Our Evaluation Process:
In order to properly evaluate you at REM Sleep labs, you need to see your primary care
physician. He or she can contact REM Sleep toll free at (888) 866-1211 or fax a
prescription to (888) 866-1311. We will take it from there.
We will verify your physician’s order, and check with your insurance company for
coverage. You will be sent a short questionnaire to help us better understand the
conditions you are facing with your sleep. When your appointment is made, we will send
you a map and directions to our nearest or most convenient facility along with a
confirmation of your appointment time and date.
Usually, you will be asked to spend the night in one of our comfortable evaluation rooms.
A specially trained technologist will apply sensors to your skin and hair (no pain or
needles!) and show you to your private bedroom, where you will be able to change into
bedclothes and relax for a short time. A television and videos are available in your
bedroom to help you relax. After answering a few questions about your day’s activities
and supplements or medications you are taking, the technologist will ask you to lie in bed
and test the sensors to assure they function properly. Then you are off to sleep just as
you would at home.
While you are sleeping, the technologist will monitor your every breath and movement.
A bathroom is available just outside your room, and a hands-off intercom is available if
you need any assistance during the night. Most patients will stay in the sleep center for
six to eight hours. The technologist will see that you are up in plenty of time to go to
work or have breakfast.
After you leave, your study will be analyzed minute by minute by a technologist, who
will determine how much sleep you have had, and how you have responded while asleep.
Anything abnormal (for example breathing pauses, teeth grinding, or heart beat
irregularities) is noted and sent to a specialist physician for interpretation. The results are
then forwarded to your own physician (often the next day) with recommendations for
treatment, which your physician can then discuss with you.
If you have already been diagnosed with a breathing disorder (apnea), your doctor may
order a CPAP (see-pap) study. The technologist will ask you to place a small mask over
your nose, then go to sleep while wearing the mask. While you sleep, you will be
monitored as above. When your breathing becomes obstructed, the technologist will
apply a small amount of air pressure to the mask remotely in order to keep your airway
open. This pressure may be adjusted throughout the night until your breathing is regular
and your sleep uninterrupted.
Your doctor may also order a “split-night” study. You will sleep for a few hours while
the technologist monitors your breathing (and other things), then sleep with the CPAP
mask while the technologist adjusts the pressure to correct your breathing.