1st CPAP Mask Sleep Study Question - Advice Needed

So I'm having my sleep exam in 2 days.

I have to go in at 8pmand be up by lke 530 or 6 am or somehting like that.

Here's the thing. I never go to bed that early even if I try. If I go to sleep at 10pm I will probably just stay awake until 2 am. It's just my normal sleep cycle, but man do I need this test so I gotta do whatever I can to sleep during it.

I got a little ativan from a hospital visit. Sometimes it calms me down but sometimes it makes me nervous as hell, but usually that's from thinking it can screw up my sleep more so it sets off anxiety attacks for a while until I can calm myself but once I'm asleep I'm good.

I talked to the sleep technician over the phone and told her my dilemma, that it may be very difficult for me to get to sleep that early.

So here's the thing. If I take an ativan it may give me calm, but I know it may also make my throat more relaxed, isn't that the case? So that means my sleep exam might not be that accurate - or does it matter?

I brought that to the attention to the sleep tech over the phone and she suggested that it would be ok.

I have suffered for a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNG time with apnea, and this is hopefully going to be a big step on the road to getting treated! So I want it to turn out right.

Do I take the ativan? - the sleep tech says it's ok, and I probably wont freak because I know the mask will be treating me, and someone will be there to adjust it, watch over me, etc.

Or is it going to make my reading inaccurate because it wont be my true (normal) apnea episodes reading?

Anyone have any thoughts on this OR anyone have any advice on how I can fall asleep if I don't usually go to be until WAY later than the time of the sleep study? I don't think having the mask on my face will cause issues for me, so I'm just dealing with how to sleep for my test...

First question I would ask is how many people are scheduled for testing at the same time?
Next question can you hook me up last?
Next question, will this be a plait night study?

When you go in for your sleep study they connect a bunch of sensors from th top of your head to your legs and a finger.
They will put a nasal cannula in your nose. This is just a small plastic tube like they use to administer oxygen. It will sense your breathing.
No mask required for this phase of the test.

Second phase is called titration. It will determine the pressures required to treat your Apnea if in fact they determine you have apnea in phase one.
Sometimes they do both phases in one night (split night) sometimes you come back for a second night for titration.

In phase one it is uncommon for anyone to see lights out before 10 PM. In a busy lab the last person connected could easily be 12 or 1 AM before lights out. You can also bring a book to relax you and keep you occupied until you are ready to fall asleep. You can also make it a point to get up early and stay busy all day doing things to ensure you are tired for the study.

They will wake you early in the AM when they decide the test is done and their shift is nearing an end.

I avoid prescriptions so I can't help with that part of the question.

I suppose it is too late to check with your doctor and maybe get a real sleeping pill like Ambien which is commonly given out for sleep studies???
If the sleep tech is comfortable with the Ativan I would assume he/she is also likely aware of what your doctor would be okay with. Often the techs know the doctors normal routines and what the doc is okay with and what they aren't okay with. You might ask to make sure though.

While Ativan has the potential to make the airway possible collapse worse it isn't a given that it will make things horribly worse.

bwexler wrote:First question I would ask is how many people are scheduled for testing at the same time?
Next question can you hook me up last?
Next question, will this be a plait night study?

When you go in for your sleep study they connect a bunch of sensors from th top of your head to your legs and a finger.
They will put a nasal cannula in your nose. This is just a small plastic tube like they use to administer oxygen. It will sense your breathing.
No mask required for this phase of the test.

Second phase is called titration. It will determine the pressures required to treat your Apnea if in fact they determine you have apnea in phase one.
Sometimes they do both phases in one night (split night) sometimes you come back for a second night for titration.

In phase one it is uncommon for anyone to see lights out before 10 PM. In a busy lab the last person connected could easily be 12 or 1 AM before lights out. You can also bring a book to relax you and keep you occupied until you are ready to fall asleep. You can also make it a point to get up early and stay busy all day doing things to ensure you are tired for the study.

They will wake you early in the AM when they decide the test is done and their shift is nearing an end.

I avoid prescriptions so I can't help with that part of the question.

This is my second test, and they said it's for the mask. The first test was 15.7 times an hour that I stopped breathing and also like 89% oxygen or whatever. The said I have moderate. I already know, since so many of my days I feel like a zombie.

So they are giving me the mask study. I HOPE that means they will be giving me a mask too. I can't live like this much longer. Life is passing me by and all I do is live like a hermit trying to meditate to catch up on sleep, and I don't even go out much anymore. So far this has been the worst summer of my life and many of them have been bad, but it kind of used to be more like 1 day off and 1 day on, now it's getting to the point that I get more off days than I do on.

Pugsy wrote:I suppose it is too late to check with your doctor and maybe get a real sleeping pill like Ambien which is commonly given out for sleep studies???
If the sleep tech is comfortable with the Ativan I would assume he/she is also likely aware of what your doctor would be okay with. Often the techs know the doctors normal routines and what the doc is okay with and what they aren't okay with. You might ask to make sure though.

While Ativan has the potential to make the airway possible collapse worse it isn't a given that it will make things horribly worse.

So, the reason I asked for ativan is that already I have a phobia of taking medication combined with sleeping/not sleeping/waking up too early/being too tired when I do wake up/anxiety related to falling asleep because I'm afraid I will wake up tired etc. Basically this Sleep Apnea has been a terrorist in my life so long I sometimes get associated anxiety. I go through phases, but without meditation I would be a horrible wreck. So I have heard horror stories about ambien. I have also heard that if you don't fall asleep when it kicks in, it is a horrible feeling of tired.

