had my titration last night. first the good:....the tech said that i had a full hour of sleep with no respiratory arrousals, 45 minutes of which were deep sleep...the bad: i woke up after two hours and could not fall back asleep....anyone know if this is good enough for a prescription for cpap or am i going to need another titration? thanks....stressing out over this! my appt. is next week.....i can't relax in the sleep study setting!
Permalink Reply by Judy on August 20, 2009 at 9:05pm
2 hours sleep out of 6 hours bedtime is the minimum for Medicare, I don't know about other insurances.
Don't feel bad, I only slept 42 minutes out of 6 hours bedtime so have to go back for a 2nd titration study - and only slept 98 minutes out of 6 hours bedtime. But the two titration nights added together barely made the Medicare minimum and I got my CPAP. 3 months later we had to do a 3 week loaner of an APAP to "tweak" my pressure setting.
I don't mean to be a "butt" but....I think I need to be a party pooper.
Your technician isn't really supposed to talk to you about the results of your study. Neither the scoring tech or the night tech should be telling you anything. Just the doctor who has (hopefully) reviewed the results for himself. There are many techs who aren't so great at identifying subtle respiratory arousals.
Most other insurances use "Medicare Guidelines." i.e...they copy what Medicare does.
For a Split night, I believe that Medicare used to require 2 hours of sleep, but now they only require a 2 hour recording period and a certain AHI criteria met.
Are you saying that this was a titration only night?
Some labs can send you home with an Auto-Titrating CPAP machine that you use for 5-7 nights that will find your prescription. As long as leaks are minimized they are pretty accurate. That may be an option for you since sleeping with wires isn't ideal.
this was a titration only night.....i hope the tech is good at recognizing subtle respiratory arousals since he is is titrating a cpap to treat my UARS. mike
Permalink Reply by Judy on August 23, 2009 at 10:06pm
Oh boy! So little sleep and trying to titrate for UARS ..... sigh. I think I would be inclined to cross my fingers and pray a lot that they brought me back for another titration and I would then make it a point to exhaust myself that day and take, w/the doctor's okay, a sleep med or an anti-anxiotic to ensure I got as much sleep during this second titration as possible. AND I would try the med(s) out at home first to be sure that they worked for me and that I wasn't one of those few who have an opposite reaction to them and they kept me wide awake instead.
I HATE that "the techs aren't supposed to tell you anything". Many times the techs understand more about the sleep study than the sleep doctors!! Personally, I consider a good sleep tech one heck of a whole lot more valuable than most sleep doctors and I'd rather talk to the tech. Some of these doctors (in all fields) tend to overrate themselves.
oh man....this was my second titration....first time i didn't sleep a wink.......and yes my sleep tech is much cooler than my doctor.....wish me luck...my appointment is on wednesday.