ONLINE home testing?

[Dreamcatcher]

I may have missed a post here but I would have thought that the easiest answer would be video? Film yourself sleeping with audio and there you have the proof. You only have to watch the videos on youtube to see what amazing footage you can get of apneas accuring while the person sleeps. Just a thought, hope it helps

[greatunclebill]

>you can not test for sleep apnea if you are not asleep. you said you did it while awake.

No, no, I did not do that!

I know that I have apnea because I am aware of waking up gasping for breath every few minutes during the night. After careful observation over a period of a year, I learned how to deliberately replicate the obstruction while awake.

The obstruction DOES NOT occur spontaneously while I am awake.

However, because I can replicate it while awake, I was able to test the CPAP machine. i am fully aware that this is not ideal, as I said.>Have you asked about having a phone consultation?

Yes. My understanding is that it is either illegal or at least considered professionally unethical.

the answer about the apnea and replicating something is absolutely ridiculous.

your understanding is very wrong. people speak to their doctor on the phone every day. my wife called the sleep doctor last week. he called back and they adressed her concern. every one of my doctors say to call them if we have a question.

you can't script the conversation with your doctor. you need to talk to him on the phone or go to his office on a gurney and answer his questions the way he asks them, not the way you and your friend want to script it.

i'm afraid you're looking for an answer that does not exist. you're trying to find a way to titrate while awake that don't exist and then say you can't take the pressure. then you say you want a home study from the internet. you can't titrate by answering questions, you would still have to receive a machine and still can't take the pressure. you would still have to sleep to have it work. suppose somebody says you have sleep apnea. then what? you're back to the part about can't take the pressure because of a back injury.

[Netskier]

I may have missed a post here but I would have thought that the easiest answer would be video? Film yourself sleeping with audio and there you have the proof. You only have to watch the videos on youtube to see what amazing footage you can get of apneas accuring while the person sleeps. Just a thought, hope it helps

I agree, and a modern cell phone can do a good job of this, and might possibly be borrowed for a night from a friend, etc.

[nila]

I could definitely do that.

The suggestion makes me think I must be kind of unclear on the process, though. Am I supposed to be 'proving' that I have apnea? Is that the point of testing? I thought it was more about determining treatment... or something.

Could someone clarify? I feel like I have dropped down in a strange land without a map .

I may have missed a post here but I would have thought that the easiest answer would be video? Film yourself sleeping with audio and there you have the proof. You only have to watch the videos on youtube to see what amazing footage you can get of apneas accuring while the person sleeps. Just a thought, hope it helps

[Netskier]

Hello folks

I'm trying to figure out how to document my apnea, when I am homebound by a multi-year illness (which may be exacerbated by the apnea -- a classic catch-22).

Why do you want to document your sleep apnea? Who asked you to?

Is this for insurance purposes? To provide info to your doctor? Are you doing this for your own curiosity?

[Netskier]

I could definitely do that.

The suggestion makes me think I must be kind of unclear on the process, though. Am I supposed to be 'proving' that I have apnea? Is that the point of testing? I thought it was more about determining treatment... or something.

Could someone clarify? I feel like I have dropped down in a strange land without a map .

There are multiple reasons for testing. Insurance companies want the tests to show why they must pay for treatment. Doctors want tests to help diagnose the problem.

Who is asking you for test results?

[nila]

Why do you want to document your sleep apnea? Who asked you to?

Is this for insurance purposes? To provide info to your doctor? Are you doing this for your own curiosity?

My insurance will, at least in theory, pay for treatment if I have a sleep study first. They do not pay for the sleep study, however.

When my doc and i thought the only available sleep study was in the hospital, at a cost of $3,000, it made more sense for me to just buy the CPAP machine and save the $3,000. But a home test for $300 would be cost-effective and, I hope, much better than guesswork.

