I had the sleep study from hell

I had the sleep study from hell.

Question...Did the study get invalidated?

I did everything I was supposed to do....nice and tired, no caffeine, comfy clothes, polite and charming, no nap...

I was shown to my room at the Sleep Center. I sat on the bed and immediately realized it was too hard and I'd never be able to sleep on it.

The person who showed me in said it was a Sleep Number bed and I could adjust it. She gestured to a gizmo. She disappeared after telling me to "make myself comfortable...watch TV."

I haven't watched TV for years 'cos everything on there is violent or politically nightmarish.

I settle down to an hour and a half of politically nightmarish Scarey-moochie and discussions, analysis, punditry, and prognostications thereof. The bed hurts like hell just sitting on it. I look high and low for the controller. I practically plunge my head into the nightstand, and crawl under the bed. All kinds of boxes of various descriptions, but I also don't know what to look for since I've never seen a Sleep Number bed before.

After an hour and a half, the tech comes in, ready to hook me up. I tell her the bed's too hard for me to sleep on. She said no one can find the controller.

She proceeds to wire me up.

I repeat the bed is too hard. She tries to see if the controller is floating around the Sleep Lab somewhere.

Someone has a heart attack in the room down the hall. They get carted off to the hospital portion of this hospital.

The pillows might as well belong to an Egyptian mummy. They're hard and they crackle.

I am exhausted.

I throw everything around for a while. Nothing I can do with the pillows is remotely helpful, and my back won't actually lie on the bed owing to normal back curvature towards the nether regions.

I try pulling up my knees, so they point towards the ceiling with my feet flat on the bed. That sort of works in terms of comfort, but won't do for an all-night sleepover, the odds of a blood clot with subsequent stroke being a possible outcome.

The bed is so hard, my ribs are collapsing. Not enough room for my lungs to work.

I decide to do an old trick: sit with legs straight in front and bend at the hips, upper half draped over a pillow. And sleep that way. Yeppers, like a drill sargeant ordering you to touch your toes.

I am not kidding....

At this point, the tech intervenes. "Are you okay?" Duh....

Hell no, and it's been how many hours? And I'm a person that normally sleeps within 2 minutes of lying down?

Lights a-blazing, she gets a guy in there to help take the bed apart and see if they can find the controller. Nope.

They decide to put me in another room.

Yeppers, this whole time they had a spare room (in fact, they had several) with a working bed.

Then, they had to get me moved to the other room. I grab my stuff and move down the hallway. It takes 3 trips, since I'd made myself at home in the old room, just like they'd told me to. Pretending it was just like a hotel, just like they'd told me to.

In the new room, the wires with the sensors had to go into a different wire box, since the wire box is bed-specific.

I am not kidding....

Now, we've been 20 minutes of awake time changing rooms and plugging the old wires into the new box.

I get all re-hooked up (yes, quick thinking as always, I made sure to go to the bathroom at least twice while I was having to scamper around and make compliant conversation, and......

The box is on the opposite side of the bed, right instead of the original left.

I had to sleep on the pile of wires.

I'm not kidding.....

At least I fell asleep. Since I'd been groggy for hours, this will come as no surprise.

But......

I had the nightmare from hell (it had something to do with hospital folks not listening to me and my having to sock them in the face to get them to pay attention; impressive left hook, but alas, only in my dreams), yelled, went wild, and messed up my ribs.

In the aftermath, besides being goddawful terrified, I thought I was having a heart attack (crushed ribs, squeezed heart, back pain) n'all. I didn't want to tell them lest they add to the egregious commotion and keep me chronically awake.

I was terrified all the more since the nightmare approximated reality (minus the admirable left hook).

After not sleeping for a while (owing to my "heart attack" and the need to formulate a plan of action), I finally requested a potty break just so I could walk a few steps and get my rib squeezing sensation to back off.

It didn't, but I slept....

I woke up at 9:30 am. They were supposed to wake me up at 6:30 am.

I am back home with a spastic jaw, crushed ribs, goopy hair. I'm packed in a buckwheat pillow to get rid of the terrible headache from the Egyptian-mummy pillows and the TMJ-inducing TMJ sensors. My back needs an ice pack.

I might as well have not slept a wink. Actually, I'm substantially worse off than when I began the night. Don't you think a person should be able to quantify sleep in negatives? I feel I slept -6 hours.

I did not have my usual sleep-related symptoms. I had a whole new set.

Does all this invalidate the sleep study?

Opinions?

Needs zzzzzz: Zeds

Aside from that...how did everything go?

LSAT wrote:Aside from that...how did everything go?

LMAO.

