Sleep Study Results
Questions to Ask Doctors About Sleep Apnea Study Results

Did you had a sleep study? Questions to ask about your sleep study results.
What questions to ask your doctor or sleep technician after you receive the sleep study results?If you don't want to get stuck with a poor CPAP machine and have to buy a new one out of your own funds, you need to know more about your sleep during the sleep study. Hopefully, you will the one of the very few who experience the miracle of great sleep in a short time during the titration study. But don't expect to and don't get upset if you don't. While the more sleep you get the better the odd the sleep technicians will find the exact pressure for you, they really only need one complete sleep cycle and a minimum of 2 hours of sleep out of 6 hours bedtime and get the ideal pressure for you. To understand better, the sleep cycle consists of:
Knowing the information about your sleep from the sleep study results can make a difference in your future treatment. For example:
- if you know that you sleep on your side better than on your back, you are already qualified for positional therapy for sleep apnea.
- if you know that you breathe with your mouth open, this means that you may have an ineffective CPAP treatment with a nasal mask or nasal pillow. However, you can be more successful with a CPAP full face mask.
- if you know that you have central sleep apnea, you will need medication besides CPAP therapy.
Not all the sleep centers will give you all the information you need from the sleep study results. Most of the time, they will speak with your doctor or they will recommend the treatment directly.However, you need to ask the sleep doctor more about your sleep test. The answers from the doctor will help you to make better decisions regarding your treatment for sleep apnea.
Here are the questions to ask about your sleep study results:
To fully benefit from your sleep study results, you should also:
- request a copy of the doctor's dictated results and the full scored data summary report, with condensed graphs, from both your sleep evaluation and your titration.
Remember that you have a legal right to these copies under The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- Request that you be given a copy of your equipment order (prescription).
You will want to shop your local DME provider options before committing to purchase. You will also need that prescription in case your CPAP or accessories are lost, stolen or broken while traveling.
- Ask that your equipment order (prescription) include:
- access to AHI, AI and Leak Data turned on,
- heated humidifier,
- nasal cushion, full face masks, nasal pillows or oro-nasal mask of patient's choice.


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