Are sleep clinics legit/helpful, or a scam?

mimk6
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:41:21 +0000

It’s the top of the line Respironics M Series with a heated humidifier (he adds water to this tray that’s in it.) His is model number 1051158 and he got it within the last year. Let me tell you, he must be passionate about this, because when I told him there was a thread on CPAPs and someone asked him what he uses, he literally leaped off the couch and went to the bedroom and wrote the information down on a piece of paper for me. This is a man who never gets off the couch for anything, once he’s settled in. He says he researched it thoroughly before getting it. It has some kind of computer chip in it and when you first go to sleep, it starts off with low pressure and it doesn’t increase the pressure until it senses you need it to. This probably makes it more pleasant to get to sleep. He also says that the humidifier feature is very nice, because the air isn’t cold and dry like his old one and it just feels much better. He also uses a Resperonics gel mask and says the mask is key to a comfortable experience. He says you need a prescription for it so that insurance will cover it as, of course, they prefer to default to cheaper models – our insurance ended up covering the whole thing. He says if you have to pay for it out of pocket, the best place to go is cpap.com. Re insurance coverage – he was diagnosed with a very severe case of apnea and had a mild heart attack last year (had another sleep study as part of his follow-up care as they felt it important) so I imagine the insurance company was invested in him using the cpap machine – maybe they’d have been less willing to cover if he didn’t have as pressing a need. But it’s worth trying.