Sleep Consult Hits and Misses

Hi all, Well, at the suggestions of many of you I kept calling Dr. Millman's office and, yippee, they got me in for my consult Monday afternoon due to a cancellation (I wasn't scheduled until Sept. 5). Like many of you (Kristen comes to mind) I waited nearly 90 minutes for my appt. with Lauren. That was annoying. Even MORE annoying was that, as it was explained to me, the consult is to determine whether someone is a candidate for sleep apnea, etc. As we went through the questions (my answer was 'no' to every single one of them) Lauren seemed almost to doubt me and would rephrase the questions in a leading manner. Like, when I said I can lie down in the afternoon and not fall asleep she'd say, "But sometimes you do, right?" NO!!!! I don't! This happened 3 or 4 times. In addition, the entire time we spoke she worded everything as if I'd already been diagnosed with SA, like "So once we see how bad your sleep apnea is you'll come back and we'll go over your CPAP settings..." Um....hello....but we don't even know if I HAVE sleep apnea yet. The whole thing just annoyed me. It was as if she (a) thought I was lying with my answers to the questions (which I wasn't), (b) was convinced that someone my size MUST have it, or (c) both. I'm open to the possibility that I may have SA and if I do, of course I want to find out and be treated. But my husband has it and I'm pretty familiar with all the signs. I sleep like a log. I'm rarely tired. HE says I sleep like a log, no snoring, tossing-n-turning, etc. I just resent feeling like someone has me diagnosed from the minute I walk in the door. At least wait until we see the test results. Also, I can't help but think this consult is a waste of time as I'm sure everyone single one of us is going to be given the test anyway. Most other sleep centers just schedule you for the overnight right off the bat, and then the consult after to discuss it (which seems to make more sense and not waste as much time). This is how it was for DH, how the sleep center associated with Yale does it, etc. There is GOOD NEWS, though! They booked my overnights for the end of Sept. Again, at your suggestions, I came home and called the center and guess what?? I have my 1st overnight on Friday and my 2nd one next week! Woohoo! So THANKS SO MUCH to those of you who said to keep calling--it really does pay off! Thanks for letting me vent. Trace

That's great. I am all done with my tests. I had my first early. They called me and on Monday they called me again. So instead of waiting until 9/28 I went in. I also called the Doc's office back and pushed up my follow up appointment from out in October to 9/12. I am going to call before I go to see if he is running behind. I don't have money to throw away waiting an hour for the doc to see me to tell me the results of me sleeping with the CPAP machine. At this point I don't want to see these people ever again. LOL I liked the staff for the sleep centers though. Good luck. I hope you don't have it. Also be prepared to have a bunch of crap in your hair that you have to scrub out. Jamice

i hear you, trace.. a friend of mine has sleep apnea, his dad has sleep apnea [and is MO].. and i have always been amazed that his mom doesn't have it - because she's larger than all of us were. she doesn't snore, doesn't stop breathing, doesn't seem to be more fatigued ... so it just goes to show you that just because someone is overweight, doesn't mean that they've got X disease/complication. every one of us is different..

Hi Trace, I went for my sleep study, Friday night. I received the call from the clinic today and they said I have apnea. I don't understand it, because my hubbie says, that I don't hold my breath and hardly snore. Luckily, I don't have to stay overnight, a second time, as they were able to get everything done in one shot. About 2:30, in the morning the technican came in and put the machine on me. I have to see Dr. Millman on Sept. 11. I'm going to call and see if they can bump it up, maybe with a cancellation. Good luck to you. Hope to meet you at Sept,s meeting. Nancy