Home Sleep study questions

Little bit of a backstop first... I was diagnosed about 5 years ago with moderate sleep apnea after a sleep study in the lab. I've had a lot of difficulties over these 5 years with being compliant. I've tried dental appliances and multiple masks over the years and nothing has stuck. I'm mad at myself for giving up on it, but wanted to try again as I know the benefits of it. Anyhow, I talked to my family Dr. and he tried to set me up with another sleep study since it's been about 2 years since I've last tried.. My insurance denied the lab sleep study but did approve a home Sleep study. I just got back the results from the home study and it showed that I wouldn't even be considered for a cpap now. Nothing has really changed in regards to losing weight etc, so I'm just wondering how common is this? I guess I was under the impression that this would follow me the rest of my life. Are home studies usually accurate enough? The sleep doc wants to see me, but that appt isn't for another month. I'm not complaining that my home Sleep study came back good, just wondering if it's really accurate enough..

Can you post a copy of the results here - cover up your personal info - so we can get an idea of things? And what about downloading Sleepyhead software (free) for when you're on the machine, again so we can see what happens overnight.

Thanks for your reply Julie!
I haven't used my cpap since last Aug, so I dont really have any sleepyhead data to share at this time. Im also in the process of looking for my old sleep study, if I cant find it, I will try to get it from the hospital here soon, and then I can share it with you. Once I get that information, I will post it here, and perhaps it will bring more clarity to this!

Any sleep study can capture only what happens in that one night. If there was not enough sleep, or not enough REM sleep while supine, there's always a chance the worst case scenario is not reflected in the test results.

Do you know any details of the sleep study such as the name of the sleep study unit, what it measured, how it attached? Was it a true home sleep study or just a screening with an oximeter?

Janknitz wrote:Do you know any details of the sleep study such as the name of the sleep study unit, what it measured, how it attached? Was it a true home sleep study or just a screening with an oximeter?

It was called an ARES. From website, sleepmedinc dot com:



ARES™ measures:

Blood oxygen saturation (Sp02)
Pulse rate (reflectance pulse oximetry)
Airflow (nasal cannula connected to a pressure transducer)
Snoring levels (calibrated acoustic microphone)
Head movement and head position (accelerometers)

It attached to my head and had a nasal cannula as well. Really easy to set up and use.

Home sleep tests are fantastically good at proving that someone would likely benefit from CPAP. That makes them very cost-effective for the people who the doc already knows have OSA.

However, home sleep tests are absolutely useless at proving that someone would NOT benefit from CPAP. That is why a home sleep test that does not establish a need for CPAP is supposed to be followed up by a sleep lab/center test, which actually does a pretty good job of establishing that a person would likely not get all that much benefit from CPAP.

If you already have a machine, the best way to establish that you will benefit from using it is to start using it and then to begin optimizing your therapy over time to make it as comfortable and effective as possible. People here are glad to help you do that, no extra sleep test required!

jnk... wrote:Home sleep tests are fantastically good at proving that someone would likely benefit from CPAP. That makes them very cost-effective for the people who the doc already knows have OSA.

However, home sleep tests are absolutely useless at proving that someone would NOT benefit from CPAP. That is why a home sleep test that does not establish a need for CPAP is supposed to be followed up by a sleep lab/center test, which actually does a pretty good job of establishing that a person would likely not get all that much benefit from CPAP.

If you already have a machine, the best way to establish that you will benefit from using it is to start using it and then to begin optimizing your therapy over time to make it as comfortable and effective as possible. People here are glad to help you do that, no extra sleep test required!

Thanks!! I'm going to try and give it a go again.. Hopefully I can make it stick this time!

I did mine at home and I used the equipment for 5 days. How many days (nights) was yours?

DaisySmith wrote:I did mine at home and I used the equipment for 5 days. How many days (nights) was yours?

Mine was only one night long. Had to bring it back next day or get charged 50.00/day rental fee.