Sleep Apnea Overview of How Sleep Apnea is Diagnosed and Treated

Sleep Apnea awareness is on the rise. Sleep Apnea is defined as the cessation of airflow for ? ten seconds that occurs during sleep. Two tools your health care professional may use to assess the risks for Sleep Apnea are the Berlin Questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The Berlin Questionnaire assesses the frequency of snoring and daytime fatigue. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale assesses how easy it is for a person to become drowsy during the day.

Once your health care care professional has determined there is a risk for Sleep Apnea you are typically referred to a Sleep Laboratory. The Sleep Lab is a facility that employs numerous qualified team members such as Physicians, Respiratory Therapist, Polysomnographic Technicians, and Medical Technicians. The patient is required to stay ove
ight at the Sleep Lab while the qualified medical professional observes the patients sleeping activity's. Once a diagnosis of Sleep Apnea has been determined a patient may be required to return to the Sleep Lab for a second test for a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) titration study. If it is determined you have Sleep Apnea you are typically contacted by a DME (Durable Medical Equipment) company like Colonial Medical Supplies who can set up your CPAP equipment and bill your insurance.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the most commonly prescribed treatment for Sleep Apnea. CPAP can be described as positive airflow from a small machine flowing through a six foot tubing approximately one inch in diameter attached to a device such as a nasal mask or full face mask. Your physician may prescrib a specific nasal mask such as the Resmed Ultra Mirage, Respironics Comfort Gel, Profile Lite mask, or the Fisher Paykel HC405, HC406 petite, HC407 standard mask. For the patient that is a mouth breather your physicians may order a full face mask like the Resmed Quattro or Ultra Mirage, Respironics Comfort Gel, or Fisher Paykel HC431 or HC432. If a patient experiences claustrophobia they may benefit from a nasal pillows which will go directly into the nose. Some examples of nasal pillow devices are Resmed Swift LT, Respironics Optilife, Respironics ComfortLite 2, and Fisher Paykel Opus system.

Ongoing monitoring and follow up's between the physicians and DME company are essentially for all patients. Colonial Medical Supply Senior Respiratory Clinician will make several contacts with new and ongoing patients to ensure comfort and compliance with there CPAP. Early detection with CPAP non-compliance or discomfort is addressed and relayed back to the physician. Colonial Medical Supply Senior Respiratory Clinician along with the Customer Service Representatives (CSR) believe in patient and physician satisfaction. n