Greetings - First post here... My wife has told me for several years that she believes that I have sleep apnea. I have plenty of symptoms - I snore, have trouble focusing, overweight, she says that I stop breathing (something that I can not validate but I have "snored myself awake" before). Anyway - I am considering having a sleep study to nail down whether or not I am part of the OSA club.

So - What do I look for in a sleep center? I have good insurance and am willing to pay a bit to go to a good shop. I live in Phoenix and would rather stay here but if there is enough incentive I could get to a center elsewhere in AZ or possibly Southern California.

• What questions should I ask?
• What should I avoid?
• How broad is the variance in care between centers?
• Are there any centers of excellence in either AZ or CA?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give...

Nathan

First of all most places that do sleep studies are generally pretty good (this is partially attributed to sleep apnea being a more specialized condition).

The first thing I would recommend that you do is to make an appointment with your primary care physician. Many sleep apnea clinics require that you get a referral. Your doctor can help you pick a good place and you they can help you develop good questions.

Typically at the sleep clinic they have quite a few pamphlets that will provide you answers to commonly answered questions. I would also look at websites related to sleep apnea such as resmed.com (they manufacture machines that are used for sleep apnea) or healthysleep.com, which can provide you some more information.

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Brian