ETA: The recall is on Philips brand machines.

(It now says "register here and we'll get back to you," which is not really any better. I'm getting by on the unit's retired predecessor, but people who have to turn their old machines in to their insurance companies to get a new one must be screwed.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Michael C. Fortner
"Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

I bet at least some in the sleep clinic had heard stories so they decided to start cycling clients out of the Phillips and into the Respironics just in case.

"Our organization is working diligently to replace or repair devices as soon as possible. Based on current estimates of impacted devices worldwide, we are working towards completing this effort within approximately 12 months." (emphasis mine)

Farther down, it suggests: "In the meantime, please speak to your doctor concerning your therapy options. This is an important step as every patient scenario can vary and we respect the relationship between you and your physician regarding your personalized care."

Translation: They assume, as I knew they would, that everyone has an insurance company that will hook, and probably already has hooked, them up with a replacement device, so they are experiencing no sense of urgency. They can even dress their shrugging-off of the problem up as a matter of Respecting Medical Privacy.

I do not have the spoons for this shit.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

However! In the course of being set up for a completely unnecessary except bureaucratically required diagnostic sleep study this afternoon, I was told by the nurse at my local hospital who does these things that the latest insider intel they have from Philips is that the affected machines are really only a problem if their owners have used those snake-oil ozone-generator "cleaning" gadgets on them, the failure incidence is about 0.01%, and they should tell patients who haven't used the ozone things that they should keep using the recalled machines until a replacement arrives.

So that's nice, particularly since we're heading into winter power-outage season now, and the emergency battery I bought with the DreamStation doesn't work with the older machine I've been using while I wait.

Meanwhile, because of this study, I don't get to use any machine tonight, which should be... fun. Good thing I've already finished my final project for this semester.

It's interesting how the state of the art in these things has advanced, though. When I was originally diagnosed with OSA in 1998, the at-home sleep study I underwent involved a technician coming to my house, rigging up a suitcase-sized... thing... next to my bed, and gluing a bunch of electrodes to my head. The thing they sent me home with today is about the size of an iPod Shuffle (the square kind, not the original pregnancy-test model), and involves a chest band to measure lung action, a nasal cannule to gauge airflow, and a pulse ox. Partly this is because they're only testing for obstructive sleep apnea this time (the brainwave wires were to check for central sleep apnea, which is a different condition), but still.

Annoyingly, what this study can't do is titrate for therapy levels, but then again, the PAP machines pretty much do that themselves these days anyway. The nurse told me that most of the time they don't even bother doing a second sleep study to titrate these days--just get the patient an auto machine and let it figure it out.

TLDR: Philips is, perhaps unsurprisingly, telling doctors something less broadly alarming than it's been telling patients about the CPAP recall, but I am going to tell you to check with your own doctor before doing anything so I won't get sued.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.