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Conspiracy Theory backed up by almost no proof: CPAPs MAY soon not be regulated as a medical device, so CPAP companies are partnering and opening more sleep cen

Conspiracy Theory backed up by almost no proof: CPAPs MAY soon not be regulated as a medical device, so CPAP companies are partnering and opening more sleep centers and pushing for more sleep studies so they can get their ($800-2000) for what is basically a fan that blows a low pressure stream of air into your nose/mouth. I have a CPAP, I've not noticed anything better about my quality of sleep, or the soundness of my sleep. The only thing it has prevented is my snoring. My sleep studies (did 2 of them - one didn't record my blood oxygen) showed I get ~10 (8 on first, 11 on second) apnea events a night. I still do (according to CPAP) (1.12/hr on average). As a comparison, my wife gets 3/hr now, and her sleep study showed she had over 200 events per night. She LOVES her CPAP.

j45 2y ago
Interesting. Maybe it's not just about not being a regulated medical device, but who pays for it (insurance). So maybe the conspiracy that's tru is the payers can be expected to not want to have to pay so much, or so often. I'm very happy for who CPAP works for. I have lots of friends who's quality of life it improves. Had a doctor friend even recommend it to me. I took the CPAP test from a said sleep centre as referred by my doctor just to be present. Wore the machine 3 times. The folks who in my life swore I had some issues with sleep (including my partner), including loud inter floor snoring, oddly reduced or resolved themselves to some degree as soon as I started paying attention to my sleep and body. Snoring it turns out can also be a magnified by being over tired. I just wasn't sleeping enough, and while I felt sharp enough to work and live, my body needed a breather when there hadn't been a vacation for a few years. A few days off here and there yes, but sometimes that's not enough.
sliken 2y ago
My source, I know an engineer that works on them. First of all they are medical devices, some people can't safely sleep without them, and those people might be unconscious, in surgery, and/or heavily medicated. So that means audits, special testing requirements, etc. Next medical requirements are quite varied, some are just "assist", some are constant velocity but variable pressure, others are constant pressure and variable velocity, some control breaths per minute, and other setting control total volume. Various health problems, surgery recovery, etc have different requirements. There can be temperature and humidity requirements as well. So you need a pretty healthy fan to handle all the static and dynamic pressure requirements that are sometimes constant RPM or variable. Of course all the above need accurate sensors, failures could hurt someone's lungs. Good sensors require laminar flows. Laminar flows get harder with a wide range of pressures, speeds, and volumes. So it ends up quite a bit more than "a fan that blows a low pressure stream".

j45 2y ago

Interesting. Maybe it's not just about not being a regulated medical device, but who pays for it (insurance). So maybe the conspiracy that's tru is the payers can be expected to not want to have to pay so much, or so often. I'm very happy for who CPAP works for. I have lots of friends who's quality of life it improves. Had a doctor friend even recommend it to me. I took the CPAP test from a said sleep centre as referred by my doctor just to be present. Wore the machine 3 times. The folks who in my life swore I had some issues with sleep (including my partner), including loud inter floor snoring, oddly reduced or resolved themselves to some degree as soon as I started paying attention to my sleep and body. Snoring it turns out can also be a magnified by being over tired. I just wasn't sleeping enough, and while I felt sharp enough to work and live, my body needed a breather when there hadn't been a vacation for a few years. A few days off here and there yes, but sometimes that's not enough.

sliken 2y ago

My source, I know an engineer that works on them. First of all they are medical devices, some people can't safely sleep without them, and those people might be unconscious, in surgery, and/or heavily medicated. So that means audits, special testing requirements, etc. Next medical requirements are quite varied, some are just "assist", some are constant velocity but variable pressure, others are constant pressure and variable velocity, some control breaths per minute, and other setting control total volume. Various health problems, surgery recovery, etc have different requirements. There can be temperature and humidity requirements as well. So you need a pretty healthy fan to handle all the static and dynamic pressure requirements that are sometimes constant RPM or variable. Of course all the above need accurate sensors, failures could hurt someone's lungs. Good sensors require laminar flows. Laminar flows get harder with a wide range of pressures, speeds, and volumes. So it ends up quite a bit more than "a fan that blows a low pressure stream".