Only MSLT approved by insurance without overnight sleep study
I recently found out my insurance only approved the MSLT and not a sleep study the night before. I’m extremely devastated. My sleep study was supposed to be in 2 weeks, so I’ve had to completely stop all medications, pretty much putting my entire life on hold. My psychiatrist suspects narcolepsy due to my history of severe EDS and parasomnias. I also recently realised I may have been experiencing cataplexy episodes for a long time, but obviously I didn’t know that at the time. I’m pretty sure now that these “episodes” are indeed cataplexy.
I’m also taking the MCAT later this year and I’m really worried about the 7am start time and staying alert for the whole exam. I have accommodations in university to change exam start times due to documented sleeping issues, but I don’t have a confirmed narcolepsy diagnosis yet. I know that AAMC is very strict about any type of accommodation approval.
Would an MSLT without a sleep study be enough for a diagnosis? Or would they eventually need to repeat it with an overnight sleep study? It’s been so horrible stopping all of my medication, I’m so emotional and sleepy and can’t function at all. I’m very worried about needing to go through this again. I just graduated college and planned this time to do the sleep study before I start studying for the MCAT, but once I start studying/ applications/a job, I won’t be able to just take time off like this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am honestly so devastated.