HST results and questions

[kuyabv]

So, to start, I haven't been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I got a home sleep test done the past two nights in a row and I have a few questions about it. Both sleep tests came back negative for sleep apnea but the doctor did find some abnormal sleep patterns. I wake up/sleep is disrupted every 5 to 10 minutes (am consciously unaware of it) but not due to sleep apnea. I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience with this at all. What is a disruption? Could it be the HST device was uncomfortable and so I was waking up? Could waking up every 5 to 10 min cause fatigue during the day? I'm going to have an in lab sleep test done but I wonder how accurate it will be if it's uncomfortable. What are in lab sleep tests like? Sorry if this isn't the correct place to post this- I'm a newbie!

[Pugsy]

Could waking up every 5 to 10 min cause fatigue during the day?

Most definitely. How about I come over to your house and poke you every 10 minutes with something sharp to cause you to awaken either fully or partially? How do you think you would feel the next day? Pretty crappy for sure. Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) isn't all about apnea events. There's a long list of culprits that can mess with sleep quality.
Now I am not saying that you have this so take it with a grain of salt but google "Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome"...UARS and see if anything strikes as possible with you.
When we wake often we don't get into the nice normal progression of the sleep stages and we need a nice normal progression for the restorative powers of sleep to work their magic. If you don't get the needed percentage in each cycle it's pretty much guaranteed that you will fill like crap the next day.
Now figuring out what might be the cause of the arousals isn't always so easy and you have to know what the problem is to better figure out how to fix it.

I'm going to have an in lab sleep test done but I wonder how accurate it will be if it's uncomfortable. What are in lab sleep tests like?

They hook you up to a lot more wires and stuff than you had with the home study (depending on which home study you have because some of them are fairly comprehensive). Not particularly uncomfortable but it's stuff attached to you in a foreign environment so might not be all that conducive to good solid sleep. You might ask your doctor about taking some sort of sleep aid if you tend to be a "light" sleeper and wake easily.

Also look at any medication side effects. Some meds really mess with sleep architecture and some cause some sort of insomnia (either sleep onset or sleep maintenance).
Also look at any other health problems which might be a factor. I have OSA and the cpap fixes that pretty good but I also have some bad back/neck/pelvis issues so pain wakes me often. Unfortunately one of my pain medications messes with sleep...insomnia is a known side effect with it in a small number of patients. I am damned if I do and damned if I don't.

[englandsf]

Wait for the real sleep lab. I bet you have apnea but your AHI may be in the low risk range. Then come back and talk to us...

[Pugsy]

While some of this talks directly about sleep apnea there are some other useful points that might help you understand things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gie2dh ... e=youtu.be