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cleverprankster
+0 points
·
over 5 years
ago
Original Poster
I've been having serious issues sleeping and I want to get tested for sleep apnea. I tried to go through my doctor + normal insurance but the number of appointments and out of pocket costs are insane (co-pays for each visit, overnight sleep clinic is really expensive...). It's hard enough to get one appointment with my doctor. I'm thinking about going through an online home sleep study.
Does anyone have experience with a home sleep study instead of an overnight clinic? If yes, any recommendations on who to go with? Here are a couple that I came across. It looks like they all use the same testing device from Resmed. I tried posting this on Reddit as well but unfortunately, I didn't really get any recommendations. I appreciate any help!
The standard practice is to do the Stop-Bang and Epworth quiz tests first to establish your risk level for apnea. If it is well elevated, then the next step is a sleep test. If there are no other medical complications it is becoming more common to do the at home test. That is what was prescribed for me. My equipment was a Phillips Alice NightOne. I have no experience with the ResMed, but I would expect it is good. Phillips and ResMed are the market leaders in CPAP equipment. One thing you might want to check on is if you will get a valid prescription out of it if you test positive. On line CPAP supply companies like CPAP.com give advice on what they will accept. A prescription is required for new CPAP equipment and the masks in the US. If you are going to try to recover anything from your insurance company you may want to check and see what they accept too.
AHI for diagnosis is basically apnea + hypopnea events divided by the time of the sleep. However, most at home tests only measure time in position or time with the test machine turned on. For that reason they tend to underestimate the AHI value because you are dividing by a number that is higher than your actual sleep time. Some equipment may have a method to better estimate sleep time. The Alice NightOne equipment I used, did not.
I am always suspicious of a company that provides no information as to where they are actually located. I searched but could not figure out their location. I did notice this though:
"How quickly will a doctor review my initial history?
After your online visit a doctor will complete their initial review of your medical history within 24 hours. If you’ve been waiting longer than this, please email care@helloluna.co and we’ll take care of it."
If you are having issues at this point, it may be a major red flag indicating there are better alternatives...
cleverprankster
+0 points
·
over 5 years
ago
Original Poster
Update: I ended up ordering from Luna Health and I didn't have any issues. I just completed my home sleep study and I'm sending it back. They were pretty fast. You should contact them.
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