How long did it take to get treated?

[JSL747]

From the time I saw my GP and she ordered a Sleep Study until I got my machine was 3 months. I had two Sleep Studies during that time also. Seven months is crazy. It puts new meaning to the words, going a few nights without using your machine...lol

[trish6hundred]

Hi upat3am,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you.

[upat3am]

Contact your doctor about foregoing the titration study and getting setup with an auto-titrating CPAP (APAP). [...] Titration studies are very expensive, and don't really give very good long-term information. [...] You can literally save thousands of dollars just taking the auto CPAP shortcut, and be treated much sooner.

Get a copy of your sleep study results and recommendations. That will be sufficient to obtain the prescription.

I have the sleep study result and recommendation. I am getting the feeling this place's goal is to maximize visits/revenue rather than patient outcome. All of the sleep centers around here seem to have awful reviews on Yelp.

I was under the impression that you needed a titration study to get some idea of a starting pressure range for an APAP. Can you just start with the widest range and figure it out from there?

[DeepBreathing]

Without a titration study the best approach is to start with a "wide open" setting on the APAP then home in on a suitable working range. This is nominally 4 - 20 on most machines, but something a bit tighter like maybe 6 - 15 is probably a better idea. After a week or so, review the results and adjust. (You should use SleepyHead software to view your results.

We obviously have very different systems in different places. In my case I got the diagnostic test in a week and was provided with a machine the same day. The test was fully covered by Medicare and MBP so there was no out of pocket costs. I got one months hire of the machine for $180 which included four consultations with a therapist. When I purchased my eventual machine the purchase price was discounted by the amount I had paid for the hire. The downside was that I only got another $500 back from MBP on a $4000 ASV machine.

[Sleeprider]

Upat3am, I'll just say I was diagnosed in 2008 and never had a titration study, but was prescribed an auto CPAP. With a little assistance from the forum and common sense, you can optimize an auto-titrating unit inside of 2-weeks. The thing is, one night of sleep study is not "typical" of the range of conditions you sleep in. An Auto unit is the best way to use technology to meet your needs whether you have a cold, allergy, or gain/lose weight. A one night titration is a nice scam to make everyone think the best care can be had by spending $3K on a sleep study, when in reality, for the minimal cost of an auto machine, you can get better results with the machine and the data it produces.

You had a home sleep study to cut costs, and now they want to do a titration? Just get the APAP.

[upat3am]

Without a titration study the best approach is to start with a "wide open" setting on the APAP then home in on a suitable working range. This is nominally 4 - 20 on most machines, but something a bit tighter like maybe 6 - 15 is probably a better idea. After a week or so, review the results and adjust. (You should use SleepyHead software to view your results.
[...]

Thanks.