Should I get another sleep study done?

[pujolsfan]

I totally changed my diet for the better, and I quickly lost weight. I used to weigh about 200, but now I'm down to 155. The reason I mentioned that is because I believe it might be the reason for my increased AHI. It used to be consistently below 5 events per hour, but now it's consistently higher.... usually 5 to 10. Sometimes a littler higher, sometimes a little less. It seems like I get lower numbers when I loosen my mask. The more leakage, the fewer events per hour, which doesn't really make sense to me.

I've only noticed the changes since I've lost weight. I assume that is likely the cause... right?

I have only had one sleep study done before (a year and a half ago), but was thinking it might be time for another. My primary care doctor is the one who prescribed my sleep study to begin with. Should I make an appointment with her, or is there some kind of sleep specialist that I should go to? I hate going to the doctor, and spending money, but I'm really not keen on messing with my cpap settings on my own. I guess I'm just wondering if my increased AHI warrants me seeing my doctor.

Any advice is appreciated. I'm obviously pretty ignorant to all things CPAP related.

[tierdal]

Might as well? Use that insurance!

[Homerec130]

Speaking from experience. If your insurance would cover it, I would first get a reputable sleep doctor and have an appointment with them. Discuss your concerns and thoughts with them. Then, have them request a new sleep study. The fact the request for the study is coming from a specialist, they may know the magic words to use to get the insurance company to approve the sleep study.

When talking to the sleep doc, bring your machine (or at least the SD card) and have them look at it. They may be able to adjust your settings and give you better results.

If you haven't already, you should download and install Oscar (see the link on the menu bar at the top of the page) and post your results so some of our very knowledgeable folks can make suggestion.

[SarcasticDave94]

A thought on higher leaks reducing AHI, it could be that the leaks are high enough to reduce reporting accuracy. It's only a guess but it has happened to others before. You can show us with an OSCAR report.

[pujolsfan]

Speaking from experience. If your insurance would cover it, I would first get a reputable sleep doctor and have an appointment with them. Discuss your concerns and thoughts with them. Then, have them request a new sleep study. The fact the request for the study is coming from a specialist, they may know the magic words to use to get the insurance company to approve the sleep study.

When talking to the sleep doc, bring your machine (or at least the SD card) and have them look at it. They may be able to adjust your settings and give you better results.

If you haven't already, you should download and install Oscar (see the link on the menu bar at the top of the page) and post your results so some of our very knowledgeable folks can make suggestion.

I use Medishare, and I have a deductible that I'm pretty sure I'm close to meeting, so they should cover it after the deductible is met. I paid cash for my previous sleep study, but it was an in-home study, so thankfully it wasn't very expensive. And they gave me a break since I paid cash upfront.  When they told me a regular in-office sleep study would cost something like $6k, I knew that wasn't an option for me.

I think I'll search around and see about finding a specialist. I wasn't sure if I could get an appointment, or if my regular family doctor had to refer me. I'm pretty ignorant to all this. I tend to avoid going to the doctor unless I have to.

I guess I should probably give Medishare a call first.

[Gideon]

Let's see a copy of a set of recent OSCAR charts. Let's see some data.

[pujolsfan]

A thought on higher leaks reducing AHI, it could be that the leaks are high enough to reduce reporting accuracy. It's only a guess but it has happened to others before. You can show us with an OSCAR report.

That's a good thought. I hadn't even considered the leaks reducing reporting accuracy. I'm not sure how to go about the OSCAR report, but it seems like a lot of people around here depend on it. I will certainly look into that.

[Gideon]

It is common for a significant loss in weight to reduce the severity of sleep apnea. It is uncommon to eliminate the apnea.

You can reduce the settings on your AutoSet to the lowest you can tolerate ideally 4, the lowest the machine is capable of, with EPR off. If your AHI/RDI is very low it proves you are very well managed at these low pressures. If this is the case then yes go for a sleep study to prove it is actually gone.
Otherwise you just need to be retitrsted, something you can do with OSCARs help.

[staceyburke]

I have had 4 sleep studies and I will never go back. None of them helped me in the least - I got MORE help on this site in days than I got from sleep studies and sleep and pulmonary Drs.

[Sleeprider]

We can learn as much or more from OSCAR as from most sleep studies. If you can post a detail chart from a typical night or two, you will have your answer at no cost, and can target your efforts to fix the problem.