That's particularly odd because the normal prescription for sleep apnea right now is for a self-adjusting PAP machine -- an APAP -- which has quite a range of pressures that it will automatically apply to minimize apneation events. And if you exceed the range, it will wake you up and alert you to that fact, too.

Not from my doctors. I asked.

They said that an auto-PAP is not the first choice. A CPAP is a better choice, if it will work for you at the pressures you need. But they only work up to certain levels of pressure.

An auto-PAP will work to higher levels of pressure, but then it has to continually adjust the levels of pressure that it applies based on the resistance it senses, and that is not as good for you as constant pressure.

And there’s no way a CPAP or auto-PAP is going to wake me up at night, short of causing me to go into an apnea condition and potentially die.

Thank you, but no. I’ll stick with my CPAP.

> For eyeglasses, if someone wants to continue the same prescription they can't.

What? You don't need a medical prescription to order glasses online. You can put in whatever numbers you want and they'll happily make them.

You'd be an idiot to do so, however, as your vision can change with age.

You certainly do for contacts. I have to order mine from the UK because all the US websites require prescriptions.

> You'd be an idiot to do so, however, as your vision can change with age.

Not to mention, getting an eye exam is more than just clearing up your vision. It can reveal other issues (and not just eye related! They can often see other problems, like say, cholesterol issues, for example.)

You 100% need a prescription to order prescription glasses or contact lenses online. Expired prescriptions will be rejected as well.

Contacts are regulated like drugs, so, yeah. But there is no such restriction on eyeglasses (in the U.S.). Depending on the state, they do "expire" (in FL it's 5 years), but you can still use it[0]. I have bought some beaters from Zenni and made the Rx up myself (I used to work in a lab a hundred years ago, so I can figure out how much more plus my readers need).

[0] Some places will reject it just because they don't want to deal with your complaints about a new pair not working. Other places will read what's on your current pair and match that. It really depends on who is making the glasses.

Not if you order them from the UK ;-)

I had to submit my (very mild) prescription for glasses to Warby Parker.

>You'd be an idiot to do so, however, as your vision can change with age.

I just use reading glasses but the desired strength can vary day to day depending on what you are doing and my eyes vary too. This can be dealt with easier by having a number of pairs of reading glasses and seeing which works best rather than doing prescription stuff. You can buy reading glasses for £1 here so I tend to get a few.

I'd still recommend going to a good optometrist occasionally in case there is something more worrying up with your eyes.

I'm going through this right now. I know I probably need a cpap machine, so paying $300 out of pocket to rent a stupid device to record my sleep seems like a waste.

Well, at least you're doing it.

Crude but realistic: There is a pretty high number of (often but not always overweight) undiagnosed/untreated people suffering from obstructive sleep apnea on the roads every day. They are causing a number of avoidable accidents every day.

I think it's criminal to make CPAP as unaccessible as it is in the US.

Not to mention lost productivity. I wonder what the dollar amount for my lost productivity over my lifetime due to poor sleep would be. Probably very high.

My CPAP totally changed my life. I had no idea how horrible my sleep had been before.

I refuse to sleep a single night without it.

Did you experience Aerophagia and any weight gain when you got on the CPAP? I hear a lot of people have this issue..

Yeah, I probably lost a few years of productivity myself, before I got it diagnosed.