Bad sleep study experience

[Day_Dreamer]

there seems to be a lot of discussion about sleep labs and how things can go wrong.

I'll share my bad experience as well

I had attempted my first in lab sleep test in Jan 14

I was unable to sleep


The sleep center aggressively pursued me. They would call me at work and say I needed to give it another try. Finally I relented

After 5 hours of not sleeping during the second attempt, I decided I had enough. I started to get a panaic attack. I told the tech I needed to go home and we should conclude. He said just try to go to sleep. No I want to go home. Just relax he replied. Sir I am going home! Please remove these wires from me! He said he needed to call the manager at home and I should relax. I lost my mind Is the manager going to drive me home I asked sarcastically. No he replied. Than there is no need to call him. Remove these wires at once! Just give me a few minutes to call he said. I got up and started to rip the wires off myself. The tech said sir you are going to break it, let me help you. Sorry I gave you every opportunity to help me and if you try to prevent me from leaving, I will break more than the equipment!

[chunkyfrog]

Ihope they couldn't get paid!
Some people NEED a home study; it's just too bad these money mills are
indisposed to treating the patient before their accountant.

[Day_Dreamer]

Actually just go the claim...it was indeed denied !!

[Todzo]

there seems to be a lot of discussion about sleep labs and how things can go wrong.

I'll share my bad experience as well

I had attempted my first in lab sleep test in Jan 14

I was unable to sleep


The sleep center aggressively pursued me. They would call me at work and say I needed to give it another try. Finally I relented

After 5 hours of not sleeping during the second attempt, I decided I had enough. I started to get a panaic attack. I told the tech I needed to go home and we should conclude. He said just try to go to sleep. No I want to go home. Just relax he replied. Sir I am going home! Please remove these wires from me! He said he needed to call the manager at home and I should relax. I lost my mind Is the manager going to drive me home I asked sarcastically. No he replied. Than there is no need to call him. Remove these wires at once! Just give me a few minutes to call he said. I got up and started to rip the wires off myself. The tech said sir you are going to break it, let me help you. Sorry I gave you every opportunity to help me and if you try to prevent me from leaving, I will break more than the equipment!

The lab is not your "natural habitat" for sleep. It is very very very very bad science to do sleep studies in the lab. Measurements need to be taken in ways that do not affect the thing measured otherwise the measurements are are invalid.

We have the technology to put the sleep studies in the home. But currently we do not have the will. Simply they make way too much money doing the very bad science currently and are motivated mostly by profits.

[Day_Dreamer]

there seems to be a lot of discussion about sleep labs and how things can go wrong.

I'll share my bad experience as well

I had attempted my first in lab sleep test in Jan 14

I was unable to sleep


The sleep center aggressively pursued me. They would call me at work and say I needed to give it another try. Finally I relented

After 5 hours of not sleeping during the second attempt, I decided I had enough. I started to get a panaic attack. I told the tech I needed to go home and we should conclude. He said just try to go to sleep. No I want to go home. Just relax he replied. Sir I am going home! Please remove these wires from me! He said he needed to call the manager at home and I should relax. I lost my mind Is the manager going to drive me home I asked sarcastically. No he replied. Than there is no need to call him. Remove these wires at once! Just give me a few minutes to call he said. I got up and started to rip the wires off myself. The tech said sir you are going to break it, let me help you. Sorry I gave you every opportunity to help me and if you try to prevent me from leaving, I will break more than the equipment!

The lab is not your "natural habitat" for sleep. It is very very very very bad science to do sleep studies in the lab. Measurements need to be taken in ways that do not affect the thing measured otherwise the measurements are are invalid.

We have the technology to put the sleep studies in the home. But currently we do not have the will. Simply they make way too much money doing the very bad science currently and are motivated mostly by profits.

Yup!!!

In the end I was able to do a home sleep study which I used for my APAP prescription

[bavinck]

My doc gave me a choice of $200 home titration over 30 days or $800 in lab. My sleep study was a home one too. Your doc not giving an option?

[Day_Dreamer]

My doc gave me a choice of $200 home titration over 30 days or $800 in lab. My sleep study was a home one too. Your doc not giving an option?

No one gave me any options... I had to pay for my CPAP supplies and Machine out of pocket...Thus far I have paid over 2K

[sleepy1235]

A lot of these sleep study places are not good. You take hours to fall asleep and they have uncomfortable beds.

They are patronizing to patients.

Also, the test results are usually after you fall asleep after midnight and are dead tired with a lot of wires attached to you on an uncomfortable bed and these results are supposed to be representative of your sleep at home.