Ativan relaxes me when it works but doesn't make me that tired. So the point is, I can fall asleep on my own fine, it's those wake ups frequently at night and then in the AM where I get screwed because I never quite know if I'm awake because I slept enough or I'm awake because I had another interruption. So it's like a guessing game. Did I sleep enough yet or do I need to try to fall back asleep. It's a gamble and it's not a very solid one - needless to say it has caused a ton of anxiety in my life, that I can handle sometimes but other times it overwhelms me and I hate life. But if I take Ambien I'm afraid I wont fall asleep when I need to and that will just make me overtired (a feeling I literally loathe) which will make for a horrible experience.

So I'm pretty sure they fit me with the mask this time, from what the lady on the phone said, and they adjust it over the course of the evening. Ps - I'm supposed to go in at 8. But I guess that makes sense. I will explain to them my dilemma but last time the guy said I had to be up and at em at like 5:30. I make sure I had a different tech this time because it clearly said on the sheet that I could sleep in till 7am if I wanted. I told him that and he said, Nope, gotta be up and out by 6.

Don't nap in the afternoon of the study if you normally do. Also exercise (physical activity) will always put you to sleep and sleep good too. Try taking a long walk before the study. You should give it a test drive a week or two before the study also.

Jimmycrackhorn wrote:So I have heard horror stories about ambien. I have also heard that if you don't fall asleep when it kicks in, it is a horrible feeling of tired.

As have I. But you know what? I have heard horror stories out there about every medication out there. Nothing comes without some potential risk or side effect. Not even plain ordinary aspirin.
Not even Ativan is without some sort of potential problem. You already know that.
But then you also know you need to sleep and you are already getting worked up and worrying about it and worrying about meds.
Maybe take the Ativan earlier to maybe lessen the anxiety????

2 days until the study? That means this Sunday night? Too late to get the Ambien anyway. You really needed to talk to your doctor about this problem and your concerns.

Guest wrote:Don't nap in the afternoon of the study if you normally do. Also exercise (physical activity) will always put you to sleep and sleep good too. Try taking a long walk before the study. You should give it a test drive a week or two before the study also.

Hard to do if the study is in 2 days. A hard day of working, jogging, or walking that makes you physically tired, if you are able to do that, should help you sleep. When you lie down with the mask on, tell yourself to relax, and that the mask/machine is really going to help your body recover from all the damage the apnea has done to it. If you are able to calm yourself down you will wake up and discover it is morning.

Good luck!

Pugsy wrote:

Jimmycrackhorn wrote:So I have heard horror stories about ambien. I have also heard that if you don't fall asleep when it kicks in, it is a horrible feeling of tired.

As have I. But you know what? I have heard horror stories out there about every medication out there. Nothing comes without some potential risk or side effect. Not even plain ordinary aspirin.
Not even Ativan is without some sort of potential problem. You already know that.
But then you also know you need to sleep and you are already getting worked up and worrying about it and worrying about meds.
Maybe take the Ativan earlier to maybe lessen the anxiety????

2 days until the study? That means this Sunday night? Too late to get the Ambien anyway. You really needed to talk to your doctor about this problem and your concerns.

I have. It's all been discussed and discussed and discussed. Trust me, I never leave any stone unturned when it comes to trying to get better - hence the reason I also posted here to see what you folks on this forum who discuss these things all the time think about this, as well. My Doctor is fully aware of the Ativan vs Ambien scenario. So far the only warning I got from anyone is, don't get addicted. That's handled. I don't take it unless I need it, and I really do not have an addictive personality. I can't even get addicted to cigarettes. If I want to quit something I quit, and I have been down some hard roads as far as quitting so I have no worries about ativan.

Sunday night! I am excited on some level behind my tiredness.

So I guess I would say I'm not getting worked up, I am covering all my basis so I can AVOID getting worked up.

If the docs, specialists, and someone with 20k posts on the cpap forum say ativan is no big deal all my bases are covered.

If it were me...I would take the Ativan if that was all I had.
Getting to sleep is paramount.
Take it with you to have it available....just in case. Take it only if you feel you need it after a short period of time and can't get to sleep.

Yes, it might make the airway tissues a little more floppy....it also might not. It's unlikely that it would make things so floppy that without it you would test negative for sleep apnea and with it you would test severe.
Couple of years ago I broke my wrist and had to have a couple of pins in it. I was on some serious pain meds at night. If it affected my airway tissues (supposed to make them more floppy or maybe cause centrals) it never showed it on the software reports.
Pressures didn't change from what I normally saw...no more apnea events than I normally see and no more centrals than I normally saw.

SleepyToo2 wrote:

Guest wrote:Don't nap in the afternoon of the study if you normally do. Also exercise (physical activity) will always put you to sleep and sleep good too. Try taking a long walk before the study. You should give it a test drive a week or two before the study also.

Hard to do if the study is in 2 days. A hard day of working, jogging, or walking that makes you physically tired, if you are able to do that, should help you sleep. When you lie down with the mask on, tell yourself to relax, and that the mask/machine is really going to help your body recover from all the damage the apnea has done to it. If you are able to calm yourself down you will wake up and discover it is morning.

Good luck!

Thanks! I hope that's how it works. I would love to wake up only like once knowing I slept a whole night. That would be a slice of fried gold.