Background (or skip to next paragraph): I've been trying to pay more attention to my health after avoiding it for sometime. Aprt of that included a smartwatch. I had an older Samsung that I usually charged at night. After discussing resting heart rates I started to pay attention to mine so I kept it on while sleeping. To my surprise my heart rate while sleeping was higher then my "resting" and would consistably be over 100. I started eating better, exercising, lost 30 pounds. But I didn't notice much change. After some research I read my increase in heart rate could be related to sleep apnea. I decided to pick up a new Garmin Venu watch and track my SpO2 while sleeping. I average 89% which includes some awake time before and after sleep. My lows have dipped to low 70s. I decided to schedule a physical and talk with my doc. I gave him the data I collected from my watch over a couple weeks and he referred me to a sleep specialist. Right around this time COVID-19 started shutting everything down here in Michigan. So I wasnt getting into a specialist anytime soon. I started looking into other options such as online companies for mail order tests. At first I wanted a thorough test to make the best use of time/money. I found one that measured nasel air flow rates, chest and abdominal breath movements, EGG to determine sleep stages all manually scored for $500. But they wanted a referral from my primary care, who didn't want to order it because I don't think he wanted to be responsible for treatment. He's not a specialist so I guess that makes sense. With the data I had collected, looking at other symptoms such as morning headaches, migraines, pre hypertensive BP, bad morning brain fog, gasp when I wake up, ... I felt I had a strong possibility of sleep apnea. I just needed to find a way to get tested. A couple people here had recommended Lofta. Honestly was a bit skeptical of a company that also sells CPAP equipment but at this point I didn't have a lot of options and decided to give their test a try. For $190 I was willing to try it. Heck, they advertised ONE WEEK to get into therapy. Plus their prices seemed pretty good on equipment.
Here's my experience.
Day 1 3:32 PM. Ordered home sleep test - Mar 24.
Day 1 4PM. Got an email with quesntionaire/history from isleep physician's group and completed it around. Only took 10 minutes to complete.
Day 1 9:19 PM. Got an email that my documents were complete. Which was a copy of my questionaire with a page at the bottom that was completed by a physician saying it was medically necessary to conduct at home sleep study.
Day 2, 7:51 PM got an email saying my sleep study kit shipped. Which is when the shipment arrived at USPS facility. Based on tracking it was supposed to arrive day 7. But it arrived early, thanks USPS. I'm pretty confident the test kits are shipped, handled, and scored by a 3rd party, Iitamar Medical the brand the WatchPAT device.
Day 4 Kit arrived. It came with an older WatchPAT model then what's indicated in the photos on the website. The kit contained the watch, pulse oximeter finger probe, RESBP, instruction guide, long bandaid help hold RESBP sensor in place, and return address label.
The instructions we're pretty straightforward. Attach everything, hold the power button down to turn it on and wait for it to be done "testing" and when it's ready it says "goodnight. Recording..."
Day 5. I felt like I didn't sleep well. Woke up more than usual and took longer for me to fall back asleep after waking. I dont know if I was uncomfortable because of the equipment or just being anxious about the test. There's no off button. It seems to just shut off after 10 hours or so of recording. I reached out to support to see if I could recharge it and record another nights. They got back to me pretty quickly but indicated they are only configured to record one night. But if they didn't "get enough data" they would send me another test. My concern is that the device doesn't truly know when I'm asleep so my AHI will be low due to the ammount of time I was not sleeping. I shipped the device back the following day as instructed. Because of COVID-19 they quarantine the equipment for 3 days before pulling data from equipment. I wish they would have sent an email notifying me of this especially since they advertise it only takes a week to get into therapy.
Day 10 5:30PM. I got an email with my results, yes I have sleep apnea! and letting me know they had my prescription on hand so I could order equipment. I sent them a message asking for my prescription just to see what that process looked like and right away they sent over a PDF of it. I wanted to see if they would make it difficult to purchase from another supplier. But I was happy with their prices and support so far.
I was kind of expecting a lengthy sales call before I could order but that wasn't the case. They did give me a number to call to go over my results if I wanted to. I decided to place an order for a Dreamstation with humidifier, heated tubing and dreamwear nasel mask. It was shipped 24 hours later (day 11) and I got tracking. It's shipping UPS ground from California it's scheduled to arrive on day 17. I was a little disappointed in the shipping that was chosen. They advertise a week from initial sleep study test order to therapy. But they chose a shipping speed that takes a week alone for the therapy equipment to get to me.
Day 17 - is tomorrow and my equipment is scheduled to be delivered.
The one week to therapy that is advertised is not really possible, even without the 3 day COVID-19 quarentine so I wish they wouldn't set that expectation. But Lofta satisfied a need I really had. After this pandemic I plan on following up with a local specialist. I'm sure they would meet the needs of others as well such as high deductibles, lack of insurance. Or those searching for an early indicator before spending a lot of money at a specialist.
I hope this helps!
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https://www.reddit.com/r/SleepApnea/comments/fxffxz/lofta_review_my_experience/
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