, I need to pay $3k before they pay 80%. I have sleep apnea and I know how important it is to address it. Unfortunately, I don't have the $2k for the sleep study and then several hundred dollars for a Machine. I know it may not be smart to do without a sleep study but after doing as much research as I could to help myself, I decided to go with the Dreamstation auto. I'm relying on the auto feature to help adjust to my breathing pattern as well as the software on my phone to let me know how many episodes or instances may have occurred so I can adjust the ramp up or down. It's the best I can do. I will save up to get an official sleep study or get a job with better insurance. But I need to try to do nothing until then.
 
JAO said:
My health insurance is a bit high for me as well. I haven't needed to use it in years and now I need to use it, I need to pay $3k before they pay 80%. I have sleep apnea and I know how important it is to address it. Unfortunately, I don't have the $2k for the sleep study and then several hundred dollars for a Machine. I know it may not be smart to do without a sleep study but after doing as much research as I could to help myself, I decided to go with the Dreamstation auto. I'm relying on the auto feature to help adjust to my breathing pattern as well as the software on my phone to let me know how many episodes or instances may have occurred so I can adjust the ramp up or down. It's the best I can do. I will save up to get an official sleep study or get a job with better insurance. But I need to try to do nothing until then.
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My recollection is that model can be put into sort of a "sleep study" mode - one time - for 30 days(?). It will do its own titration and adjustments to find the best setting range.

It is not a sleep study, but it might help.

It also keeps detailed info. Download a utility called Sleepyhead, then let it import the CPAP SD card data (make sure to write-protect the SD card first, then put it back into read/write mode when you putit back into the CPAP).

https://sleepyhead.jedimark.net/

There is a forum ( http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/ ) where you can get all kinds of help reading the charts that Sleepyhead will generate, and how to tweak the CPAP settings for what the charts show.

edit: And I'm not an AME, I don't know how this will affect your medical or BasicMed.
 
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Matthew said:
edit: And I'm not an AME, I don't know how this will affect your medical or BasicMed.
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I have sleep apnea and they gave me a special issuance. The ME sent in my CPAP printout with the other stuff. All I need to do is right before I get my medical (2nd class) is have the treating Dr. state that all is fine, and provide a readout of the CPAP machine to make sure that I think 70% of the time I am using it at least 6 hours a night. But I use it almost 100% of the time for 6 hours a night.
 
BrianNC said:
I have sleep apnea and they gave me a special issuance. The ME sent in my CPAP printout with the other stuff. All I need to do is right before I get my medical (2nd class) is have the treating Dr. state that all is fine, and provide a readout of the CPAP machine to make sure that I think 70% of the time I am using it at least 6 hours a night. But I use it almost 100% of the time for 6 hours a night.
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Were you referred for a sleep study by your AME, or did you pursue the SI after being diagnosed with OSA?
 
BrianNC said:
I have sleep apnea and they gave me a special issuance. The ME sent in my CPAP printout with the other stuff. All I need to do is right before I get my medical (2nd class) is have the treating Dr. state that all is fine, and provide a readout of the CPAP machine to make sure that I think 70% of the time I am using it at least 6 hours a night. But I use it almost 100% of the time for 6 hours a night.
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I also have the SI. I don't know what the OP is going to do about reporting or not reporting. I think, for BasicMed, it isn't a problem.

Fearless Tower said:
Were you referred for a sleep study by your AME, or did you pursue the SI after being diagnosed with OSA?
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I got the SI afterwards, back when I got my student medical. Back then it was an automatic deferral. Pretty sure that isn't the case anymore.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Were you referred for a sleep study by your AME, or did you pursue the SI after being diagnosed with OSA?
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I pursued it after being diagnosed. I got the SA during a period when I wasn't flying. All I did was tell the ME before I went to get a new medical. He told me what I needed. Got the CPAP printed out, filled out another form, took it to the ME when I got my medical a month or two ago. He sent it off. Got a letter back from the FAA telling me how to stay in compliance. It was that simple.
 
Matthew said:
I also have the SI. I don't know what the OP is going to do about reporting or not reporting. I think, for BasicMed, it isn't a problem.
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I'm not sure about that. Seems when I was thinking I might go BM, that you still have to fill out the same app for the FAA, right? From what I saw it looked like it would still be a 'problem', but I could be wrong.
 
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Doggtyred said:
If I'm safe enough to drive with well treated sleep apnea, I am safe enough to fly with well treated sleep apnea. Absence of side effects such as daytime sleepiness or narcolepsy.
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Yeah. No way I could survive in an airplane with the same symptoms I had driving. I never would have even attempted it. It's not something anyone should try to circumvent.
 
CPAP w/o an Rx or someone who knows about it.....hmmmn. That's like, "weee don't need no steenkin flight training. How hard can this be?"
As the guys here will tell you, if the pressure is too high, you can/will aspirate, and never get any rest :(. You'll get infections in your ears....sinusitis....on and on we go....

How hard can this be?
"I think I can roll this Baron"........this whole string is as much "anti-authority" as you can get....and it's almost "anti-expertise....."
 
In what twisted nanny state BS world would buying a cpap machine for personal use be "illegal"

BTW the idea of a used CPAP machine off Craig's list ....

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Also not sure setting up a single CPAP machine is akin to flying a multi with zero training.
 
James331 said:
In what twisted nanny state BS world would buying a cpap machine for personal use be "illegal"
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The issue isn't so much about being legal/illegal as it's about using a medical device without medical training.

Like others have said, you could actually cause yourself more harm than good by misusing it. Think of breaking your arm.....you 'could' go out and buy plaster bandages and make your own cast, but hit could really jack yourself up that way.
 
Fearless Tower said:
The issue isn't so much about being legal/illegal as it's about using a medical device without medical training.

Like others have said, you could actually cause yourself more harm than good by misusing it. Think of breaking your arm.....you 'could' go out and buy plaster bandages and make your own cast, but hit could really jack yourself up that way.
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Agreed, and I wouldn't do it, but I don't think it would be anything the state would have the right to stop someone from doing to themself.

Frankly if you can fly a plane, I'd wager you could research and end up properly configuring a CPAP, just seems like a ton of work for little return
 
James331 said:
Agreed, and I wouldn't do it, but I don't think it would be anything the state would have the right to stop someone from doing to themself.

Frankly if you can fly a plane, I'd wager you could research and end up properly configuring a CPAP, just seems like a ton of work for little return
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btw....a friend of mine did it....and he's still alive and feels much better too. o_O

...and his AHIs are now below 4.
 
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