Necessity of Sleep Study for possible Sleep Apnea

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Austin and Jordan,

I think I may be suffering from sleep apnea, and I am unsure of the best way to proceed. I have a large neck and fairly aggressive snoring, along with persistent tiredness (even after ~8 hours of sleep) and very high susceptibility to minor injuries (tendonitis-like symptoms in several areas, low back pain, etc.) These symptoms have been present for basically my entire adult life. I had an in-home sleep study about two years ago, but the data was inconclusive since the nose pieces kept falling out.

I am having difficulty getting insurance approval for an in-lab sleep study, and it seems like the cost is likely to be upwards of $1000 even if it is approved. Given that an APAP device would likely be cheaper than the sleep study, would it be reasonable for me to skip the study and just see if an APAP improves my symptoms? I asked a pulmonologist, who seemed to think it was a reasonable idea, but I got the impression that he may have just been humoring me. Any advice would be appreciated.

Possibly useful background information:
Height: 5’11"
Weight: 200-210
Age: 29
PR Lifts: Press 200, Squat 455, Deadlift 555 (all a bit lower at the moment)
Medical Conditions: Hypothyroidism (taking 105mg Armour Thyroid), Environment Allergies (taking Xyzal), Depression/Anxiety (taking 300mg Wellbutrin)

2

I agree that trying the APAP device would be a reasonable idea.

Have you tried finding out exactly why they are not covering an in-lab sleep study, since you very likely do have OSA?

3

Hi Austin,

Thanks for the quick response. I am in the process of trying to find out what the issue is with the insurance coverage, but I think the cost is likely to be very high regardless. According to the hospital where I was planning to have the study, the best case scenario is that I will have to pay about 30% of a total cost of several thousand dollars. I need to investigate further to find out the exact pricing/payment options, but I wanted to see if the APAP is a viable fallback plan if the cost of the study turns out to be prohibitive.