If your problem is insomnia, and your doctor strongly suspects that a temporary stressful situation is causing your sleep problems, she may give you a prescription for a short-acting sedative-hypnotic medication, such as Ambien.
These medicines are safe and appropriate for short-time use to help you get through the rough patch without becoming to sleep deprived.
However, if your problems are more complex, or if your doctor notices symptoms related to an underlying movement or breathing disorder, they will probably refer you to a specialist for additional testing.
If your PCP doesn’t seem sympathetic to your concerns, he or she may not be well versed in identifying and treating sleep disorders. Some doctors may even dismiss your concerns. As strange as it sounds, sleep medicine is among the youngest fields of in contemporary medicine.
The majority of graduating physicians have 1 hour or less instruction in sleep disorders. Add to the lack of training in sleep disorders, the fact that a doctor’s clinical training involves long hours, high stress, and routine sleep deprivation.
Furthermore, tolerating sleep deprivation, during internships and residencies is commonly a point of pride among doctors, little wonder, then, that doctors who have developed a jaded view of sleep lack empathy for their sleep-deprived patients.
In addition, your doctor may be hesitant to prescribe a sleep aid such as sleeping pills because some PCPs still believe that all sleeping pills are addictive. In the past they were, but many excellent, non addicting sleep medicines are now available that your PCP may not be aware of.
Some family practitioners may also overlook sleep apnea and fail to refer patients who truly need treatment because they don’t recognize the symptoms the patient described as life threatening.
An article published in Medical Clinic of North America in 1999, reported that between 90 and 95% of all sleep apnea goes undiagnosed. Many of these cases slip through the nets of family practitioners, unnoticed.
Very recent studies published in leading medical journals this past year, indicate that sleep-disorder breathing has much wider spread and more serious consequences than previously realized. This sort of late-breaking medical news was obviously not available years ago, when your doctor was in medical school, even if sleep medicine has been taught
If you’re unhappy with your PCPs response to your concerns, ask for referral to another PCP or to a sleep specialist. Sleep specialists and PCPs aren’t the only doctors who work with sleep disorder patients.
After your doctor completes your initial exam, if he believes you need additional diagnostic procedures or more specialized care, he may refer you to a specialist. After you see your PCP you may also see:
o Neurologist
o Psychologist
o Pulmonologist or internal medicine specialist.
o Pediatrician if the patient is a child
o Otolaryngologist (nose, ear and throat specialist-ENT)
o Dentist who specializes in dental sleep medicine