UARS Sleep Test Lab Suggestions

[2Tired4This]

I am about to schedule a follow up sleep test and want to make the lab properly tests for UARS.
Are there specific questions I should ask to make sure they properly test for it.
When I ask labs if they test for RERAs they say yes but is there anything more I should be asking?

Im in Southern California and am considering USC or UCLA as they are in network for my insurance.

[jnk...]

My opinions have been known to be nonstandard on such matters, but I'll post my personal thoughts anyway:

The sleep industry seems to be at an odd crossroads at the moment.

http://www.sleepdynamictherapy.com/inde ... 16-part-i/

Don't get too caught up in the question of "What do I have (as indicated by squiggly lines on paper)?" when the real issues of practicality may be "What approach can I try that may help improve my sleep?" and "What approach to all this is likely to get the payers to pay?" Be aware that the answers may involve a diagnosis other than UARS, in this day and age. To some payers, UARS means "I don't qualify for getting a machine paid for but I want it paid for anyway." UARS can be a sort of dirty word to some docs, so some clinics will do their best to call a UARS patient an OSA patient or something else in order to keep the payer and everyone else on board. It is a sort of medical-politics issue that can keep a lab/center from being completely open with patients and payers, but the deeper motives can be more a matter of an attempt to help the patient than to hide info from the patient on RERAs and the like. I believe you already are using an ASV, so this may not be an issue for you in that way. But it may still affect you getting straightforward answers about what labs/centers look for.

Dr. Krakow (the writer of the opinions in the link above), in my opinion, is an expert at thinking outside the box on such matters. His people in Albuquerque may have a recommendation for a place local to you that may have a pathway to getting you to Krakow or someone like him. Sleep can be a complicated aspect of life to troubleshoot and repair without some persistent, customized personal efforts to go along with the intermittent professional ones.

Remember that a diagnosis does not improve sleep. Improving sleep, for some of us, may require our willingness to put a lot of effort into things other than sleep-breathing and may involve the willingness of sleep experts to suggest various non-machine approaches, regardless of the diagnostic code(s) used along the way.

[2Tired4This]

My first test was actually done at dr krakow's office. I found the guidance there lacking and I was disappointed in him. I've also had other sleep doctors advise against flying from sea level to take a test at higher altitude as can decrease sleep quality, causing central apneas, hypopneas, etc.

[jnk...]

My first test was actually done at dr krakow's office. I found the guidance there lacking and I was disappointed in him. I've also had other sleep doctors advise against flying from sea level to take a test at higher altitude.

Taking the test at a higher altitude is a way (in my opinion) to get a UARS patient to show up as OSA/CSA, which helps the payers agree to funding the machine. Testing, after all, in this context is mostly about proving things to payers.

Point is, retesting in order to get a UARS diagnosis would be of what actual benefit to you? Because, for fixing airway issues during sleep, the available methods are mostly the same either way--the actual diagnosis only changes what payers will or won't pay for.

So, what treatment are you looking for that you presently don't qualify for? Or else, why retest with a spotlight on RERAs?