Sleep Disorders program Ubc Hospital

Great staff

They missed the first phone appointment after I waited 3 months. Booked another one and it took another 2 months.Dr Fleetham initially mentioned possible narcolepsy. I haven’t been awake for more than 8 hours a day without aid of a friends Dexedrine. It’s been like this for a year now. He knew this.We did a sleep study. I left with no treatment or answers and was told to wait 2 months for a call. He called this morning and said nothing was wrong. It was a two minute phone call. He said he’d send his report to my doctors and wished me the best, and he hung up. I will lose my job without help. It takes a year to get an appointment here, and if you don’t have some seriously intense symptoms on that night, your file is closed.I feel completely lost. I needed help. I don’t know where they want you to go after this.Please don’t go here. Ask your doctor for somewhere else.It is harrowing to realize after a year of waiting you are still alone.

After almost a decade and a half of suffering from chronic insomnia, I was so grateful to finally be referred to a proper sleep clinic (after being ignored by doctors for all those years).At the end of my sleep testing and unsuccessful CPAP trial, Comey agreed my issue did not fit the normal apnea presentation, acknowledged I was not losing oxygen while sleeping but was getting zero deep sleep. No big deal.Comey offered me no further testing, treatment or support suggestions/references. I pleaded for him to look deeper, or do more testing. In the end, he sent me on my way as if my issue was a nuisance to him, because, you know, it wasn't one of the two sleep disorders that he treats. This behaviour alone is a violation of the current Code of Ethics and Professionalism.I had already developed mild distonia and blepharospasm from long term use of Seroquel, which was negligently prescribed based on a bipolar misdiagnosis (a very common thing these days, a perspective my current, reputable neuropsychiatrist concurs with), and so was in a desperate situation where I needed some answers and proper support, but could no longer rely on the toxic meds prescribed like candy in this twisted medical system (already did the fun benzo addiction and withdrawal thing too, although it wasn't technically an addiction" because it was doctor-prescribed!).My mother

Echoing what other commenters have said - this programme is a waste of time, and invalidating for significant insomnia or sleep disorders. All the doctors want to do is push sleep restriction and CBT-i - even if those treatments have already been tried and found ineffective.

I spent over a year trying to get help. I got to the stage of taking home a CPAP machine, finding that it works wonders and then discovering that they never did any of the required testing that would provide the data necessary for my health benefits to cover the cost of the $2G+ machine. I was told by the CPAP clinic that I need to start over and get another referral for an overnight study, with a several month wait for the Initial appointment. There is notably not enough front end staff, everyone is frantic and exhausted. They seem to have an ongoing battle with the records department, neither wants to take ownership of the sleep study records. It seems like both avoid dealing with that end of it, documents can take 2 months to be mailed out. They don't care to liaise with CPAP clinics either. I had to physically go to UBC to get the documentation twice, just to find out that it's not what I need, both times. Transit is so fun. I bought a second hand CPAP machine, the CPAP clinic I went to for 3 months gets nothing out of the deal, everyone loses, would not recommend to anyone.

Depressing reviews leads me to beleive UBC is not there to help but rather just to get funding for their research. Where does one find help for severe chronic insomnia, lost four jobs in one year due to the inability to sleep. Doctors have become PEZ pill dispensers for the big pharma and wont reffer you to anyone, ie neurolgist and/or specialist.

I was pleasantly surprised by how useful my visit here was. The Doc was very thorough and helpful. Glad I went.

The night of my appointment (after waiting a year and a half) there was a thousand year storm where you had parts of the city flooding. Unprecedented. Consequently, there was some kind of metal flashing that outside the window of my room that caused a LOT of noise. I did not sleep at all, but instead recorded the ruckus and emailed the recording back to the sleep clinic itself, as it was a total fail. It took another year for them to get back to me to try to reschedule recently but they didn’t have a suitable night available. “You could come in tonight!” was what I got, which was way too short notice. So it should be another couple of years to reschedule. By that time my severe sleep apnea will have killed me for sure. Not sure how they can be booked solid for months and months and months and never have any openings. I’m going to have to get re-referred and start the whole process over from square one. Negative five stars (-5*)

It’s hard to describe just how infuriating dealing with this program has been. Doctors forgetting/missing appointments leading to months of delayed progress, brisk phone calls that lack important details, and some (not all) staff that often seem unable to recognize what kind of impact their incredible lack of humanity has. The process from referral to obtaining some answer has taken a year, and not a single interaction with this program could be described as pleasant. I understand this isn’t an experience that can or should be compared to many jobs in the service industry — I’ve dealt with health services in the past, anyone else that has been to a hospital emergency intake or tried to deal with busy health clinics likely has had the same kind of experience I was expecting. Yet somehow, even with the bar being on the floor, I was disappointed and upset at every turn. It is difficult to find the words to accurately and at least semi-professionally explain the degree of frustration I feel because of this place.If you have the option of avoiding this program, as a patient, I would encourage it. I’m not sure what your other options may be, and I’m not sure if they would be any better — but I honestly believe they could not be worse.Good luck, to everyone out there who is looking for help and support with their sleep-related issues.

My rating is based on my experience speaking with an uninformed and inexperienced mental health doctor, Gurrinder Grewal, who was over-confident in the limited knowledge that he has and dismissive of my experience. After more than an hour of asking me questions he started to invalidate what I had shared with him, which made me feel unheard, vulnerable, and regret having sat through the interview. Luckily, I have been able to find help for my sleep issues from experienced doctors that I can trust and have already seen a huge improvement. I would not recommend the Sleep Disorder Program based on this experience.