Snoring.com.au :: Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Discussion

A friend of mine living in Melbourne has classic sleep apnoea symptoms and I'm encouraging him to go to a Resmed office to rent a CPAP unit which will record his apnoeas and will report the pressure he'll need for the secondhand CPAP machine that I'll be giving him.

Are there any other independent clinics that provide a similar initial monitoring service? My friend wouldn't go throught the hassle and cost of getting a referral from a medical specialist to attend a hospital-based sleep clinic.

There are no classic sleep apnoea symptoms per se.

There are classic Sleep Disordered Breathing symptoms which can be self-evaluated via an Epworth test, but that just confirms a set of symptons and is in no way a diagnosis of the actual SDB problem.

Your friend needs to consult with a sleep clinician over their SDB symptoms. Simply assuming that the symptoms indicate OSA and moving forward to treat OSA could make things worse (as well as being a waste of money).

Cheers,

Bill

Unfortunately there are men out there who avoid taking preventative actions to improve their health and also don't have the finances or motivation to pursue the steps required to consult a medical specialist sleep clinician. My friend is one of these people who could probably be labelled as 'their own worst enemy'. While going directly to a Resmed office to arrange a test rental of a CPAP machine may not be ideal, at least sleep apnoeas would be detected and recorded (if in fact he does have any apnoea). What harm would that do?

Hi,

to have a CPAP Trial, you need a prescription... CPAP is like a drug, you can't just go on blood pressure tables because you think you might have high blood pressure. So, your freind really does need a sleep study done, to see whats heppening in his sleep. There are places where all you need is your local doctors referral for an in-home sleep study done. So you dont have to go to the hospital for a sleep study, plus its quicker and much cheaper.

There are a couple of places that do in-home sleep studies, one of them being sleep services australia (SSA) can do this and they have a website www.sleepservicesaustralia.com.au, if you would like and more info. I'm currently bulk billing sleep studies, and have no waiting list... however I am in Bendigo.

I am an agent for SSA in Bendigo, and if you have any quesire please dont hesitate to contact me.

Cheers,
Linda

If there are apneas occuring which are not obstructive, that is they are central apneas, it could do quite a bit of harm.

Central apneas may increase under simple xPAP treatment. The algorithms xPAP machines can't really tell the difference between an obstructive and a central apnea.

Cheers,

Bill

thanks Bill,

I'd never heard of central apnea, but after reading a description I realise this could be a possibility for my friend and its ultimately up to him to spend some time and money on himself.

i would also like to know if its possible to get a sleep study done that is without connection to RM?

There are numerous sleep centres across Australia that do PSG (polysomnogram) sleep studies. You might want to contact Sleep Disorders Australia, who are a "voluntary organisation with branches in each State, providing information and support to sufferers of sleep disorders and their families". Their web site is http://sleepoz.org.au/index.html

Cheers,

Bill