If I have to go through that again, I'll either have a very poor follow-up story or a practiced (and admirable) left hook.

I'm betting I have to go through it again. Sigh.

Yikes, Zeds! I'm so sorry you had a rough night. You tried your best, but it sounded like everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. But. . .did the tech say if they had gotten enough info from the few hours you slept? (My total in-lab sleep time was under 6 hours, but was still enough.) Perhaps there's enough for a sleep doctor to make a determination? Please keep us posted.

If that would have been me
(By the way, I am going to "my" Sleep Study tonight)

I would have brought my own pillow.
They should have told you to do that!

I would not have proceeded any further until they found the bed controller & set the hardness to my satisfaction!

And, I certainly would not have allowed them make me sleep on a pile of wires.

Zeds wrote:I had the sleep study from hell.

Question...Did the study get invalidated?

I did everything I was supposed to do....nice and tired, no caffeine, comfy clothes, polite and charming, no nap...

I was shown to my room at the Sleep Center. I sat on the bed and immediately realized it was too hard and I'd never be able to sleep on it.

The person who showed me in said it was a Sleep Number bed and I could adjust it. She gestured to a gizmo. She disappeared after telling me to "make myself comfortable...watch TV."

I haven't watched TV for years 'cos everything on there is violent or politically nightmarish.

I settle down to an hour and a half of politically nightmarish Scarey-moochie and discussions, analysis, punditry, and prognostications thereof. The bed hurts like hell just sitting on it. I look high and low for the controller. I practically plunge my head into the nightstand, and crawl under the bed. All kinds of boxes of various descriptions, but I also don't know what to look for since I've never seen a Sleep Number bed before.

After an hour and a half, the tech comes in, ready to hook me up. I tell her the bed's too hard for me to sleep on. She said no one can find the controller.

She proceeds to wire me up.

I repeat the bed is too hard. She tries to see if the controller is floating around the Sleep Lab somewhere.

Someone has a heart attack in the room down the hall. They get carted off to the hospital portion of this hospital.

The pillows might as well belong to an Egyptian mummy. They're hard and they crackle.

I am exhausted.

I throw everything around for a while. Nothing I can do with the pillows is remotely helpful, and my back won't actually lie on the bed owing to normal back curvature towards the nether regions.

I try pulling up my knees, so they point towards the ceiling with my feet flat on the bed. That sort of works in terms of comfort, but won't do for an all-night sleepover, the odds of a blood clot with subsequent stroke being a possible outcome.

The bed is so hard, my ribs are collapsing. Not enough room for my lungs to work.

I decide to do an old trick: sit with legs straight in front and bend at the hips, upper half draped over a pillow. And sleep that way. Yeppers, like a drill sargeant ordering you to touch your toes.

I am not kidding....

At this point, the tech intervenes. "Are you okay?" Duh....

Hell no, and it's been how many hours? And I'm a person that normally sleeps within 2 minutes of lying down?

Lights a-blazing, she gets a guy in there to help take the bed apart and see if they can find the controller. Nope.

They decide to put me in another room.

Yeppers, this whole time they had a spare room (in fact, they had several) with a working bed.

Then, they had to get me moved to the other room. I grab my stuff and move down the hallway. It takes 3 trips, since I'd made myself at home in the old room, just like they'd told me to. Pretending it was just like a hotel, just like they'd told me to.

In the new room, the wires with the sensors had to go into a different wire box, since the wire box is bed-specific.

I am not kidding....

Now, we've been 20 minutes of awake time changing rooms and plugging the old wires into the new box.

I get all re-hooked up (yes, quick thinking as always, I made sure to go to the bathroom at least twice while I was having to scamper around and make compliant conversation, and......

The box is on the opposite side of the bed, right instead of the original left.

I had to sleep on the pile of wires.

I'm not kidding.....

At least I fell asleep. Since I'd been groggy for hours, this will come as no surprise.

But......

I had the nightmare from hell (it had something to do with hospital folks not listening to me and my having to sock them in the face to get them to pay attention; impressive left hook, but alas, only in my dreams), yelled, went wild, and messed up my ribs.

In the aftermath, besides being goddawful terrified, I thought I was having a heart attack (crushed ribs, squeezed heart, back pain) n'all. I didn't want to tell them lest they add to the egregious commotion and keep me chronically awake.

I was terrified all the more since the nightmare approximated reality (minus the admirable left hook).

After not sleeping for a while (owing to my "heart attack" and the need to formulate a plan of action), I finally requested a potty break just so I could walk a few steps and get my rib squeezing sensation to back off.

It didn't, but I slept....

I woke up at 9:30 am. They were supposed to wake me up at 6:30 am.

