22 May How Long Is a Sleep Study and What Should You Expect During the Process?
At TMJ & Sleep Solutions of Alabama, we offer our patients several sleep apnea treatment options, including oral appliance therapy. However, before treatment can begin, patients must undergo a sleep study to diagnose the condition.
When we tell inquiring, prospective patients about this treatment prerequisite, they tend to have a few questions about the process, which our staff is glad to answer. One of the more common questions patients ask is “How long is a sleep study?”
In today’s blog, our sleep medicine experts answer this question and others you probably have about sleep studies; keep reading to learn more!
How Long Is a Sleep Study?
A sleep study isn’t something you can walk into an office for one night and have done the next morning. Well, that’s part of it, but there’s more involved.
When we answer the primary question (how long is a sleep study?), we include the duration of everything in process: getting a sleep study on the books, the actual study, and getting the results back from the sleep lab.
Preliminary Steps: Insurance, Referrals, and More
The time it takes to schedule a sleep study can vary in duration from patient to patient, depending on your insurance and symptoms.
If you have symptoms you believe are sleep apnea-related, you should first have a physical exam conducted by a general practitioner, such as your primary care physician (PCP) or a walk-in clinic. The doctor performing your exam will look over your medical history and assess the symptoms you report.
Based on the doctor’s findings from your phsical exam, how you describe the symptoms you’re having, and your medical history, they will determine if you possess any of the common risk factors for sleep apnea and if your symptoms may actually be indicative of sleep apnea or something else entirely.
Some sleep apnea treatment practitioners, including us, can also provide an initial consultation before a sleep study, so patients don’t have to visit their primary care physician for a physical (unless their insurance still requires a referral). We do screenings at our office and refer patients for an in-lab or home sleep study according to their needs.
Is Seeing a Referring Doctor Necessary?
Yes. Often, insurance providers require that patients have a referral from their PCP or another doctor to cover a portion or all of their sleep study.
It is often a colossal waste of time to get a sleep study without getting an exam or recommendation from a medical practitioner, even if it doesn’t affect your ability to pay for the sleep study.
Why Is Seeing a Referring Doctor Necessary if Your Insurance Doesn’t Require a Referral?
Even if your insurance does not require a referral, they usually still need something to validate your medical need for the sleep study. If you don’t have the common risks of sleep apnea, a PCP’s recommendation is almost always sufficient.
Even though online guides to sleep apnea are very helpful, and people you know who have the disorder can share a lot of useful knowledge with you, some symptoms of sleep apnea are not exclusive to that condition. Your PCP can help you determine if you need to go to a different specialist for what seems like sleep apnea but isn’t.
If you snore, for example, it could be sleep apnea, but a deviated septum can also cause snoring, and not sleep apnea. Despite sharing a symptom, the two conditions require entirely different treatments and pose risks of other long-term health impacts.
Getting an Appointment on the Books
How long it takes to figure out the best course of action is ultimately up to your specific circumstances, but once you know the answers, you need to call a sleep study lab and set up an appointment.
If you know what your insurance requires and the sleep study lab doesn’t require a referral, you could actually call them whenever you’d like to find out when they have appointments, schedule one, and await the night of your sleep study.
The Night of Your Sleep Study
Unlike an at-home sleep study, an in-lab sleep study almost always lasts one night; you can go home in the morning.
On the night of your sleep study, you probably won’t have to sit in a waiting room very long, if at all, as long as you arrive on time for your appointment (unless you have to do paperwork or arrive too early).
Once your technicians say it’s time, they’ll bring you to a bed surrounded by equipment that will monitor your vitals and symptoms while you sleep. Sleep study technicians will quickly attach various sensors to you using skin-safe adhesive. Wires connect these sensors to the monitoring equipment.
Once you’re all set up, the room lighting will dim, and you’ll do your best to sleep until morning. It is hard to fall asleep at this time for many patients because they’re not used to being watched or covered in wires while they’re sleeping. If you eventually drift off and can sleep for at least two hours throughout the night, that will give the sleep study tech sufficient information.
Getting Back Results
How long it takes for your doctor to share your results after a sleep study largely depends on how busy the sleep clinic is, the quality of sleep data taken during the study, and the complexity of your results.
On average, it takes up to two weeks to get your results back. Call the sleep study lab if you don’t hear anything by the estimated time window the lab team gave you.
Starting Treatment
If your sleep study reveals that you have sleep apnea, you can call a sleep apnea treatment center straight away (if the sleep lab doesn’t help you coordinate it themselves, which they often will do) and schedule an appointment.
Depending on the type and severity of sleep apnea, you can take different treatment paths. If, like many patients, you have mild to moderate sleep apnea and don’t want to start with a cumbersome, bulky CPAP that makes you wake up with dry mouth, you could be a candidate for oral appliance therapy. Oral appliance therapy is a non-invasive, more comfortable treatment by comparison.
Some patients with severe sleep apnea can also be candidates for oral appliance therapy. We generally like all severe sleep apnea patients to at least try CPAP first, but if you don’t want to or your attempts were unsuccessful, we’d be glad to help you explore oral appliance therapy as an alternative.
Where to Get Superior Sleep Apnea Treatment (After Diagnosis) in Birmingham
At TMJ & Sleep Solutions of Alabama, we specialize in dental sleep therapy, treating patients’ sleep apnea with noninvasive, clinically tested, FDA-approved oral appliances. Many patients prefer oral appliance therapy (our specialty) over a CPAP. Amy Hartsfield, DMD, one of Alabama’s top experts in dental sleep medicine, leads our practice.
Our mission is to provide personalized care to restore quality of life through better sleep, one patient at a time. If you are experiencing sleep issues, don’t hesitate to contact us today to book an appointment or ask your primary care physician to coordinate a referral to our office.
If you haven’t had a sleep study yet but are interested in trying oral appliance therapy, still give us a call. Our brilliant office staff can recommend some sleep study clinics we work with for your diagnostic sleep study.