The reason I am pursuing treating the apnea in general, if you are also asking that, is that I am bedridden by a combination of two illnesses, both of which may be caused by the sleep deprivation. I am, to put it mildly, impatient to resume working and normal life :).

I am not always thinking clearly, due to being sick, so please ask if what I write doesn't make sense, ok?

[Netskier]

Why do you want to document your sleep apnea? Who asked you to?

Is this for insurance purposes? To provide info to your doctor? Are you doing this for your own curiosity?

My insurance will, at least in theory, pay for treatment if I have a sleep study first. They do not pay for the sleep study, however.

When my doc and i thought the only available sleep study was in the hospital, at a cost of $3,000, it made more sense for me to just buy the CPAP machine and save the $3,000. But a home test for $300 would be cost-effective and, I hope, much better than guesswork.

The reason I am pursuing treating the apnea in general, if you are also asking that, is that I am bedridden by a combination of two illnesses, both of which may be caused by the sleep deprivation. I am, to put it mildly, impatient to resume working and normal life .

I am not always thinking clearly, due to being sick, so please ask if what I write doesn't make sense, ok?

That helps. Here's an idea for solving your problem. Ask your doctor to prescribe you a Resmed S9 Autoset with the H5i humifier, or whatever the very latest is, so that he can set it for you to use at home to run your own sleep study under his supervision. Next order the machine from the Internet using his prescription. Now, since you already own the machine, this sleep study will be free to you, and you save the 300 or 3000 dollars. If he does not yet know how to set up the machine for the at-home sleep-study, we can teach you here, or teach him here, or some combination of this. You could save a lot of time by just discussing what test he would like to run, and you just setting up the machine (with our help on the Internet) and running it yourself.

Then send the results of your self-run sleep-test to your doctor.

Now, you have an at home sleep study prescribed for you by your doctor, and the two of you can apply for the insurance company to buy your machine for you, by having you submit your proof of purchase to the insurance company.

I just found Resmed S9 Autosets with heated humidfiers made in 2011 for $550 on the Internet.

With this solution, your total cost for sleep test and APAP will be $550 plus a little more for a mask and hose.

Please let me know if this helps you.

[nila]

Here's an idea for solving your problem. Ask your doctor to prescribe you a Resmed S9 Autoset with the H5i humifier, or whatever the very latest is, so that he can set it for you to use at home to run your own sleep study under his supervision....

Now, you have an at home sleep study prescribed for you by your doctor, and the two of you can apply for the insurance company to buy your machine for you, by having you submit your proof of purchase to the insurance company.

I just found Resmed S9 Autosets with heated humidfiers made in 2011 for $550 on the Internet.

With this solution, your total cost for sleep test and APAP will be $550 plus a little more for a mask and hose.

Please let me know if this helps you.

Oh, thank you, thank you! This is enormously helpful :). May I forward your post to my doc?

I am still working on getting a phone appointment with the sleep doc, but it is not looking likely. It is a huge relief to me, to now have a backup plan :).

Before reading your post, I was googling intubation. I am not thinking full intubation, but just a short tube to get past the obstruction of my tongue. The potential complications scared me, though. I have a phone appointment with my doc on Wednesday and will ask her if she thinks it's do-able.

Even if the sleep doc will talk to me, there will be a month-long wait or more, for an appointment. I am tempted to try the APAP or tube or something in the meantime.

[nila]

Oh -- I thought of another thing .

The local DME companies rent XPAPs. I did call them and ask if they rented machines to test for apnea and they said no, but now I understand that maybe I did not phrase the question correctly.

Is there more than one XPAP machine that can be configured to do a home test? Is there a list somewhere, or are they a particular type of machine? I want to call the DME companies again and see if I can rent one . How would I phrase this question?

Especially, what is the oldest and least state-of-the-art machine that could do the test? That seems like my best bet .

I think that if I know what machine I want and where to rent it, my doc will write me a prescrip on Wednesday.

Thank you folks so much! I am really excited to have hope .