I am back home with a spastic jaw, crushed ribs, goopy hair. I'm packed in a buckwheat pillow to get rid of the terrible headache from the Egyptian-mummy pillows and the TMJ-inducing TMJ sensors. My back needs an ice pack.

I might as well have not slept a wink. Actually, I'm substantially worse off than when I began the night. Don't you think a person should be able to quantify sleep in negatives? I feel I slept -6 hours.

I did not have my usual sleep-related symptoms. I had a whole new set.

Does all this invalidate the sleep study?

Opinions?

Needs zzzzzz: Zeds

Did you find that Pea they hid under the mattress? That's the first step! Jim

Other than those things, how did the sleep study go, don't hold back! I can see already how your treatment will go, don't fall off your intertube and drown, if you get to De-Nile.

As long as they can find someone to pay, they will take the money. Suggestion, pay someone to take the study for you, maybe you could work out a deal with them to do the treatment you need too.

Success without any Effort, to bad it won't help your health!

Next morning conversation.

Supervisor: Good morning. How was the night?

Technician: I had the patient from hell. Whined about everything. Had to move him to another room. I let him oversleep. Do you mind unhooking him? I'd like to go home now and forget this patient.

StuUnderPressure wrote:If that would have been me
(By the way, I am going to "my" Sleep Study tonight)

I would have brought my own pillow.
They should have told you to do that!

I would not have proceeded any further until they found the bed controller & set the hardness to my satisfaction!

And, I certainly would not have allowed them make me sleep on a pile of wires.

All good points, StuUnderPressure. Being nice and polite is okay up to a point, then you gotta give 'em hell. I wish you a good night (as good as can be expected in a sleep lab) and a good study tonight.

Oh for a rock hard mattress!

I slept on the floor for my sleep study, but neglected to bring pillows the first time - they're awful!

Next time, my 2 feather pillows and a comfy floor - even managed to sleep with the CPAP on!

I have yet to find a mattress firm enough for my bad back....

Hang Fire wrote:Next morning conversation.

Supervisor: Good morning. How was the night?

Technician: I had the patient from hell. Whined about everything. Had to move him to another room. I let him oversleep. Do you mind unhooking him? I'd like to go home now and forget this patient.

Spot on.

StuUnderPressure wrote:If that would have been me
(By the way, I am going to "my" Sleep Study tonight)

I would have brought my own pillow.
They should have told you to do that!

I would not have proceeded any further until they found the bed controller & set the hardness to my satisfaction!

And, I certainly would not have allowed them make me sleep on a pile of wires.

Thanks for your answer. This facility does not allow you to bring your own pillow.

At home, I use 10 pillows. Yes, a veritable cocoon of loveliness. I would have been satisfied taking one to the facility, though...

I was so tired, I didn't notice the wires at first. Then I was even more tired, too tired to deal with it. But now, I probably have wire marks on my back.

Hope your sleep study story isn't as colorful as mine!

Goofproof wrote:

Did you find that Pea they hid under the mattress? That's the first step! Jim

Other than those things, how did the sleep study go, don't hold back! I can see already how your treatment will go, don't fall off your intertube and drown, if you get to De-Nile.

As long as they can find someone to pay, they will take the money. Suggestion, pay someone to take the study for you, maybe you could work out a deal with them to do the treatment you need too.

Success without any Effort, to bad it won't help your health!

Bwahaha! Too funny! Even "don't hold back" is a double entendre.

First update....

It got more ludicrous.

My jaw hurts, correct? After they put the TMJ sensors on, I couldn't slack the jaw awake or asleep.
My ribs hurt, correct? The bed was way too hard.
My back hurt, correct? I was sleeping on a pile of wires.
My neck hurts, correct? I was sleeping on a pile of wires.
I couldn't breathe, correct? Crushed by the hard mattress.


Upshot? Evidently, I left the sleep center while they were on the phone to the hospital on my behalf. The nurse took those symptoms and, without checking with me, decided I must be having a heart attack! I'm supposed to go to the emergency room.

Hang Fire wrote:Next morning conversation.

Supervisor: Good morning. How was the night?

Technician: I had the patient from hell. Whined about everything. Had to move him to another room. I let him oversleep. Do you mind unhooking him? I'd like to go home now and forget this patient.

LMAO. I was actually on my best behavior to the staff, but see my next ludicrous update.

Sounds like me, went to the Dr for Diabetes diagnosis, Finger stick over 500, do got on the phone, I ask him what he was doing, he called the hospital to get me admitted, I told him in 90 minutes i'd be in the next county, loading explosives and wiring them all night. He said he would send the ambulance there! I fired him. Jim