Questions about study

[dhawken]

Hello everyone, recently discovered this forum after starting some research into getting my own machine without a px. Looking through some of the topics, I don't believe I've found an answer to my original question but lots of possible people who might. Essentially, I am looking for a machine to try out at the recommendation of numerous friends and relatives who have OSA and machines and swear by them. I feel i can relate very closely to all their symptoms. I have always snored like crazy and my wife is getting concerned with the breathing stopping and starting and all that. No matter how many hours of sleep i get, I never feel rested. I have had bad bouts of insomnia all my life, varying between getting to sleep, staying asleep and both in the same night. Like others, I've never felt like I was as productive as some early in the morning and late at night and could never figure it out. Heavily reliant on coffee in the morning, and have major crashes in energy each evening to the detriment of much family play time and work around the house! I feel like I tend to get crap sleep for a few weeks and then if circumstances allow, get a major sleep with actual dreaming and stuff to allow me to go for another few weeks or I just get so run down, I pick up the first ailment floating around. With a 2 year old in daycare now, EVERYTHING is now floating around and I'm sick a lot.

Based on all that and at my wife's urging, I did go for a sleep study (bout 3 years ago). The diagnosis came back that I had no issues and had gotten a great sleep. This confused me, as I distinctly remember looking at the clock about every 10 minutes for multiple hours trying to fall asleep, and then waking up at times all night and seeing the clock and getting all worried about pulling wires and crap as I tossed and turned. I could give the times on the clock with each wake up. The study results said I had fallen asleep immediately and stayed asleep all night with minimal movement and good eye movements etc etc. My first thought was the results were mixed up with someone else, but what can you do? It sure felt like I had had a "normal" (for me) night's sleep at the place and it was, as usual, an abject disaster. In any case, no PX from that study so that was the end of it at that time.

Anyways, that was 3 years ago and I pretty much used the results of the sleep study as my answer to friends and family (and my wife) that in fact, I didn't have any kind of apnea and all was well, despite not feeling rested ever or being able to sleep like what I perceived to be a normal person. After some discussion with my wife and a close friend, I'm thinking of trying the machine out on my own. If there's even the slightest chance of not feeling this way, I'm up for it.

Questions for any experts hanging around:

1) What is your take on my sleep test result? Is it more likely the results are wrong or that I don't have any issues? Or maybe I dreamed I wasn't asleep??
2) What are the downsides to trying a machine if I don't have any SA issues?
3) If I really don't have any SA issues, what could be causing my problems?
4) Assuming proceeding with my plan is a good idea, what machine would be a good starter and should I get a PX from somewhere?

I probably am missing some relevant details, so please ask/answer away if you can.

Thank you
Daryl

[Julie]

I'll start with Q #3 - An enormous number of things could interfere with sleep and make you tired! You need a doctor to check it out for thyroid issues, chronic fatigue, anemia, a 1,000 other things, and just assuming you have apnea in the face of a clean study is nonsense. Plus machines cost money and masks cost money (esp. when you shell out for many til you find the right one), and playing with your respiratory function can mess you up if you need something different.

And many, if not most, people think they're getting no sleep (during a study) but in fact they may well get quite a lot.

[dhawken]

Interesting that many think they have no sleep on the study but do. I wasn't aware of that. As for the original thought, my doctor finally recommended the sleep study after exhausting the other standard possibilities - I should have mentioned that.

[Pugsy]

Did you by any chance get a copy of that sleep study to maybe see what was specifically said and how much sleep you got and how much in each sleep stage ...and all that?

Normally they don't totally miss apnea events....especially if they are numerous enough for spouse to spot them.

[dhawken]

Yes, we did get a copy of the report. I originally didn't - it went right to the referring physician who was the one that called me and said that everything was fine. I then requested a copy to see what it said. I don't know if I still have it, but it was that report that got me wondering. If I remember correctly, it said I fell asleep immediately and had very few movements and basically slept all night. I was pretty sure I was tossing and turning as much as one could with all the wires on there, did not fall asleep immediately, and woke up and checked the clock many times all night. My initial reaction was not that they missed any events with me, but more that they had the wrong person entirely. I don't know what to think now - maybe another test is in order? I wonder what the insurance says on another test - perhaps that's the direction I should be leaning.

[Julie]

I suppose you COULD have had a bad tech monitoring you, I'm sure it happens, but I also wonder if your wake-ups/clock checks were more obvious to you in your half-asleep state, and possibly seemed more frequent. Not blaming you of course, but some things can be subjective. It is true though that people routinely underestimate the amount of sleep they get, and aren't conscious of drifting off between times they are aware/awake. Thing is though, that if the equipment did not register events, it did not, and that's hard to argue with.

[Rob108]

I thought I had a pretty "normal" night during my study (even with all the connections). I fell asleep pretty fast but never got past stage 2 sleep. My "room" had no clock in it because the tech was responsible for getting me up at the time I told them I would normally wake. I think that it was really to keep me from obsessing about what time it was. I was also given a questionnaire about my night and my current state of awakeness before I left.

[dhawken]

Yep, I also had that questionnaire and put in my perceptions of my sleep that evening - awake many times, how long it took to fall asleep, how crappy of a sleep it was etc and that all these were the norm for me.