Should I go ahead with this home sleep study?
November 23, 2018 12:56 PM Subscribe
On Wednesday, I checked out equipment, and went through an instructional session, for a home sleep study. This requires authorization from my insurance company, which I have. However, I am currently on a drug regimen (started on Tuesday) which is only for a short time and which is designed to reduce inflammation drastically, so I'm worried the sleep study will show that I'm breathing better than I usually do.
Because of the holiday, I have the equipment until Monday, but my insurance company is closed so I can't ask them what to do -- I'm guessing that getting approved for a second study would be difficult, but I may be in too deep to just abandon this one.
My question is: should I go ahead and perform the sleep study and risk getting a false negative result? Or should I just not do that and hope things work out with the insurance company?
I did try calling the insurance company's advice nurse, and asking at the training session, but all anybody would say is, "It's your decision".
New appointments for this type of study are being made out in February/March for this office, but other hospital systems are scheduling only 2-3 weeks out. The follow up in case of a positive result will take additional time.
Oh, also, my deductible for the year is all paid up, so getting this done ASAP would be great. OTOH, having a record showing that I'm not having a problem that I'm pretty sure I actually do have could be incredibly difficult to deal with, I'm guessing.
Because of the holiday, I have the equipment until Monday, but my insurance company is closed so I can't ask them what to do -- I'm guessing that getting approved for a second study would be difficult, but I may be in too deep to just abandon this one.
My question is: should I go ahead and perform the sleep study and risk getting a false negative result? Or should I just not do that and hope things work out with the insurance company?
I did try calling the insurance company's advice nurse, and asking at the training session, but all anybody would say is, "It's your decision".
New appointments for this type of study are being made out in February/March for this office, but other hospital systems are scheduling only 2-3 weeks out. The follow up in case of a positive result will take additional time.
Oh, also, my deductible for the year is all paid up, so getting this done ASAP would be great. OTOH, having a record showing that I'm not having a problem that I'm pretty sure I actually do have could be incredibly difficult to deal with, I'm guessing.
Is it worth finding out if there's a penalty for returning the equipment late?
Any feasibility for this work-around would depend on the duration of the drug regimen -- if, say, you finished the drug on Tuesday, and knew it cleared out of your system within x hours? Then you could do the sleep study at the end of the week/next weekend, instead of this weekend, and return the equipment on the 26th. Still within your paid deductible window, still within the month of November.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:25 PM on November 23, 2018
Any feasibility for this work-around would depend on the duration of the drug regimen -- if, say, you finished the drug on Tuesday, and knew it cleared out of your system within x hours? Then you could do the sleep study at the end of the week/next weekend, instead of this weekend, and return the equipment on the 26th. Still within your paid deductible window, still within the month of November.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:25 PM on November 23, 2018
Response by poster: I can't keep the equipment beyond Monday morning. Other people are waiting to use it, and they say there's a potential $4000 replacement fee if it's kept too long.
Drug regimen is about 12 days, but the effects will probably last a bit beyond that.
Got no useful info from doctors office. Pharmacist kind of agreed with me, but I don't think she's going to be super helpful here.
posted by amtho at 2:55 PM on November 23, 2018
Drug regimen is about 12 days, but the effects will probably last a bit beyond that.
Got no useful info from doctors office. Pharmacist kind of agreed with me, but I don't think she's going to be super helpful here.
posted by amtho at 2:55 PM on November 23, 2018
Usually a sleep study is used to determine if you have obstructive sleep apnea-I assume that’s why you’ve scheduled this test? If that’s the case, no matter how powerful your anti inflammatory medication (is it prednisone you’re on?), it will not prevent apneic episodes caused by airway obstruction. Go ahead and have your test as scheduled.
posted by little mouth at 3:50 PM on November 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by little mouth at 3:50 PM on November 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: it's dexamethasone and naproxen plus some other stuff for pain.
posted by amtho at 5:38 PM on November 23, 2018
posted by amtho at 5:38 PM on November 23, 2018
Seconding little mouth that steroids won't fix your sleep apnea, even temporarily. Steroids can, however, have detrimental effects on sleep.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 8:11 AM on November 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 8:11 AM on November 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: no matter how powerful your anti inflammatory medication (is it prednisone you’re on?), it will not prevent apneic episodes
Sorry to press the point, but how do you know this?
posted by amtho at 7:43 PM on November 24, 2018
Sorry to press the point, but how do you know this?
posted by amtho at 7:43 PM on November 24, 2018
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