I know some medical professionals in this domain who would disagree with your assessment. The hardest part is convincing patients to come back for followups and to comply with treatment.
Even my primary care doctor said he has abysmal compliance rates with apnea treatment because so many people decide that wearing any device every night is too much to ask.
I half suspect that apnea is being diagnosed so aggressively that people with even mild apnea are getting treatment. This would explain why patients are willingly giving up a treatment that is life changing for the better in patients who are suffering severe symptoms.
That's a catch-22, and it's exactly why followup is important. And why physicians should talk to patients, instead of just sending them on their merry way with a cheap CPAP and a shitty mask. "Here's a shitty mask and some random pressure, good luck, and remember to use it for 4+ hours each night and byebye."
If you're unfortunate enough to require a stoma, they don't just randomly attach a bag and send you home. You're sent to a stoma nurse. You're educated on the life changing effects of having to use a stoma. Your nurse will help you find a type of bag that's right for you and can help you deal with complications. But with OSA, we slap a mask on people and don't even tell them that there are dozens of kinds.
Now, I'm sure this all depends heavily on where you are, how shitty the healthcare system is over there, and even who you see at which sleep centre. But in general, CPAP would be very well tolerated if we could help people to optimize their therapy.
Honestly, I'm very sorry that you've hard a horrible experience with this.
My sleep analysis itself was 2 days worth of data that the doctor reviewed. I came in .... the next day? Later on in the day of turning in my at-home test? I forget. Anyway.
My CPAP machine came in about a week later; and I had a full hour or so visit with the doctor as he described each individual step, and we tested out a TON of different masks. I had a follow up visit after ... not very long(?) where we reviewed a different couple of masks because the first one wasn't working. We had another officially scheduled meeting after like 3 months? And, now I see them every like 6 months (admittedly, I schedule these meetings), when one of the masks starts to get old, etc.
I recently bought a travel CPAP as well, because setting up the CPAP in multiple locations is an absolute pain; but even that was a painless process once I said I wanted it (and paid out of pocket because insurance only covers the big machine).
Then again, my sleep apnea is so bad that I would wake up every 1-2 hours at night (I actually use that power to take naps now, lol), and I was starting to fall asleep during everyday activities, so maybe I have better compliance out of the understanding of danger.
My experience was also very similar to the GP’s, and I’ve gone through it twice, at two different sleep clinics. I definitely don’t have routine follow-ups and the one (singular) follow-up I had was useless.
I’ve had to essentially figure it all out on my own. I still find wearing the mask miserable but I don’t have much of a choice because OSA was slowly killing me.
You were lucky to have such attentive care! I wish I could find the same.
I love wearing my CPAP. Not because it's comfortable; it's certainly not. My mask pillows are slowly stretching my nasal orifices, so it's ruining my face aesthetically
I love it because if I even nap 20 minutes without my CPAP, I wake up as if a freightliner had hit me. My apnea is that bad. I have never skipped a single night since being diagnosed 4 years ago.
One night I went to a friend's house and couldn't drive back because I had a couple of beers. I didn't have my CPAP, so I preferred to stay awake the whole night instead of sleeping.
Even my primary care doctor said he has abysmal compliance rates with apnea treatment because so many people decide that wearing any device every night is too much to ask.
I half suspect that apnea is being diagnosed so aggressively that people with even mild apnea are getting treatment. This would explain why patients are willingly giving up a treatment that is life changing for the better in patients who are suffering severe symptoms.