About Sleep Studies

[JRI]

A doctor suggested a sleep study for a person who always feels tired and sleeps through the day. I have had sleep studies for Apnea but if Apnea is not suspected as the cause does it make sense to have a sleep study?
Would the sleep study be the same type of study done for Apnea?

I guess I'm just at a loss to understand what a sleep study would reveal when the person does not seem to suffer from sleep apnea but instead just seems to be tired all the time despite sleeping for 24 hours in a row.

[KSMike]

Although apnea is a primary condition they're looking for, it's not the only one. They're also looking for RLS, brain activity, normal proportion of REM sleep, etc. You sound somewhat like me - very, very tired nearly every day since the teenage years, no matter how much or how little sleep; and, I didn't snore at all until a few years ago. Anyway, if fatigue is a problem, a study is going to be the prime starting point to looking for solutions. If you find one, let me know, 'cause I'm not there yet.

[Julie]

Hi,if you mean you don't seem to snore, well a lot of people with apnea don't snore. Or if you mean you're not overweight, neither are a lot of us. But sleeping excessively points to apnea because the reason you sleep so long (if you have apnea) is that you never get restful, restoring sleep, so your body keeps trying to get more by keeping you in bed, but it doesn't work and you feel worse when you get up. The point of the study is to diagnose your sleep problem, not 'just' to confirm apnea. There are also other sleep related problems that can be seen on sleep study results to help find out what your problem is, and if it's not apnea, the study will have either confirmed something else, or at least ruled out some others.

[roster]

.........
I guess I'm just at a loss to understand what a sleep study would reveal when the person does not seem to suffer from sleep apnea but instead just seems to be tired all the time despite sleeping for 24 hours in a row.

You just described a major symptom of sleep apnea.

Please let us know the symptoms of "not having sleep apnea".

[JRI]

Thanks top everyone for the insight.

Just to be clear, the "person" I was asking about is not me. I know I have apnea and have been on CPAP for about 6 months.
I have responded well to treatment and feel a lot better than I did. The only problem is that I haven't found that "perfect " mask yet (if such a think exists) because I'm not satisfied with the leak rate.

The question was posed because a doctor suggested a sleep study for my girl friend who constantly sleeps during the day. I have not noticed any times in which she stopped breathing which is why I posed the question. The answers provided indicate that a sleep study can do more than simply confirm sleep apnea so it clears up my confusion over the doctor's suggestion.


KSMike>> I'll let you know what the outcome is when I have more info.