Featuring Onkar Rai, B.Sc.RRT

Duration: 1 minute

Once you've been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea you will either be seen by a respiratory therapist or a nurse.

They either do home visits or you'll go into the office and spend half an hour to an hour learning about your disease treatment process. So with obstructive sleep apnea or central sleep apnea, they would be going into your signs and symptoms and then actually fitting you with the equipment.

You should have different options for machines and different options for masks. The therapist will follow you shortly after. Be it a week or a few days, to see how your trial is progressing. Typically, they'll follow you after a week, at two weeks, and until your ready and comfortable with your CPAP machine.

Then the therapist will do an overnight oximetry test. This is to ensure your oxygen levels are appropriate on the CPAP pressure. By reviewing the results your doctor will ensure that's the right type of machine to treat your sleep apnea and the correct pressure. What they may also sometimes order is a titration study and that's a follow up involving an overnight stay in the hospital to fine tune the settings on the CPAP machine. This will be ordered by a sleep physician.

If you have questions about CPAP trials, contact your local sleep specialist.

Presenter: Mr. Onkar Rai, Sleep Specialist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Sleep Specialist