Oh, I know that! I'm familar with CPAP's and BiPAPs and ventilators, etc. I was a paramedic before I became an engineer. My point was just that, within the context of ventilators, I learned just how little I actually knew about the field of pulmonology and how many things I didn't think would be an issue are actually quite dangerous. What little I picked up would be enough to give me pause about the confident statement made in the comment I responded to about DIY CPAPs.
I'm considering the relative/marginal danger (e.g. against actual apnea) and I just don't see it?
You set your controls HORRIBLY wrong on an off the shelf CPAP -- and, what? It's not like you're going to explode your lungs. Your own inability to breathe properly will make you take it off. Or you keep it on and you fart more in the morning (true story, by the way, I've never heard anyone mention this side effect of CPAPs)
lungs might not explode, but they can bleed if the pressure is set incorrectly. i've heard horror stories about people turning it up to 11 and throwing up blood in the mornings.
Most CPAPs prescribed these days are Auto-PAPs that self calibrate as you sleep.
They often don't even do a titration study to figure out the right pressure range anymore. They just give it to you with a reasonable default setting, let the machine figure things out automatically, and tell you to come back in a month to check the logs to see if your apnea got better.
