recommendation for sleep study in Houston area

[Old97]

My doc is recommending a sleep study. Boo!

has anyone had a good experience with one of these places in the Houston area? I am wary of my doctor's referral.

thanks.

 

[hannanmike]

My doc is recommending a sleep study. Boo!

has anyone had a good experience with one of these places in the Houston area? I am wary of my doctor's referral.

thanks.

Since your doc has suggested a sleep study, he might be suspecting sleep apnea in your case.

Based on my experience, I would strongly suggest that you should be very careful before finalizing a Sleep physician. This is mainly because he might take about 4 to 6 weeks before giving you a clear certification whether you have sleep apnea or not. Thereafter, if you have sleep apnea, you would need to take the certi + docs to your AME. The process becomes confusing after that if your AME is not experienced enough. It might get entangled in FAA's backlogs, and you might face unnecessary delays.

Best thing to do --->>
+ Go to the app store on your smartphone (android/apple) and search for a free app called "zee appnea".
+ Run an overnight sleep breathing test.
+ You will get an expert analysis report within 48-hours indicating whether you have sleep apnea or not.
+ Thereafter, you can ask them for an appropriate sleep doc in Houston area who is experienced enough with FAA's requirements for pilot's sleep study.

This way you will be assured of being offered a safe & experienced care.

Hope this helps

 

[JimNtexas]

If the sleep says it will take six weeks to get an answer, go somewhere else.

It should not take more than a couple of days for the sleep doc to read the study.

 

[hannanmike]

If the sleep says it will take six weeks to get an answer, go somewhere else.

It should not take more than a couple of days for the sleep doc to read the study.

Yes, it should't take more than a couple of days to read the study. But, it definitely takes longer to get all the documents in order.

In most cases, this is how it works -
Step 1: Setup an evaluation appointment with the Doc. The appointment that you will get will usually be 2-3 days to a week from today. This would be a normal consulting kind of appointment. At certain busy practices, this appointment date could be about 2 weeks away.

Step 2: You go to meet the doc. He gets your basic details, understands your case and does a sleep evaluation. He would recommend one of the sleep studies. If he is supportive and if found appropriate, he would recommend a home sleep study that can be done the same or next day. However, in many cases, they are not comfortable with such home based studies, or your case might require a study at their sleep lab. In that case, the appointment for such a sleep study would be another 1-2 weeks depending on how busy his practice is.

Step 3: You will go for the sleep study. Thereafter, they will call you again for a follow-up visit when they will give you the sleep study readings. This will usually be 2-4 days away from the day of your sleep study.

This is the first half of the process. So, by the end of 3-4 weeks, you get to know whether you have sleep apnea or not. Thereafter, if you have sleep apnea, you will have to get one of the suggested devices, get comfortable with using it, and then prove compliance with it. This would take a minimum of 3 weeks to about 2 months (Depending on your condition).

So, if you have sleep apnea, it might take about 6 weeks to 3 months from today to get all your documents in proper order as per FAA's requirements.

 

[JimNtexas]

I never met my sleep doctor, so I didn't do steps one or two. My GP set up the study.

A couple of days later they faxed the report to my GP and to me. Time from appointment with my family doctor to having the report with CPAP prescription in my hand: two weeks.

To satisfy the FAA you have to provide 31 days of CPAP data, showing six hours of use for about 80% of the days, I don't recall the exact percentage. I think they required a note from my family doctor saying I didn't look sleepy, but I'm not sure.

Take that to the AME and you can walk out with an SI, if the AME knows how to work the system.

Repeat every year.

 

[hannanmike]

Repeat every year.

Oh yes, repeat every year.

But in many cases, they don't require a repeat sleep study. All that sleep doc needs to see is the compliance data from your cpap device, and can issue a compliance certificate just based on that. You take the certi to your AME and that's it.

 

[JimNtexas]

Oh yes, repeat every year.

But in many cases, they don't require a repeat sleep study. All that sleep doc needs to see is the compliance data from your cpap device, and can issue a compliance certificate just based on that. You take the certi to your AME and that's it.

That's correct. You don't need a new study every year, just the 31 day report.

And I don't think you need to see the sleep doctor again.

 

[Doggtyred]

My recommendation is to use whomever your insurance covers as your starting point. Otherwise it can get very pricey. While my study was covered by insurance, the read went to a local pulmonologist at the hospital I worked at. Unbeknownst to me a year before they had quit taking the insurance of the employer of the hospital that they serviced.

That was a $1500 mistake.



So.. check with your insurer. Get several names from DIFFERENT groups and then check around based on those docs. If you come back with a name I know I will be glad to give a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Houston is my back yard and I've been in healthcare for 20 years... so... give it a whirl.