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Do we know how many people don't/can't continue CPAP?
#41
RE: Do we know how many people don't/can't continue CPAP?
(11-26-2019, 01:50 PM)70sSanO Wrote: Unfortunately most of it comes down to motivation and support.  Your doctor tells you to exercise more and lose weight... yeah, yeah.  Then you meet someone who you are crazy about and loves to hike, bike, and is really active.  Now you actually have a reason to exercise and lose that weight.  Unfortunately, that person also loves eat high calorie meals at restaurants.

Unless people are faced with an immediate issue, and that person believes it will lead to their imminent demise, health is generally not a reason to make lifestyle changes.  I think most people believe that they are doing okay.  People will take meds for health issues, but they are not ready to do "that" becauase they are little tired; even if they admit they probably should.  They kick the can and things get worse, their sleep issues become more complex, so they reluctantly give it a try.

I wonder how many people are on CPAP for the sole reason of being able to do something they love to do.  Motivation is probably the greatest driver for success.  Having a real reason behind doing anything we don't want to do in life is what keeps us grinding away.  Unfortunately, there are times when you just can't will something into existence.  And just as unfortunate is that there is no place in healthcare for that person to turn.

Forums like this one probably help more people than most sleep doctors out there.  The people who read story after story and continue to look at charts are angels from God.  I am so impressed.

John
FWIW...

After I posted this I realized that some people might think the first paragraph example I gave was me.  No, it was just an example, that’s all.

John
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#42
RE: Do we know how many people don't/can't continue CPAP?
(11-26-2019, 10:12 AM)Sleepster Wrote: And most of them have impaired cognition due to sleep deprivation. That makes it all the harder to navigate the complexities. But generally speaking a person can start their own thread and receive a lot of easy to follow instructions. They just have to have the desire.

I can't understand how someone can be aware of the risks of sleep apnea and still refuse to comply
.

I think you have already answered yourself.  Along with the generally poor cognition and generalized anxiety, people can't bring themselves to confront the exigencies of a major condition that is still a mystery to them, and it becomes easier simply to deny that it's such a huge problem.  They may find that sleep/pseudo-sleep is one of the few pleasures or refuges left to them, and complicating it and altering it is just too much to bear.
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#43
RE: Do we know how many people don't/can't continue CPAP?
"I can't understand how someone can be aware of the risks of sleep apnea and still refuse to comply."

part failure of the system and part my stupidity.

after years of problems, I was diagnosed with central sleep apnea in 1987. no treatment was available. I waited 30 years to get treatment because:

I believed none was available, or

I'd begun to hear about asv in the 2000's but I'd also heard it was/is very expensive (at one time I was reading about an $8000 price tag);

I'd had 5 sleep studies between 1987 and when I had #6 and 7 late 2016, those 5 failing to produce any treatment; and

I was convinced there were/are few doctors that would know how to deal with my problems.

I should add that I lasted as long as I did before getting sleep study #5 & 6 because I was taking stimulants for attention deficit disorder, masking the worst of the symptoms for about 20 years.

so after decades of worsening symptoms, ultimately leaving me 'unable' (all but disabled) I sought out a neurologist and board certified sleep doctor. even still, I was misdiagnosed - completely ignoring my previous diagnosis and sleep studies, and 35 central apnea per hour and 24 periodic limb movements per hour during my at home test - and mis-prescribed an apap.

3 years on, self treating for the last 2, moving to asv and now vauto at least for a while, I still think the assumptions I had for not getting treatment weren't too far off. in retrospect I was foolish for not taking more initiative sooner but I didn't for the reasons listed.
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