Is my OSA/sleep apnea diagnosis a scam?

I am responding to this old post should anyone come upon it.

Proper diet, exercise, opening the sinuses (avoid surgery, go with nasal sprays, strips, etc) and not sleeping on your back will take care of the problem. That has been my experience.

In Ontario (and most likely other provinces in Canada), you need to know that a refusal to treat diagnosed sleep apnea or an inability to show improvement after it has been diagnosed means your doctor must notify the ministry of transportation and you LOSE YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE until you seek treatment and/or show improvement. What you thought would be something simple between you and your family doctor becomes a nightmare.

If you go to a sleep clinic, you will be diagnosed with sleep apnea. CPAP will be the ONLY recommended treatment from a sleep clinic doctor, which is why they sell the machines in their office and profit from the sales. Do not be fooled into thinking other treatments will be recommended.

A prior diagnosis of sleep apnea will also affect your insurability, especially disability insurance. You will be refused coverage.

Avoid sleep clinics like the plague.

Sleep apnea is a scam wrote:I am responding to this old post should anyone come upon it.

Proper diet, exercise, opening the sinuses (avoid surgery, go with nasal sprays, strips, etc) and not sleeping on your back will take care of the problem. That has been my experience.

In Ontario (and most likely other provinces in Canada), you need to know that a refusal to treat diagnosed sleep apnea or an inability to show improvement after it has been diagnosed means your doctor must notify the ministry of transportation and you LOSE YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE until you seek treatment and/or show improvement. What you thought would be something simple between you and your family doctor becomes a nightmare.

If you go to a sleep clinic, you will be diagnosed with sleep apnea. CPAP will be the ONLY recommended treatment from a sleep clinic doctor, which is why they sell the machines in their office and profit from the sales. Do not be fooled into thinking other treatments will be recommended.

A prior diagnosis of sleep apnea will also affect your insurability, especially disability insurance. You will be refused coverage.

Avoid sleep clinics like the plague.

IDIOT!!!

You'd apparently prefer that sleepy people run into each other on the highways?

Den

.

Anyone concerned about sleep apnea should learn to sleep on their side, start exercising, lose the excess weight and shop at the grocery store from the perimeter and not the isles. Sleep clinics make no money off of such practical advice. They instead will lead you by the hand to the CPAP sales person in the next office. There may be dental or tonsil/adenoid issues that should first be explored with your family doctor (not with a sleep clinic). Sleep apnea is invariably related to other health issues that are fully treatable without requiring a sleep apnea diagnosis and the immediate sale to you of a CPAP machine. CPAP and sleep clinics should be the last resort when all other possibilities have been explored, remedies tried and failed. CPAP and sleep clinics should not be the go-to remedy.

If you are going to a sleep clinic for the first time, then go in with your eyes wide open (he, he, see what I did there ..) and know the consequences.

Not sure if license removal is possible in your jurisdiction? Then FIND OUT before you book that sleep test. Because once you are diagnosed with sleep apnea after that first night in the clinic (and you will be ....), you are caught in a web. The only way out is with a lighter wallet (for your new CPAP machine and the increased vehicle/disability insurance premiums). Hopefully your insurers don't cut you off. Failure to disclose your sleep apnea diagnosis to your insurer can lead to a refusal to pay out a claim - it can be considered a material, non-disclosed risk factor allowing a right to deny.

I'm OK with it as long as it keeps knuckleheads off the bloomin' highway.
I assume you are no longer driving. See me smiling!
Hopefully, I can teach my grandson to drive without some moron killing us.

chunkyfrog wrote:I'm OK with it as long as it keeps knuckleheads off the bloomin' highway.
I assume you are no longer driving. See me smiling!
Hopefully, I can teach my grandson to drive without some moron killing us.

Amen. Don't need some idiot taking out my kids as they walk across the street because he/she is dozing at the wheel.

