Time for an At-Home Sleep Study

Tomorrow night is my sleep study. This sleep study was initiated way back in August when I saw my endo and we talked about my loud snoring and waking up to gasping for air in the middle of the night.

The sleep study referral was sent out and the office made contact with me to schedule an appointment. The day of the appointment for the over night study (which at that time, I had no idea if it was overnight, at my own house, or any general information about what goes on during a sleep study).

That was not very good customer service and patient management if you ask me.

That appointment ended up being cancelled by me because I didn’t know if there was a deductible, co-pay, what it entailed, nothing, so, I cancelled.

They never called me back to reschedule an appointment, so it just kept lingering on and on.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago and my latest endo appointment. We brought the topic back up and I explained that I never had the sleep study done.

New sleep center opening

The good news is that there was a brand new sleep center opened up on the first floor of the medical building I was in, and it was in the same hospital network, so I knew that my insurance would cover it and the plus side, was that it was right downstairs. My endo office is right down the street from me, so it was perfect.

A few days after the referral was sent over to the Sleep center, I received a call to get everything scheduled. She asked me if I knew what a sleep study was and then went on to explain to me what I should expect. We scheduled the sleep study for tonight actually, originally, but, she had to wait to get an overnight sleep study approved by my insurance.

You know, because insurance decides what patients need and don’t need.

Unfortunately, my insurance denied the overnight sleep study. Which doesn’t make any sense to me. I’ll explain why in a bit.

I now have to go into the office, pick up a small machine and take it home for a sleep study. It does not pick up on as much stuff, but will have a positive or negative result. Depending on the result of this at home sleep study, I will need to have the overnight study done.

Here’s the thing, I don’t need an at-home study done to know that I have sleep apnea. I know that I have sleep apnea.

I wake up tired. ✅

I snore loudly. ✅

I gasp for air as I wake up out of a deep sleep. ✅

My wife checks to see if I’m still breathing multiple times a night. ✅

Once they confirm that I have sleep apnea, I still then need to go into the office for an overnight study to then figure out what exactly my treatment needs to be. So, the insurance is going to end up paying for that one anyway.

So now, they are paying for an at-home and in-office sleep study when they could have just paid for one. Insurance companies just don’t make any sense to me.

Why I know I have sleep apnea

As I mentioned above, I have all of the clear cut symptoms of sleep apnea. I never used to snore loud. The more weight that I put on, the louder I snored. And it makes complete sense as well.

When I lay on back, I snore loudly. When I’m on my side, I don’t really snore and my wife can actually get some sleep. This is why she kicks me, pushes me, yells at me, elbows me, and sometimes, nicely tells me to roll the f&^ over onto my side.

So, because of all the weight I’ve put on, when I’m on my back, gravity is pulling that weight down. This then restricts my airways and I have a hard time getting air. So, I compensate by breathing harder and trying to pull air in through my nose as well. Therefore, making me snore loudly.

My brother in law once used ear plugs while sleeping in the same room as me.

At a bachelor party, several of my friends on the first floor of the home we were staying at for the weekend told me they could hear me snoring through the floor.

I’ve had people in different bedrooms and different floors tell me how loud I was snoring and how they could hear me through the walls.

This is not normal.

Freaked out by sleep study

When I first heard that I had to do an overnight sleep study, I’m not going to lie, I was pretty freaked out. I definitely did not want to do it. I’d much rather do one in the comfort of my own home, opposed to having to do it with more wires hooked up and knowing that someone is watching me.

Also, I have been going to bed very late, around 1:30 am and they need a minimum amount of hours of me sleeping for the test to work.

The other thing is that I wake up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom. So, how am I supposed to just get up and go to the bathroom multiple times in the middle of the night with machines and wires and stuff hooked up to me?

I was willing to do it because I know that I need to be around for my family, but to say that I wasn’t bothered by the idea or having anxiety over it, would be a lie. I was so relieved when they told me that the insurance didn’t cover the overnight study.

At-home sleep study

I have to pick up the equipment and get a small training tomorrow morning. Once I do that, I will be hooking myself up to everything tomorrow night and we will go from there.

If you’d like to follow along on my sleep study adventure, be sure to follow me on Instagram – @chrisstocker

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