Is there a home test for sleep apnea? Testing in a clinic?

It's not bad at all. You have a room with a TV. I brought my fan from home. They put these electrodes on your head and I think one on your leg and there's one on your throat. You can't even tell they are there and you feel nothing. The TV is set to go off at 10:00 and they will give you something to help you sleep if you want. They wake you at 5:00. I woke up before then, at 4:00 so they go ahead and take everything off and I leave. They go over the results and she asked me if I knew anything about sleep apnea. I said I know what it is and she said she couldn't go into much detail but that I had some episodes. They called later and said I had 31 episodes of interrupted breathing in an hour. They make an appt for you to come back and sleep with a sleep apnea mask. I had just the nasal one. They are very quiet and you go through same as first visit. With the machine I had only 1 episode interrupted sleep. They order your machine and calibrated it. Since mine is a mild case, my machine is set at 4. It goes up to 20 I think. It could go higher. It's not difficult to sleep with. My tubing is connected to piece on top of head so it swivels when you turn over. I don't think I could do the one that connects on front. There really is nothing to it. They have you show up at 7:00-7:30 and there were 4 other people having tests at same time. You are assigned a room. If you need to get up during night you tap on the table and sit up on edge of bed and they'll come see about you. You have to wear the mask a minimum of 4 hours a night for 3 months in order for medicare to pay for it. After 13 months, I'll own machine.

It's not bad at all. You have a room with a TV. I brought my fan from home. They put these electrodes on your head and I think one on your leg and there's one on your throat. You can't even tell they are there and you feel nothing. The TV is set to go off at 10:00 and they will give you something to help you sleep if you want. They wake you at 5:00. I woke up before then, at 4:00 so they go ahead and take everything off and I leave. They go over the results and she asked me if I knew anything about sleep apnea. I said I know what it is and she said she couldn't go into much detail but that I had some episodes. They called later and said I had 31 episodes of interrupted breathing in an hour. They make an appt for you to come back and sleep with a sleep apnea mask. I had just the nasal one. They are very quiet and you go through same as first visit. With the machine I had only 1 episode interrupted sleep. They order your machine and calibrated it. Since mine is a mild case, my machine is set at 4. It goes up to 20 I think. It could go higher. It's not difficult to sleep with. My tubing is connected to piece on top of head so it swivels when you turn over. I don't think I could do the one that connects on front. There really is nothing to it. They have you show up at 7:00-7:30 and there were 4 other people having tests at same time. You are assigned a room. If you need to get up during night you tap on the table and sit up on edge of bed and they'll come see about you. You have to wear the mask a minimum of 4 hours a night for 3 months in order for medicare to pay for it. After 13 months, I'll own machine.

Thank you for info. I wondered if they can give you something to help sleep cuz some nights I wake up every 2 hrs...

Thank you for info. I wondered if they can give you something to help sleep cuz some nights I wake up every 2 hrs...

Hi, carol1024,
My experience was similar, but I had a hard time falling asleep. When I finally did, the tech came in and put a mask on me. She said 1 had 5 apneas in an hour when she decided to give me a mask. She said that I had 35 apnea episodes during the test which was in the severe range. I had no central apneas recorded. Right now, I have been using the cpap for about 6 weeks and tolerating the mask better. My machine is set between 6 and 10 with a ramp pressure at 4. At first I was having a problem going to sleep with the mask on, but that's gotten better. I get up at night to use the bathroom so I have to remember to shut off the machine or it will record a mask leak. I don't feel any difference with the cpap, but I didn't have excessive fatigue before. I have a doctors appt coming up and I have a few questions. I plan to use this machine until I own it, then make a decision if I will continue. Best wishes and sleep tight!

Hi, carol1024,
My experience was similar, but I had a hard time falling asleep. When I finally did, the tech came in and put a mask on me. She said 1 had 5 apneas in an hour when she decided to give me a mask. She said that I had 35 apnea episodes during the test which was in the severe range. I had no central apneas recorded. Right now, I have been using the cpap for about 6 weeks and tolerating the mask better. My machine is set between 6 and 10 with a ramp pressure at 4. At first I was having a problem going to sleep with the mask on, but that's gotten better. I get up at night to use the bathroom so I have to remember to shut off the machine or it will record a mask leak. I don't feel any difference with the cpap, but I didn't have excessive fatigue before. I have a doctors appt coming up and I have a few questions. I plan to use this machine until I own it, then make a decision if I will continue. Best wishes and sleep tight!

Not understanding the putting mask on during the first night of study. The first night is to see how many you have. You might have, like me, 31 in one hour but then only 3 or 4 another hour. They did not put a mask on me the first night at all. They just noted how may episodes I had and the I went back to wear the mask. The doctor had to read the results to get final count to know what to set my machine to. I guess they are all different.