I do believe sleep apnea diagnosis and CPAPs are the next new scam.
Personal experience, a close friend said their relatives are all using CPAP units.
Many of his relatives were diagnosed with sleep apnea, and they strongly suggested he too MUST have sleep apnea simply because they claim sleep apnea was inherited.
The only thing he complained about was being tired a lot during the day, and restless waking up often during the night. His wife says he never snores but is a restless sleeper.
So, on the advice of relatives he went thru the sleep test at a sleep apnea clinic, and tada, was diagnosed with sleep apnea and told the solution was a CPAP device.
Got it, started using it, he claimed it worked.
Then after a few weeks of use, he started complaining of pain in his chest/lungs.
Doc said he just needed to get use to the CPAP device.
Then he caught a very bad cold.
Still used his CPAP.
I asked him if it was wise to use the CPAP while fighting a bad cold?
But he still continued to use it even with his bad cold.
After a week he developed a terrible cough with the cold.
I suggested the CPAP was forcing germs into his lungs and that could not be good.
He still kept using his CPAP.
Then one morning he woke his wife telling her he could hardly take in a breath.
She said he was panting like a dog, trying to take a breath.
She called 911.
They came out, loaded him in the ambulance and he suddenly stopped breathing, then his heart stopped.
The ambulance crew performed CPR on him, revived him, and rushed him off the the hospital.
His wife drove to the hospital following the ambulance, and when she entered the ER one of the ER doctors grabbed her arm taking her into a side room.
He told her he was very seriously ill and most likely would not survive.
Well, he did survive and spent one weeks in ICU.
The cause of all this was said to be a mild heart attack.
He finally went home, and started using his CPAP again.
Once again he started having the chest/lung pain like before.
The sleep apnea center had him come in and ended up reducing the air flow output force of his CPAP device.
That helped eliminate his chest/lung pain, and he still uses the CPAP device today.
The thing is, he has once again began having sleep issues and returning to his pattern of restless sleep.
And feeling tired during the day just like before.
So in the end, the only one that came out ahead was the sleep apnea clinic, and the makers of the CPAP device.
I truly believe this is a total scam for 85% of people falsely diagnosed with sleep apnea, then put on the CPAP machine.
This is making the CPAP manufacturers as well as sleep apnea clinics A LOT OF $$$$$$.
Some people probably do suffer from sleep apnea, and for them the CPAP device might be of some limited benefit, even though it's actual benefit no doubt highly overblown.
Still, if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea and put on the CPAP device, then eventually return to the same sleep pattern issues you had before diagnoses, I'd highly question if you were ever sleep apnea in the first place.
Sleep apnea, as I understand it, is when one snores loudly and then stops breathing for several seconds at a time, then with a loud violent snore starts breathing again.
If one does not have this sleep pattern issue or if other loved ones tell you that you do not snore or appear to stop breathing during sleep, I would then be highly suspicious of any sleep apnea clinic that would diagnose you with sleep apnea, followed by starting you on a CPAP device.
If restless sleep is your problem, or feeling tired during the day is your problem, I doubt sleep apnea is the cause. The cause could and probably is a number of other issues completely unrelated to sleep apnea.
Maybe your wife is the restless one and her flopping around in bed is keeping you awake.
Or, having the dog or cat sleeping in the bed with you.
Over the counter sleeping aids might be the solution, or better yet try a white sound machine.
Personally, I can sleep through anything when using a sound machine in the room.