Upon suspecting that you might have sleep apnea it is advisable that you read through your insurance policy to see if you are in any way covered. Costs can reach anything up and beyond $1000 per person. Certain insurance policies only cover specific procedures/ consultations, some policies don't cover durable medical equipment (the most commonly used devices to treat sleep apnea).
Once having visited your local primary care physician you may be referred to a sleep specialist and also a sleep testing facility. In some cases the physician will order the sleep tests themselves, collecting the results. Testing areas can either be laboratory based, or in the comfort of your own home. Split-night studies do occur in sleep labs. This type of study involves testing for sleep apnea in the first half of the night. If you are found to have the sleeping condition then the second half of the night is spent using methods to treat it.
The range of doctors that can have the required knowledge in sleep science is wide. Suitable practitioners can have specialized in other areas e.g. neurologists, pulmonologists, otolaryngologists, psychiatrists or primary health carers (e.g. family practitioners or interns).
Sleep knowledge could have come from studying sleep medicine via a residency program, training with other sleep specialists, continued medical education (CME) courses, or scientific meetings. Various individuals may have opted for further tests in sleep studies so that they became certified by a well known body, such as the American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM). Sleep doctors may therefore hold a lot of degrees meeting the ABSM requirements, e.g. a DO, MD, MB, PhD or PsyD in a related health field. Dentists have even been known to practice sleep apnea research and treatment since they can be called on to fit oral sleep apnea preventing appliances.
When ever you meet with a sleep professional you should still make the effort to enquire about their past experience and qualifications. Ensure you are pleased with their answers to your questions and that you know exactly how they plan to diagnose and treat your potential ailment.
Complete lists of all competent sleep doctors and sleep facilities don't exist, the ABSM not endorsing any healthcare provider, product or company. A physician, sleep center and laboratory list does exist, produced by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), containing those companies and/ or people that pay their membership fees. You can see the up-to-date list on their website. Do remember that perfectly good practices may not be on the lists, for what ever reason e.g. they are still being approved, or have chosen not to be.
Sleep activity can be measured in tests using devices like electroencephalograms (EEG) which measure brain waves, and electroculograms (EOG) to evaluate eye and chin movements. These two devices monitor the various sleep stages that occur. Electrocardiograms take the heart rate of the patient, recording the rhythm, breathing movements are measured with chest bands. Other monitoring devices look at blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, and leg movements. No degree of pain is typically seen with the use of any of these practices, not single injection needle is used either!
A negative result after testing may simply mean you need further tests to elucidate whether you have sleep apnea or not, particularly if you still display the symptoms (e.g. falling to sleep a lot, even after good nights sleep). Further, more elaborate and sophisticated contraptions may be necessary which aren't often used in sleep tests.
For further information regarding sleep testing any treatment consult your local doctor or sleep expert.
Sleep Apnea Machine Cpap
Sleep apnea is an increasingly common sleep problem which currently affects some 18,000,000 people in the USA alone. This figure represents about 1 in 15 or 6.62% of the population which does not take into account an additional 2% to 4% of the population who are thought to be suffering from sleep apnea but who have yet to be diagnosed.
What a lot of people do not know however is that there are also an amazingly large and rising number of children who are suffering from sleep apnea, with estimates revealing that approximately 2% of all children suffer from sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea in children deserves especially close attention because at this crucial stage of growth and development the condition can cause IQ, memory and learning problems.
In many cases obstructive sleep apnea results in no small measure from being overweight and the first step in treating the problem is thus to shed a bit of weight. This however is not always as simple as it sounds and does not always reduce the problem sufficiently.
The next step for many children is the use of an oral appliance when sleeping. Oral appliances need to be custom made for the child and fitted by a qualified orthodontist and are designed to keep the lower jaw in a position that makes sure that the throat remains open while the child is sleeping. Again improvement is not always satisfactory and many children are far from happy wearing them.
The gold standard when it comes to treating sleep apnea is the CPAP machine which produces a steady stream of air by way of a mask that is worn while sleeping and which keeps the airway open.
CPAP machines are extremely successful but, as with almost all treatments, they only produce sound results when they are used properly and here we encounter a problem with children.
In a recently conducted study a number of children having CPAP treatment were monitored over a six month period to see just how closely they followed the advice given for the use of their CPAP machines. The group were subjected to sleep studies at the beginning and end of the evaluation period and they and their parents were questioned by researchers about their use of the CPAP machines. Additionally, the machines used for the study were equipped with meters to record the use of the machines.
The study reported that over three quarters of the children did not make use of their machines as intended every night and that even the relatively small number of children who used their machines consistently were using the machines for only about 5 hours each night which was not sufficient to get the full benefit from their use. Possibly most importantly, bearing in mind the fact that a lot of the children being studied were very young and therefore needed parental supervision to ensure the proper use of their machines, the study revealed that the vast majority of parents overestimated the use of the system by in the region of two hours each night.
At this point, despite the fact that it is clear that many children are not getting the full benefit of CPAP treatment, it remains unclear precisely why they are failing to use the system properly and additional studies are being carried out to see just what improvements are possible for the treatment of childhood sleep apnea.
Both Alex Rider & Donald Saunders are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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