• Individuals don't have sleep apnea and associate everyone who does as obese people. I was once told "Only fat people use CPAP".
  
• Individuals who are "normal" or even "fit" who have sleep apnea and refuse to use it because they are not obese. This could be from a medical condition like having and extremely narrow nasal passage.
  
• Individuals who are very ashamed of using a cpap machine because they don't want to be "special" and want to sleep "normally".
  
• Individuals who likely have sleep apnea but are not diagnosed and don't even bother with it.
  
• Individuals who have always snored like a freight train and don't think they have a problem.
  
• Individuals who have spouses/parents/friends actively discourage them from seeking treatment for one or more of the above reasons.
  

(06-07-2019, 10:50 AM)Traumer Wrote: ... 

Here are some of the cases I have encountered.

• Individuals don't have sleep apnea (...or, so they think) and associate everyone who does as obese people. I was once told "Only fat people use CPAP". (A common misconception, as is the one where only 'old' people have apnea.  Many under the age of 25 have sleep disorders and breathing disorders, including apnea)
  
• Individuals who are "normal" or even "fit" who have sleep apnea and refuse to use it because they are not obese. This could be from a medical condition like having and extremely narrow nasal passage. (Yup.  I was one of them.  Fit, active, and maybe a tad smug about my falsely assumed overall health.  Then, reality slapped me...)
  
• Individuals who are very ashamed of using a cpap machine because they don't want to be "special" and want to sleep "normally".  (Sounds like they need help with maturation or perhaps a personality defect)
  
• Individuals who likely have sleep apnea but are not diagnosed and don't even bother with it. (Not sure what you mean here. What information have they discounted or ignored?)
  
• Individuals who have always snored like a freight train and don't think they have a problem.  (They may not have a problem other than snoring.  True, on the basis of probability, especially as time goes on, there may be a non-salutary development like apnea, but not necessarily)
  
• Individuals who have spouses/parents/friends actively discourage them from seeking treatment for one or more of the above reasons.  (That's a whole 'nuther problem right there.  I'd wonder at their motives)
  

There are many other cases for all sorts of people out there, but its ridiculous to see so much ignorance and active discrimination against people trying to seeking treatment. I don't think anyone of us here want to have sleep apnea. It is not a choice. People who have sleep apena comes in all shapes, sizes, ethnicity, genders, etc.There might be propensities toward certain groups of people, but why actively try to hate on people trying to seek help for something they never asked for? 

I wanted to write this post because it took me a while to come terms with many of this issues and want others starting on the CPAP journey to know that they are not alone. You could be an obese middle age man using a CPAP or petite athletic hmong women using a CPAP and both of you are awesome for seeking treatment and both of you are awesome for trying to help yourself. There are people who die from leaving their sleep apnea not addressed. Do not let pride, ignorance, or the words of others stop you from getting the treatment you need.

Quote:Individuals who have always snored like a freight train and don't think they have a problem.

(06-09-2019, 12:09 PM)Diotima245 Wrote:

Quote:Individuals who have always snored like a freight train and don't think they have a problem.

That's my dad... snored for years, gets up 3-5  times a night to "pee"....  thinks its just because he's getting old. So hard-headed he would never get a sleep study no matter how much I insisted.

Ce la vie!

(06-10-2019, 09:11 AM)OpalRose Wrote: I think it’s mostly ignorance...and before anyone gets mad at me...I don’t necessarily mean from the newly diagnosed person.

I’m talking about Health Care Professionals.  How long does a person have to see their regular doctor with issues and complaints of being tired and just not feeling right, before that doctor recommends a sleep study???  

My brother in law had just been diagnosed with SA, and I started to wonder if I had the same problem.  
Their are many doctors that know very little or just enough about Sleep Apnea that they don’t recognize it right away.  

My GP took 5 years of listening to my complaints, before recommending a sleep study...at my insistence.  He usually blamed it on my weight and brushed me off.  Or he’d say, “well you are getting older.”  “Older people shouldn’t expect to get a good nights sleep.”  

As for myself, once I was diagnosed, I couldn’t wait to get started.  I didn’t care what anyone thought.  
I needed to sleep!