Unfortunately there isn't an organization of apnea patients with the patients' interests as their primary concern.

I am sure sleep studies bring a lot of cash flow though.

[Todzo]

A lot of these sleep study places are not good. You take hours to fall asleep and they have uncomfortable beds.

They are patronizing to patients.

Also, the test results are usually after you fall asleep after midnight and are dead tired with a lot of wires attached to you on an uncomfortable bed and these results are supposed to be representative of your sleep at home.

Unfortunately there isn't an organization of apnea patients with the patients' interests as their primary concern.

I am sure sleep studies bring a lot of cash flow though.

Yup!!! We need one of those!!!!!!!

[Day_Dreamer]

A lot of these sleep study places are not good. You take hours to fall asleep and they have uncomfortable beds.

They are patronizing to patients.

Also, the test results are usually after you fall asleep after midnight and are dead tired with a lot of wires attached to you on an uncomfortable bed and these results are supposed to be representative of your sleep at home.

Unfortunately there isn't an organization of apnea patients with the patients' interests as their primary concern.

I am sure sleep studies bring a lot of cash flow though.

Initially On my first visit, I had a bad cold and asked the tech is this going to interfere with the results. She said yes thanks you

I realized she had limited skills at English and was forced to rely on my 10th grade Spanish.....

[library lady]

For my sleep study, I was given a prescription for a couple of strong sleeping pills and instructed not to take them ahead of time but to bring them with me. They would have me take them if I didn't fall asleep within 30 minutes. After I got there and was all wired up, I asked about the medicine "how can I get up and take these pills in a half hour if I'm not asleep by then?" The RT told me they would come in and give them to me if they saw that I wasn't asleep. The bed was super comfortable; I think it was a sleep number bed. They never gave them to me. I found out in my visit with the sleep doc in the morning that I was asleep in 17 minutes.
In other words, it depends on the sleep lab and IMO the independent labs are the ones to stay away from. A sleep center within the doc's office complex or the hospital where he has privileges is likely to be more professional in dress and protocol.

[Bill44133]

Sorry to read you had bad experience with sleep study.
I had both of my sleep studies done at the Court Yard Marriot Hotel. I went through the Cleveland Clinic and they do
most of the sleep studies at the Court Yard. My Doctor told me that patients even complain about the Hotel.
I thought it was a nice touch and everything was so comfortable, I slept really well..


I wish you well...

[ems]

In other words, it depends on the sleep lab and IMO the independent labs are the ones to stay away from. A sleep center within the doc's office complex or the hospital where he has privileges is likely to be more professional in dress and protocol.

I agree... and if I have to have another sleep study, that's what I'll be looking for.

[tortoisegirl]

I had a good sleep study experience (three so far actually, all diagnostic) with a sleep clinic run on-site by one doctor who left the big hospitals to go independent. Helpful staff, comfy beds, the works. They really put patients first. The sleep study itself is tough enough to deal with by itself, without having comfort issues on top of that. I wish they offered home studies with full data. Right now it looks like most are still missing the leads to tell awake vs. asleep and sleep stages, leg movements, etc, which is what I needed (PLMD worse than apnea). For detecting plain apnea though, they can provide a lot of data.

My sleep doctor regularly offers Ambien to take with. I definitely should have taken her up on her offer for the first sleep study, but I thought my regular meds would be enough. Second & third time I took the Ambien and it was much easier, plus I think I got more accurate data since I slept longer. Unfortunately it looks like I'll want to get a fourth study, with CPAP, to check up on the number of arousals and leg movements. They do offer equipment onsite, but for some reason don't take my insurance for DME, so I had to go to another DME they recommended, which has been a mostly good experience.

Biggest issue with the DME so far is lack of information, especially before getting my CPAP. I called with questions such as what specific equipment I was getting (I only knew it was an APAP, but not what brand and not if the doctor had specified heated humidifier & hose), and what the holdup with insurance was about, and wasn't able to get answers. They kept saying they didn't have my packet in front of them, and weren't able to tell me who had it and could answer my questions. It all worked out well though as they provided everything I would have asked for, the delay worked in my favor, and the expense was less than I was expecting (already got my EOB, but not a bill). Best wishes.

[carolf]

The first sleep study went fine and the tech was very calming and spoke quietly and confidently. I got to sleep and when I needed help throughout the night, she was very unobtrusive. She would just quietly slip in and speak low and not shine a light in your face or anything. When it was done, she removed all the sensors, and didn’t leave big globs all over my head. I was even able to brush my hair.

