New here - Going for 1st Sleep Study in 3 days

[Firefly]

Hello,

I have been reading many posts here for a week or so and decided to go ahead and join. I go for my sleep study this coming Thursday evening. I’m a bit excited but dreading it too. I’ve had many health issues the last 10-15 years and I have a sneaking suspicion that a sleep disorder has played a role in some of them.

Just a bit about myself – I’m in my late 40’s and have been a teacher for the last 8 years.

I know I must have had sleep apnea as a kid, as my mom would try and clean out my nose every day (I know, gross)! Some how I did not have ADD and learning came fairly easy to me. Finally when I was a teenager, she asked me one day if I had a toy duck that made noise or something in my room. When I asked her what she was talking about, she said she’d heard a “honking” noise the last few nights. I had to stop laughing before I could tell her that was ME, trying to breathe! So I went to the doctor, ended up having surgery to fix a deviated septum (my mom is convinced my nose was broken at birth by the things they used to help pull the baby out (tong-like things) – she said my nose was all smooshed to one side at first) and they removed polyps. Up until that point, I’d always breathed thru my mouth. Once I healed, I was amazed to be able to breathe thru my nose! Still had lots of allergy problems (this was in the days before non-drowsy meds were available and they would knock me out), so I imagine I was still affected a bit.

While I was in college, I came down with a mystery respiratory virus - I had a high fever. I was hospitalized for a week. I couldn't breathe out of my nose at all, slept terrible. They tested me for Mono and some other things, all were negative. I was so wiped out after I got out, I withdrew from school for the rest of that semester and went to a community college for the next semester and only took a few courses. I returned and got my degree eventually, but I often wonder if that illness was the start of things.

When I was in my 30’s, I slowly realized I never felt rested no matter how long I slept. I became fatigued during the day, it was worse around that time of the month. Up until then, I had been a very skinny person, but I finally started putting on some weight, mostly around my stomach, but my thighs and chest filled out a bit too. I spent years trying different things, different doctors. A yeast free diet worked fairly well energy wise, but it cost too much money to maintain. Gradually the fatigue came back. Tried bio-identical hormone therapy, thyroid meds, adrenal fatigue treatment, various supplements, etc. Most of the time I was under the care of a doctor for these things. I have a great biomedical doctor, and he is willing to try things, but I think I am even a mystery for him, sigh. He recommended I go to an ENT to see about allergy testing. So I did. After a CT scan to check for structural problems (none), I was put on allergy shots, but they don’t help the fatigue, mainly they keep me from getting the reoccurring sinus infections I kept getting (3-4 a year). They would cause me to become even more exhausted when I got them.

In December 2011, I had a seizure while visiting my mother – I was taking a nap and had a really bad sinus infection. The ER found no cause, so I went to a neurologist when I got home, per the ER’s recommendation. After an in-office EEG, and then getting an MRI, no cause was found for the seizures. I was put on medicine (Keppra generic) after I had another seizure while sleeping in February 2012. I reduced the prescribed dosage to half after some bad side effects and had no issues until December 2012, when I forgot to take my evening dose one night and had another seizure. The fatigue continued through all this time. Last fall, when I told my neurologist about the seizure in December, he suggested we try a different medication (Dilantin). The side effects were too much for me, so after some arguing with the doctor’s office, I finally got my old prescription back, but only enough for 20 days each time. I finally had enough and found a new neurologist a few weeks ago.

Someone in my dog dancing group (it’s called canine freestyle –check youtube) mentioned that I should have a sleep study done since seizures can be related to sleep apnea. Well, I thanked her but thought that was ridiculous because I’d had that nose operation and could breathe just fine (except when I had a sinus infection and sometimes the week or so before my period)! But a few weeks later I heard something on TV about women and heart attacks and somehow that got me looking online and led to searching about racing pulse/rapid heartbeats, which I often get while awake AND often wake up with my heart racing, and that led to sleep apnea. That’s how I found this list and the more I read the more I thought that maybe I DO have some kind of sleep disturbance.

So my new neurologist (who is also a sleep specialist) ordered a 24 hour EEG right off the bat, and then asked me the “test” questions to see if I needed a sleep study – I did. I’ve already done the EEG, but will have to wait until after the sleep study to find out the results and get all the information at once.

