Hello!
I just had my last appointment for my bariatric surgery program. However, due to my insurance, they are requiring me to be screened for sleep apnea. Is anyone else dealt with this? What are some encouraging words that I could have to get me through this disappointment?

Congratulations on your last appointment! Sleep apnea is a co mobility which qualifies you for the surgery. You will be fine and normally they screen you for sleep apnea in the beginning of your journey. Take this time to learn and prepare for the surgery. I know you’re anxious but it will come!

The program at the hospital doesn’t require the sleep apnea screening. My appointment was yesterday, but due to my insurance, my actual last appointment is now going to be past this year. The consult to get screened for a screening is December 29th.

1 hour ago, hkujak04 said:

The program at the hospital doesn’t require the sleep apnea screening. My appointment was yesterday, but due to my insurance, my actual last appointment is now going to be past this year. The consult to get screened for a screening is December 29th.

Just to clarify the Bariatric program at the hospital you are going to does not require a sleep apnea screening? But your insurance wants you to have a sleep apnea/sleep study done?

I can tell you a lot of insurance's require a sleep apnea check and if you meet the requirements the sleep study as well. I myself had to do a sleep study as part of an insurance requirement, and I scored a 10 (I was told this was the lowest score) however this meant my insurance now wanted me to be CPAP compliant in order to pay for my bariatric surgery. I know that having deeper better sleep will aid in the healing process, so that is a positive.

For me, I feel no different wearing the CPAP versus not wearing it. But a good friend of mine was also diagnosed with sleep apnea around the same time as me, and he told me it is a night and day difference for him and that he feels so much better now.

In the end, if your insurance wants something done and you want them to cover the cost of your surgery, then you are just going to have to do it. You might find out everything your insurance is going to require and go ahead and get appointments scheduled before they ask you to do it. You can always cancel those appointments if you do not need to do them. Pre-scheduling what you can will guarantee you are in line and not waiting longer.

I went through this too. It pushed my journey back many months and I was so disappointed. I am using this time to work more on myself mentally and do my PT excersizes. Also maybe talk to your primary care or bariatric team about starting phentermine or another appetite suppressant to kickstart your weight loss while you wait

I think most of us had to have a sleep study to check for sleep apnea - that's a pretty common screening for this surgery. I can't remember if that was a requirement of my insurance or my bariatric clinic. I had it closer to the beginning of my journey, though.

I didn't have to do it, but my husband (who is finally going to have his surgery) does. I weighed more than him and had more comorbidities, so I'm not sure why I didn't have to do it and why he does. I don't know what criteria they use to decide, but I hear it's really common. Don't be discouraged!!! I know setbacks are disappointing, but you'll get there. Trust me when I say it's better to do extra testing to be safe than to jump right in to surgery and have a lot of complications that have to be addressed later on.

I had to do it ONLY because they measured my neck and it was 11" - the supposed size of the neck that indicated sleep apnea. They just went by that number - even though I filled out a questionairre and my answers were all negative to sleep apnea. My test turned out to be near perfect sleep . I'm still mad that they wasted my time on that !

On 10/11/2023 at 7:12 PM, hkujak04 said:

Hello!
I just had my last appointment for my bariatric surgery program. However, due to my insurance, they are requiring me to be screened for sleep apnea. Is anyone else dealt with this? What are some encouraging words that I could have to get me through this disappointment?

Do they require you to go through the hospital system associated with your bariatric program to get the sleep apnea screening? I ask this, because if they DON'T require it to be through that hospital system, there are companies that do at-home sleep studies these days! I haven't used one myself, but a number of people in my program did because they didn't want to wait for availability through our hospital system. I think Lofta is one place that offers them, but definitely look into other places, if it's an option for you. I know sometimes waiting to get scheduled for all these clearances causes the longest delay.

Also, keep in mind that, if you DO end up needing a CPAP machine, you'll want to call around to different DME providers (durable medical equipment) to see who has an actual machine in stock. There was a recall of Phillips' machines a couple of years ago and sometimes a machine is hard to come by. I ended up buying mine out-of-pocket from an online retailer because I didn't want to deal with the insurance company's compliance rules (which it turns out wouldn't have been an issue for me - I hardly ever go a night without my machine!), which might be another option for you. It all depends on what your insurance will allow!

Good luck - I'm so sorry they sprung this on you right at the end of your pre-op journey!

On 10/11/2023 at 20:12, hkujak04 said:

Hello!

I just had my last appointment for my bariatric surgery program. However, due to my insurance, they are requiring me to be screened for sleep apnea. Is anyone else dealt with this? What are some encouraging words that I could have to get me through this disappointment?

Don’t be discouraged. The sleep study is nothing now. I did mine at home for like 6 days. Then did my follow up. Wow what an eye opener it was. But now I have my cpap machine (it is taking some getting used to) and my surgeon is fine with moving forward.

Also, I agree with Netty. I failed to use my preop process time wisely and now I’m 4 weeks out and scrambling.

Figure out your vitamins
Do some prep meals if you have a family so you don’t have to cook after
Get your stuff like journal
pill crusher if you take daily meds
Large water bottle
Maybe if you’re working on the other prep stuff it will take your mind off the insurance thing.

I wish I had done more preparation. Just think of it as a blessing you have more time to get things together.