Sleep Apnea, An Anecdote.

My dad has always been known as the snore-er of the family. He’s a good sport about it though, and being the funny man that he is, he would always put the blame on my mom. He joked and said, “Just watch, one of these days you’ll snore so loud that you’ll wake yourself up!”

We laughed, and laughed, but one day it actually happened; my mom woke herself up from her own loud snoring! My dad was out of town, so she knew she was the creator of that awful sound. She was astonished, slightly frightened, but reasoned that this only happened because of a long day at work. She thought nothing much of it, and went back to sleep.

But the following week, it happened again. No matter how much she slept, she did not feel well rested. She wondered if her sleep issues were also the reason my sister and I had been getting on her nerves more than usual, and/or the reason her headaches had been getting stronger. Restless sleep, irritability, morning headaches, and loud snoring are all symptoms of sleep apnea (a potentially serious sleep disorder), so her doctor ordered her a sleeping test. 

Now, this was all in 2008, so things worked a little bit differently back then. I remember being in high school and having to drive my mom to a sleep testing clinic and leaving her there overnight. They wanted to treat this clinic like a hotel by allowing you to bring your own pajamas, but in reality, it was just a relatively cozy hospital room. I remember feeling uneasy while watching my mom in that setting, and soon with weird machinery hooked up to her head and chest. I could tell she was nervous too, but being the strong woman she is, she didn’t let it show.

It was an intimidating experience to say the least; especially when you compare it to sleep testing in 2018.

Nowadays, sleep testing doesn’t have to be a creepy, expensive, and/or huge ordeal. In fact, it can be done from the comfort of your own home!

For example, HomeSleep is the most advanced in-home sleep testing solution for patients who may suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Their at-home test provides a board-certified sleep medicine physician with all the information necessary to diagnose sleep apnea.

It is a one-night test that measures your breathing, blood oxygen level, heart rate, respiratory efforts, and body positioning all at once. Even the machinery is less daunting! The HomeSleep testing device is only a small unit attached to an adjustable belt with two sensors.

When you order the test, HomeSleep will ship the testing device to your home. All you have to do is connect to the testing device when you are getting ready to go to bed (…your own bed!) Upon waking up, you place the testing device in the box it came in, and bring it to your local post office. That’s it!

Best of all, within 72 hours after HomeSleep receives the testing device back, you will receive your results interpreted by a board-certified sleep medicine physician directly into your LabFinder Patient Portal.

It’s that simple. You may pay for this test via your insurance if you have a doctor’s order, or to speed things up, you can order the test without a doctor’s order directly from: https://www.labfinder.com/labexams/homesleep-test/ , select “I’m Paying Out of Pocket” and pay only $250!

*For those wondering if you are a good candidate for a sleep apnea test, there is an Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) which is often used clinically to screen for the manifestations of the behavioral morbidity associated to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). You can take the ESS test by clicking here.

**And for those of you wondering about my fam, it took my mom 3 different overnight stays at the sleep testing clinic to determine she in fact, did not, have sleep apnea; she was just extremely tired from being busy at work, and my sister and I were probably just being extra annoying.

 

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LabFinder is a no-cost, online platform for people to easily schedule their medical tests and view results securely. The LabFinder team is passionate about improving the ‘patient and doctor experience’ through better communication, reduce out-of-pocket expenses and making everyone know more about their own medical tests. The mission of LabFinder is simple: we want to be solution to you and get you the test results you deserve so you can make right choices about your health.

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