I’m nervous and anxious, because every time I think I’ve found something that may help my never ending fatigue, I try it and so far, nothing happens. I’m crossing my fingers that something shows up on one of these two tests (the EEG and the sleep study) so I can get down to doing something about it!

[HoseCrusher]

Well... one day down and two to go.

Let me consult my crystal ball...

Yep...

Yep...

Yep...

OK, it looks like you will shortly have all the answers to all the questions you have been pondering and in addition you will have the mental clarity and alertness to ponder the answers.

Hang in there and we will help anyway we can.

[sc0ttt]

Welcome. Best of luck in your sleep study - read up on them on this forum and you'll be better prepared.

And let us check out your prescription before you go to get your machine (assuming that's the diagnosis).

[Bill44133]

No naps on sleep study day. Make sure that you are good and tired so they can get a good reading what is going on.

I would recommend when you have about 15 minutes to view this youtube video it will help you understand what you maybe dealing with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gie2dhqP2c


I wish you well

[Firefly]

Ugh, I didn't even think about not taking a nap! That's been my SOP for most of this summer, at least one nap per day, sometimes more. I try to keep them under an hour - they don't really help, I just usually can't keep my eyes open any longer!

Okay, I'll check out that video later today too. Thanks!

[Firefly]

Thank you scOTTT, I will definitely be reading up some more here about sleep studies. I'm also going to ask for vitamin D3, ferritan and b-12 tests. I've been on supplements for all of them, but my levels need to be checked again.

I planned on checking in if I'm prescribed a machine - you guys seem to know your stuff!

Glad I found such a friendly and knowledgeable group.

[JDS74]

There are some helpful things to do:
Assuming you need CPAP therapy.

1. Get a copy of your sleep study and your sleep titration study. They have interesting information that will help in understanding your therapy

2. Get a copy of your prescription for your own records. It will be necessary if you choose to change DME's or order online

3. Post your equipment. There is a link on how to do this in my signature block below. Please select TEXT as a display choice as many CPAP machines and masks appear similar but are significantly different

4. If you need to post images of your reports, there is a link in my signature block on how to post using PhotoBucket.com

5. While the LCD display is somewhat useful, it is better to use one of the reporting software programs to get detailed information on your therapy. The two available for Respironics machines are: Encore (Basic or Pro) and SleepyHead.
If you have a ResMed machine, the SleepyHead and ResScan are the programs of choice.

6. Make sure that the machine you get is a full data machine not one that just records hours of use AKA a brick.

Best wishes on your study and don't let the DME push you too fast to their solution. You haven't died from apnea yet and a few days more to get it right won't hurt

[SandysSpot]

The only thing I can recommend is, if your doctors allow it, to get a sleep aid "just in case" you need it. You don't have to use it, but know it's there just in case.

I said no, I never have trouble falling asleep. I can sleep anywhere within 10-15 minutes of my head hitting the pillow. Even tent camping!

Until that night.

Once I woke with a start (most likely due to an apnea), I was too self aware of what was going on around me at that point and stayed awake for all but the last hour of the test Thankfully they had enough in the beginning, and that last hour (which my report showed was hammered with apneas!) to let me get my cpap machine.

[purple]

You might ask for a split night study, where one spends half the night "proving" that you have sleep apnea, and the second half doing a titration study, which is determining the exact settings you need for your machine. Might save you a few dollars, then again, a full night titration is likely to be a bit more accurate.

Nearly everyone comes back here and says they had the sleep study from hell. You are not likely to get much sleep, not the fault of the techs, just what happens. The good news is that it is not as necessary as you might think to get much sleep for the techs to determine the nature of, the cause of your sleep apnea, and nearly the best settings for the machine for you.

Do try to find a mask you can live with, as it is far easier to try out a few masks while they are all right there at the sleep center, than after you get home.

Realize the tests are scored by hand, and take hours to be read by two different people, so the docs office is not ignoring you when they do not offer an answer, or a machine script right away.

Pls read the post: http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/what-y ... me-part-i/

For me, treating sleep apnea is like coming back to life. I went from waking up in the morning; thinking, "it can not be time to get up yet." to "there are so many interesting things to do today. Sleep apnea treatment has improved not just my wakefulness, but also diabetes, GERD. BTW. a lot of us have similar concurrent diseases, diabetes being one, have you been screened for diabetes? Best wishes.