Sleep study results, not sure if I need to pursue treatment

[Peaceful sleeper]

As far as meds I take my thyroid med and 100mg of tramadol a day for chronic pain.

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are struggling. I'm just gonna throw this out there. Have you considered that the tramadol is the culprit or at least a contributing factor? I say this because my daughter was on tramadol for the same thing as you and whenever she took it she could not sleep. Her Dr. Was sure that this was not what was causing her problem because the drug is not supposed to do that, he said. Recently he changed her med and no more sleep issues!

[GSDgrl82]

As far as meds I take my thyroid med and 100mg of tramadol a day for chronic pain.

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are struggling. I'm just gonna throw this out there. Have you considered that the tramadol is the culprit or at least a contributing factor? I say this because my daughter was on tramadol for the same thing as you and whenever she took it she could not sleep. Her Dr. Was sure that this was not what was causing her problem because the drug is not supposed to do that, he said. Recently he changed her med and no more sleep issues!

Actually yes I was wondering this! I used to be on a narcotic pain killer but for obvious reasons I didn't want to stay on it long term and tramadol works really well for me but it seems to upset my stomach and may be possibly causing some sleep issues so I'd actually planned to taper off and see if I improved at all. Right now I'm feeling that I might want to do another sleep study to try and get a more accurate picture... I just don't think 82 minutes and zero REM sleep is good enough for me to feel fully confident with this diagnosis.

[Pugsy]

FWIW....I don't take my Tramadol after 6 PM because it wires me up and I sleep for a couple of hours and wake up and end up cleaning the house at 2 AM. While it does come with a "may cause drowsiness" sticker...there are a few people it does the opposite and insomnia is a known side effect...not many of us but enough to get a mention in the side effects list.

I also have some chronic pain issues and have worked with my doctor on figuring out something else to take at bedtime so that I don't end up cleaning the house at 2 AM (which it probably needs but I don't want to do it )

[raisedfist]

Maybe you would sleep better with a home sleep test? I honestly don't think 90 minutes of sleep, with no real REM recorded sleep, is very useful in determining anything.

[Julie]

Yes, but the labs do think it's long enough, so that's all that counts.

[palerider]

Yes, but the labs do think it's long enough, so that's all that counts.

just like an AHI of 5 is "good enough"

[Gryphon]

Given how exhausted your feeling and the fact that no REM was shown in your sleep test. I'd suspect that like my first sleep study that was done they didn't get a good picture of what is really going on.

My first test ever was ruled "inconclusive" or some such nonsense and I went like another 10 years with out having a proper diagnosis. The second time I had a study done my apnea was bad but when I hit REM my oxygen levels crashed and went down in the low 50's. Thankfully for me I was still rather young when all of this was going on so I've now been on CPAP for the last 10 years and I'm going to be turning 40 this year. I could have had better luck and been diagnosed when I was 20 or earlier but it is what it is. I'm thankful that I know about it and am treating it well.

I'd light a fire under the butts of that DR's office. The same way I handle my DME now. Be a polite but very firm pain in the neck until you get what you need then I'd fire the lot of them and find a new Dr who will treat you better and with more respect as a person.

One other thing you could try that can be done at home. See if you can get a recording oximeter and wear it while you sleep and see what the results show. If your oxygen levels are dipping each night as you sleep you definitely have an issue that should be treated. I wouldn't let them sweep you under the rug just because your AHI was close to 5 when they recorded so little time for your test.

[GSDgrl82]

Thank you Gryphon! I am going to go see a different doc, see what his opinion is but I'm really thinking that I'm just going to get another sleep study with a prescription sleep med, though I plan to try some out first if possible because I tried Ambien once and it didn't work(I am very good at fighting sleep meds) and I didn't like the way it made me feel. I know that I could probably get a machine now but I don't like not truly knowing what is going on when I'm fully asleep. We'll see. This last week has been awful, I wake up feeling terrible.. sore throat, headachey and so tired I just feel like going right back to sleep. Something's got to change here.

[GSDgrl82]

FINALLY. Saw a new doc and now have another sleep study to do a titration with a cpap. Got very sick this weekend and almost went to the hospital so now have more testing I need to do for another possible illness, I've not been having a good time lol but at least hopefully soon I will have my cpap and can begin to see if I get better rest.

[D.H.]

FINALLY. Saw a new doc and now have another sleep study to do a titration with a cpap. Got very sick this weekend and almost went to the hospital so now have more testing I need to do for another possible illness, I've not been having a good time lol but at least hopefully soon I will have my cpap and can begin to see if I get better rest.

Just an aside here. Sleep Apnea is usually worse in REM sleep than non-REM sleep. Thus, while 82 minutes might be "enough," the fact that you were not in REM sleep means the sample is inadequate.

[GSDgrl82]

Oh I know but not sure what to do about it besides doing another sleep study which costs a thousand bucks.. by the way I feel I'm fairly certain my apnea is much worse than mild.

[Woody]

You may also want to look at exercise. Some studies say a good conditioning program even in
the ABSENCE of any weight loss helps reduce Sleap Apnia. Do I think exercise will cure my sleap
apnia HECK NO that's why I have 2 backup Cpap an Oxygen Generator and just in case a backup
oxygen generator. But in your case with an AHI as low as yours is exercise might be your ticket
besides it might help your insomnia too.

[D.H.]

Another aside. Even if your "mild" numbers hold up, the correlation between "severity" and risk is not well understood. That is that the risks of untreated Sleep Apnea are known, but the correlation between how severe one's case is and how high one's risk is is not known. It is reasonably assumed that higher severity = higher risk, but how much additional severity equates to how much additional risk is not well understood.

[Julie]

And she needs to know that confusing stuff right now why? How do you think it will help her in the midst of what's already problematic for her?

[LSAT]

And she needs to know that confusing stuff right now why? How do you think it will help her in the midst of what's already problematic for her?

He is a wannabe writer and loves to see his name in print.