Sleep apnea is a scam wrote:Anyone concerned about sleep apnea should learn to sleep on their side, start exercising, lose the excess weight and shop at the grocery store from the perimeter and not the isles. Sleep clinics make no money off of such practical advice. They instead will lead you by the hand to the CPAP sales person in the next office. There may be dental or tonsil/adenoid issues that should first be explored with your family doctor (not with a sleep clinic). Sleep apnea is invariably related to other health issues that are fully treatable without requiring a sleep apnea diagnosis and the immediate sale to you of a CPAP machine. CPAP and sleep clinics should be the last resort when all other possibilities have been explored, remedies tried and failed. CPAP and sleep clinics should not be the go-to remedy.

If you are going to a sleep clinic for the first time, then go in with your eyes wide open (he, he, see what I did there ..) and know the consequences.

Not sure if license removal is possible in your jurisdiction? Then FIND OUT before you book that sleep test. Because once you are diagnosed with sleep apnea after that first night in the clinic (and you will be ....), you are caught in a web. The only way out is with a lighter wallet (for your new CPAP machine and the increased vehicle/disability insurance premiums). Hopefully your insurers don't cut you off. Failure to disclose your sleep apnea diagnosis to your insurer can lead to a refusal to pay out a claim - it can be considered a material, non-disclosed risk factor allowing a right to deny.

Every post you make proves you to be a bigger moron than the previous one.

Sleep apnea occurs in slim and "normal" sized people, too.
Sleep apnea also CAUSES weight gain.
Many people who have sleep apnea have NEVER slept on their backs.
If you had done some research, you would know that there is also "Central Sleep Apnea" and "Mixed Sleep Apnea". Both of those have a neurological component.......the person's brain forgets to tell the body to breathe.

When you take all of the potential surgeries and medical costs into consideration, the XPAP (CPAP, APAP, Bi-PAP) is actually the least expensive way to go for treating Obstructive Sleep Apnea. And, many surgeries or even weight loss aren't a "guarantee" that it will be "cured" or even reduced over a longer period of time.

It sounds from your posts that you were non-compliant with your prescribed therapy and got caught. SHAME ON YOU!!!
If you lost your license......GOOD! One less sleepy driver on the road to worry about.
I'm also guessing from some of the things you've mentioned that you're in Canada.


Den

.

Most Canadians are quite rational; but this one seems to be the exception.

Whoever this idiot is he is only trying to get our dander up...ignore.. SPAM BOT AT WORK!!!!
And for your info idiot, I know several folks that have not been diagnosed with sleep apnea after they have been tested .... so that blows your theory all to hell and back.

But it's fun to bait the denial monkey.

chunkyfrog wrote:But it's fun to bait the denial monkey.

You are sooooo bad Chunky

Hi Adrian,

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea. My study showed "only hypopneas". So, like you...I wondered if I really needed a CPAP. I also had a very bad experience trying to adjust to a mask, tried a couple for six weeks....often giving up after dealing with it for hours and having leaks, etc. I gave up. I signed the AMA and gave back the whole works.

Now, I am a bit different from you in that I had major sleep issues. I would wake often during the night, or hardly sleep at all, and often had very light sleep. The result was feeling terrible during the day and often ill. I also had heart palpitations.

So, a year later I had a pulse oximetry done and found that I spent 30 minutes a night with oxygen levels below the acceptable range. This is scary. Low oxygen to the organs of my body....slowly killing off tissue. No wonder I felt awful. So, I relented and decided to try CPAP therapy again. I went with a different DME and I learned a lot more about my sleep study and how I was being affected by the hypopneas.

I have now been on CPAP for three months and I have a definite improvement in my energy level. I can work a full day without having to "sneak" home and rest for a while! A lot of days I don't feel sick. I still have a ways to go, but I can tell you the CPAP has changed the quality of my life. I had to find a mask I could live with and I had to wear it "ALL night" every night.

I wish you the very best and hope this helps.

All the best to you and keep us posted,
Dreaming