Home sleep study and wife

[me50]

A suggestion to go along with the other suggestions: Why hasn't somebody given her a small dose of a sleep aid to help her sleep during the test? Also, has she been checked for other issues that could contribute to this? Sometimes there is more than just OSA.

[Ghost1958]

It would be nice for insurance to help cover supplies etc and the machine. And probably her GP would write the RX for her because the home study showed close but the tech didnt think it would get the sleep doc to write a RX. Apparently it didnt since they didnt call back after that.

I dont know if her GP writing the RX based on this home study would pass muster with Medicare.??? Or if a GP can write original RXand medicare honor it. ??? She has supra V tach, headaches, and he o2 sat dropped to 90 on this test which is nothing like what she actually does so Im afraid it goes lower, though it might not. The test showed alot of hypopneas even the little bit she did sleep but not enough OAs.

Im not sure as I said if a GPs RX would be honored by Medicare or not and our health plan is tied to medicare but called something else.

Its handled my RX ver well though but I had the home study then the lab titration.

[Galactus]

These damned Dr's never do what we wnat them to do it gets on my nerves so much at times.

[surferdude2]

It's mostly due to the cheaters who gamed the system and got CPAP machines and sold them for a nice profit to people who had no insurance. It thrived for a time before the insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid wised up.

[Ghost1958]

It's mostly due to the cheaters who gamed the system and got CPAP machines and sold them for a nice profit to people who had no insurance. It thrived for a time before the insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid wised up.

Oh Id never game the system. Would horde the thing like a treasure.

And as I said I dont know if the GP can write a RX that medicare backs up for a machine but I sort of doubt it. She ordered the test itself for me but then it was on to the sleep lab for pressure settings and a appt with pulmonolgist. Not sure if that is the only way it can go but its how it was done with me on medicare same plan as she is on. Was all new to me so I just went where they told me without question except for knowing the machine I wanted.

[retired_guy]

Do you have to use your insurance or Medicare? You can get a great used machine for not all that much money on Craigslist or by way of one of our on-line providers. You won't need a prescription for Craigslist.

Will the Doc write a prescription for you to fill on your own? Seems there are two issues: Doc will or will not write a prescription, and Medicare will or will not honor the prescription.

[bwexler]

Any medical professional can write your RX and any DME will honor it. Getting insurance to pay is a totally different story.

[surferdude2]

FWIW, My board certified pulmanologist is also sleep certified and he told me that Medicare would not approve me for a CPAP machine because their criteria was that you had to have 5 or more sleep apnea events per hour as verified by a certified sleep lab. I only had 1.9 according to the certified test that I was required to take.

He did relent and give me a prescription to buy one with my dollars and wrote on the script that it was not to be billed to any insurance. So, yes a GP can script you for a CPAP machine if you want to pay for it.

[Terry]

I getting tempted to track down a used auto machine and let it set her up. Rather go thru the medical system but this is getting ridiculous.

Personally, I rather like that idea.

Me too.

Not that I'd know anything about it, but I hear tell that some guy named "craig" has a list on the internet somewhere and that he has a bunch all over the country.

You could probably google craig's list and see what you find.

[Ghost1958]

A suggestion to go along with the other suggestions: Why hasn't somebody given her a small dose of a sleep aid to help her sleep during the test? Also, has she been checked for other issues that could contribute to this? Sometimes there is more than just OSA.

Honestly I do not know about the sleep aid or why they have not suggested that. We simply thought they would not allow that or they would give the option to do so. They were warned this would likely happen.

Shes been tested for many things cardiac and a host of other things.

Its not hard to know what she has if one were to watch her sleep. She does not just stop breathing. She will go to sleep and in 10 mins be snoring heavily almost every night. Those snores will rapidly progress to a point that one can actually hear her airway shut off. In seconds her chest and stomach will begin to convulse and struggle as she tries to breathe. At times much longer than I can hold my breath and I can do so for a good while. Finally she will give out an explosive gasp and sometimes bolt upright though not always as she gasps in air.
This repeats over and over unless i keep punching her to rouse her enough to breathe when she starts to shut down.

She will wake up with a pulse over 100 every morning though it will fall back into a normal range of high 80s. But she takes topral to lower it everyday prescribed by her cardiologist so dont know what it would run without it.

She just never does more than lightly sleep when being tested and not in long intervals.

Maybe a sleep aid would work but never have been given the option during a test. Now it will be six months before insurance will cover another and I cant see her having to suffer this another six months. So one way or another we will get this dealt with before she pops a gasket or something.