Getting the Help You Need

If you’re interested in what I do that means you’re having some degree of struggle or unanswered questions about your sleep apnea treatment.  In a world where the healthcare delivery system actually takes care of our health, this wouldn’t happen.  But here is the reality:  “healthcare” is really just reacting to disease.  And the system is overburdened and inefficient.  

I want to give you a physician’s perspective on what I see as the major limitations to doing a better job treating sleep apnea.  

First off, the number of board-certified sleep medicine doctors is very low compared to how many people need diagnosis and treatment for their sleep conditions.  Especially when you consider that 80% of sleep apnea is undiagnosed.  You may have experienced long wait times first-hand.  People routinely wait weeks to months for their initial sleep consultation, and then weeks to months for follow-up.  If you get a sleep study, you might have to wait a long time for that too.  When you’re dealing with sleep symptoms and medical conditions impacted by untreated sleep apnea, this certainly isn’t ideal.  

Then, when you do have an appointment, it’s usually around 15-30 minutes long.  This can be fine if your situation is simple or if things are going well.  But in my experience, many people have overlapping sleep conditions or problems that aggravate other things (like anxiety).  This short time is simply not enough to help in a significant way, much less give you proper education about your condition or about sleep in general.  As a doctor, I never felt good about this.  Many, many other doctors feel the same.  

Cost is a barrier for many.  Insurance deductibles are higher than they’ve ever been.  When you find out how much an in-lab sleep study is you might reconsider or want to delay testing.  You might even opt for a home sleep apnea test (sometimes mandated by your insurance company) even though it is less accurate and only tests for sleep apnea (nothing else).  The role of your insurance company in test choice and cost may be confusing.  And if you’re diagnosed with sleep apnea and prescribed CPAP, the insurance coverage and usage requirements of the machine can be different for you compared to other CPAP users you know.

So if you’ve been through all of that, congratulations!  You’ve already made an important investment in your health.  Now don’t let that investment go to waste.  You’re moving on to getting treated and feeling better.  

You may still have questions or need a refresher about sleep, sleep apnea, or CPAP.  You may still be wondering if CPAP is really for you.  You may have some mental drama about the whole thing.  I’m here to help with all that.  I gathered up all the things you need to know about your sleep apnea and put them in a virtual course.  And I’ve created a way to answer your questions so you’re not pecking around on Google.  Even though I am not your doctor, I am making my expertise available to you.  Finally, I have created a community of other people who want to share their experiences so we can all benefit.