Hi everyone.

I'm pretty certain that I have some form of sleep apnea.  Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I literally can't breathe through my nose.  My GF also says that I stop breathing throughout the night.  This, plus the fact that I am always fatigued and fall asleep while driving (something I avoid at all costs now) made me realize I really need to get this checked out.

This is where I'm confused, though.  Do I go to my regular doctor or do I need to see a specialist?  I would rather just go straight to a sleep center, but the local ones seem to require a doctors referral.  Could my regular doc provide this or do I need to see a sleep doctor?  Any advice would help, thank you!

I owuld try to go straight to the sleep Dr..they are either pulmonologists or neurologists who are board certified in sleep medicine.  If they do not take you without a referal then go to your GP to get the referal.  Best to not have a gp manage your SA care..they may be ok but are not versed on it..hard for them to speicalize on every condition/illness out there..keep the GP to just over see it along eith your other conditions...so they can keep an eye on the big picture.

The specialists..in any specialty are only looking at the one particular condition (the tree) and the GP can keep track of how it relates to your other conditions (the forest).

Good luck!


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Thanks Mrs RVW.

Yeah, my GP prescribed me some Nasonex, she thought it was some allergic condition or something.  Needless to say, it didn't help at all.  I will see if I can find a sleep dr in my healthcare network.

As long as your insurance doesn't need the referral, going straight to the sleep doctor shouldn't be a problem. As Mrs. RVW mentioned it's definitely a good idea to keep your GP in the loop because sleep apnea affects so many other areas of your health.

Good luck. We will be here for you.