The second time I went for the CPAP sleep study, Lisa was delayed for over an hour and 10 minutes before she could get to me, so it took til past 10:30 pm for her to get me hooked up…(I usually go to sleep at 8 because I wake up so much throughout the night). After she hooked up the sensors, I took a ¼ tab of sleep aid, so I could get to sleep, but then she had to keep coming back in to change wires that weren’t working and it was disruptive each time so added to the stress of wanting to get some sleep and knowing that the window for falling asleep was closing as she comes in and out and in and out; it’s feeling chaotic….and she’s telling me its her Monday and the wires are broken and blah blah blah...
She fitted the CPAP and gave assurances that I could tell her if it was too much pressure or if I thought it could be turned up. Finally she turned out the light.
I got to sleep, woke up once and got back to sleep, then woke up and had to use the restroom. She came to unhook me. I said I’d just be a second and it only took me about 20 seconds to pee, but then she was gone, and I had to wait for her to come back to hook me up before I could lie back down and sleep. By then I was more awake so I asked if I could try the other type of CPAP...nose only… so I did. It was worse so we switched back.
Then I think I slept a short while and woke up, but I may have things out of order being that I was asleep off and on...but I remember thinking that the thing was blowing into my mouth so hard that my cheeks were billowing and my mouth was very dry. Also, the back right side of my head had been hurting the whole night and it had gotten worse. I asked for help and Lisa came in and told me that it wasn’t blowing too hard, and that it was set low.
I asked her more than once if she could turn it down because I knew it was blowing harder than earlier and it was uncomfortable. She said if I couldn’t tolerate it like it was then maybe it wasn’t going to work for me; it was like she didn’t believe me when I said it was uncomfortable. I didn’t know what she wanted me to do… I was trying to tell her that it was uncomfortable and she was arguing with me. She was only giving me the choice of dealing with it like it was or quitting.
Finally, I agreed that it wasn’t going to work and that I should just go home. Then she left and I was waiting for her to unhook me and she finally came back and started saying a bunch of stuff, and I told her I just wanted to go home because I had to go to work tomorrow. I think she was telling me that I should do it longer but by then I couldn’t sleep anymore and she kept talking so much that I was awake and I just wanted her to stop talking at me. I told her to stop talking to me. I felt over-stimulated and anxious. I felt that if she couldn’t turn the machine down so I could try to tolerate it, then why did I have to listen to her go on and on… I wasn’t a prisoner and I wasn’t obligated to have to stay there and listen to her instead of going home to try to get some more sleep.
Then the other gal came in and got all confrontational and scolded me because I wasn’t doing what they wanted. So she tells me that they are going to play this tape for the doctor, like it’s a threat that I’m going to get in trouble for not doing what they say….and I said, I don’t care, then they can see how you talk to your patients. So then the other gal (not Lisa) starts ripping the things off my head and I said ouch cause she was pulling my hair, and she said, “well, you’re in such a hurry to leave.”...just being nasty… and I told her she was being confrontational and to go away, and thank God she did. And on the way out she pats Lisa on the arm, and looks at her real sorrowfully, like I was such an ogre….
All I was doing was trying to get done because Lisa had told me if I couldn’t tolerate it where she had it set then I couldn’t benefit from it and should quit. Then I just wanted to get out of there in the hopes that I could get a little more sleep at home before I had to work… she told me that I couldn’t sleep there unless I had that thing set where she said, and that was too uncomfortable for me.
Holy cow, it was like if I didn’t do what they wanted I was crazy.
When I left there were huge globs of stuff all over my head…. Just big thick clumps, and I wondered if that was part of the problem with the wires earlier… because at the first sleep study I didn’t have those huge globs of stuff.
So I finally got unhooked and dressed and signed out… but I wouldn’t sign the paper that said I refused treatment because I didn’t refuse treatment… I was there from 8:30 until almost 4 AM. I was leaving because I couldn’t get back to sleep after being badgered and argued with and if they didn’t think it was going to work for me then I didn’t want to be there anymore.
I really felt vulnerable and upset from the whole experience. These people were so unprofessional and even if patients feel emotional sometimes because of the stress of the situation, doesn’t mean that they should speak to us derisively.
The next day I had a sore throat.
The takeaway that I have from this experience is that I know for sure that I don’t want to get to be an old person who needs help because I fear ending up having caregivers who would treat me like this.
I also know that I will never do another sleep study… I will just sleep in a different position that will help me with the apnea.