Home sleep study vs sleep lab

[gsbuck524]

I just found out about two home sleep study tests. Supposedly not all doctors will sign off on them, but Medicare will cover and they are much more cost effective Does anyone here have experience with them? Comments?

[LSAT]

Medicare will cover sleep labs also. The lab can check for many more items than a home study can. There are advantages to both.

[gsbuck524]

I do realize that observation in a sleep lab is good.. i have restless leg syndrome and only slept 45 minutes in the sleep lab test all night. But they did put me in a room that had an awful old hospital bed, extra wires on me, and that awful gummy stuff all in my hair. I was so uncomfortable! Nothing like home, no remote control for tv and had to go to bed two hours earlier than usual due to techs scheduling needs. For the apnea i think the home test makes more sense for me. Just wondering what others might have done one and their experience. Thanks for your input.

[LSAT]

I think you just had a rotten sleep lab. Many are like hotel rooms with all the amenities.

[OboeVet]

The San Diego Veterans Health Administration uses take home initial testing. Removes the artifact of odd room & bed, no "midnight snack," familiar sounds, etc. Still bit odd sleeping with nasal cannula connected to a monitor belted to your chest and an oxygen meter on your finger. Seems to me their might be some value to being monitored in real time by a human, if that's what real sleep labs do.

For me, getting tested within a couple of weeks from referral, and picking up my CPAP/APAP within another couple of weeks was great! May require more after-delivery support from DME, which I got.

[gsbuck524]

Lsat: i think you are right about me having a bad sleep lab.
Oboevet: One of the home companies had just one piece on your head sort of like a mask. Nothing on the chest or finger.

[jaye8898]

I think you just had a rotten sleep lab. Many are like hotel rooms with all the amenities.

I agree with LSAT. The sleep lab I went to was very cozily decorated, comfortable bed, with a kind and empathetic sleep tech. They advised me in advance to bring my pillow and anything else to help make me comfortable; not one of my dogs, though

I remember I actually looked forward to the next session for titration. It was like staying in a nice hotel except for the sensors.

[Janknitz]

I had a home test using the Itamar Watch Pat. I have pretty run of the mill OSA and while I had I choice in the type of testing (Kaiser), it was perfect for me. I NEVER would have treated being wired up and watched while I sleep.

To me it makes great sense to be tested at home in my own bed and real sleeping conditions.

But, I'm not sure you'd get adequate info on confounding conditions like RLS with a home test.

[mgaggie]

I think you just had a rotten sleep lab. Many are like hotel rooms with all the amenities.

a hotel room?! Luxury! I had to sleep in a cardboard box in the middle of the road

[Scootergirl]

I do realize that observation in a sleep lab is good.. i have restless leg syndrome and only slept 45 minutes in the sleep lab test all night. But they did put me in a room that had an awful old hospital bed, extra wires on me, and that awful gummy stuff all in my hair. I was so uncomfortable! Nothing like home, no remote control for tv and had to go to bed two hours earlier than usual due to techs scheduling needs. For the apnea i think the home test makes more sense for me. Just wondering what others might have done one and their experience. Thanks for your input.

My first sleep study 10 years ago was like that. But the last one I had in March was in a little suite type of room - it looked like a small hotel room with a regular full sized bed, tv with a remote, a bathroom with a shower. Still had wires and goo in my hair, but I did sleep so much better than the first time. You would need to find out what type of sleep center you are going to - mine had a brochure that had all the information on it and when I called to make my appointment I had questions before I scheduled a time. I don't know about sleep tests at home at all, never had one at home. Good luck!

[gsbuck524]

Thanks for all of the input. I guess I think it would be helpful to have the home test to compare with the sleep lab results. I'm thinking that video observation could be added if needed for the RLS or other disruptions. I am used to taking half of 1 ten mg ambien tablet each night. But still have problem falling asleep with a mask on.. Right now am trying a Swift FX Bella that only comes with nasal pillows. Since my pressure has bern upped to 10 there doesn't appear to be any leaks even when lying on my side. Any suggestions on how to fall asleep with mask on?

[bwexler]

Put the mask on, lie down in bed, close your eyes, count backward from 1,000,000.

[robysue]

Any suggestions on how to fall asleep with mask on?

I have lots of tips on my blog entry,Taming the CPAP-Induced Insomnia Monster
Good luck.

[kteague]

It is not uncommon for people with RLS to also have PLMD (Periodic Limb Movement Disorder). If perchance this is an issue with you, your expectations of comfort measures helping your sleep may not be realistic. What exactly did your report say about limb movements?

[Stevoreno_55]

I do realize that observation in a sleep lab is good.. i have restless leg syndrome and only slept 45 minutes in the sleep lab test all night. But they did put me in a room that had an awful old hospital bed, extra wires on me, and that awful gummy stuff all in my hair. I was so uncomfortable! Nothing like home, no remote control for tv and had to go to bed two hours earlier than usual due to techs scheduling needs. For the apnea i think the home test makes more sense for me. Just wondering what others might have done one and their experience. Thanks for your input.

You must not have had that many sleep studies just from reading your comments. Let me see if I understood you right, you went to a lab to be tested for sleep apnea; you were put into a room with a small bed that wasn't comfortable which is a legitimate reason to complain but you were also not pleased with the room because there was no remote for the TV? Most labs that I've been tested in were not set up like the Marriott but I was there for one thing; to be tested for sleep apnea and after I was wired up; electrodes glued to my head; belts around my stomach; wires running everywhere else I did not want to watch TV; I couldn't if I wanted to because my room didn't have one; the waiting room at my testing facility didn't even have one.

How's this for a complaint; on the first night of my 2 night study; in a facility that could test 4 patients a night and I was the only patient in the house that first night; the tech who was working that night took me to my room; it was 11:30 p.m. The tech began to turn the covers on my bed back and there was hair; skin particles; you name it; it was there. I asked the tech to put me in one of the other rooms so I followed her down the hall and as we went from room to room and the tech pulled the covers back on the other beds their linens also hadn't been changed so I told the tech nicely to either call housekeeping and get someone to change the linens on one of the beds but if she couldn't or wouldn't just unlock the door so I could get out and go home.

The tech decided to change the linens. Now that's something worth complaining about which I did. As for the home study verses the facility study; I've never done a home study; as uncomfortable as they are I will still prefer to be tested at a lab instead of being issued a machine with a kit and a set of instructions and sent home where I'd probably not follow the instructions right and end up messing up my test results. By the way that lab where I was tested at back in 2007 closed a month later; my complaint about their conditions wasn't the first one that had been filed again them but it was the most vocal so I was told by the agency that forced them to close.



Stevoreno_55
MS Gulf Coast
04/18/14