I'm new to all this. Never thought I had any sleep disorder. I did a sleep study as a condition for by-pass surgery and was told that I had something going on during "REM" by the tech and now have the triation study scheduled for tonight.
I really hate things on my face. Any suggestions for keeping the mask on. I have an unrealistic fear of chocking to death.
Any help would be appreciated.
Triation Study Tonight
8 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Cat,
During my titration study I actually loved the mask - I could breathe for the first time in years. Remember, the mask on covers your nose. If you find that you're gasping for air, tell the tech to up the pressure. And ask to be proped up a bit in bed. That really helps.
Please let us know how it works out. You'll be fine!
During my titration study I actually loved the mask - I could breathe for the first time in years. Remember, the mask on covers your nose. If you find that you're gasping for air, tell the tech to up the pressure. And ask to be proped up a bit in bed. That really helps.
Please let us know how it works out. You'll be fine!
Lloyd
Triation Study
Lloyd,
Thanks. I can't wait for this to be over. I don't do well sleeping in any place but home. Last Thursday took a toll on my sleep.
I guess I have episodes during the night, but feel refreshed and ready to go in the morning. I'm a morning person. I'm not tired during the day and don't fall asleep. I do get mentally tired in the afternoon, when I begin to wind down. I'm an administrator and spend all day on the computer and pushing paper. I attributed my afternoon slide to eating too many carbs for lunch. Guess I was wrong.
The gunk in my hair did help either. My oxygen levels went down to 80% during the first study. They don't tell you anything because they are techs and I scheduled the second study just to get it over. I'm not well informed on what's happening. I'll ask a "lot" of questions tonight. Anything in particular I should pay attention to or ask about?
Thanks for responding,
Cat
Thanks. I can't wait for this to be over. I don't do well sleeping in any place but home. Last Thursday took a toll on my sleep.
I guess I have episodes during the night, but feel refreshed and ready to go in the morning. I'm a morning person. I'm not tired during the day and don't fall asleep. I do get mentally tired in the afternoon, when I begin to wind down. I'm an administrator and spend all day on the computer and pushing paper. I attributed my afternoon slide to eating too many carbs for lunch. Guess I was wrong.
The gunk in my hair did help either. My oxygen levels went down to 80% during the first study. They don't tell you anything because they are techs and I scheduled the second study just to get it over. I'm not well informed on what's happening. I'll ask a "lot" of questions tonight. Anything in particular I should pay attention to or ask about?
Thanks for responding,
Cat
Cat, Ask the tech about everything she does with you. Not as an interrogator, but as "just curious". On my first study the tech told me I did not have enough incidents to even hook the machine up. Horse****. I, in fact had 66/hour. So don't count on the tech to give you any real information. Your doctor will go over it with you.
Easy does it too. You will get through this night. It might just be a bit uncomfortable. And I, like you, don't sleep well away from home. Just expect the next day to be a bit of a struggle. For me - Advil helped.
I'm surprised to hear you say that you wake up feeling refreshed. I USED to feet that way in the morning until about 5-7 years ago when the fat started creeping up on me. So go get this done - it's a step in the process and ya just gotta wade through it. For answers to your questions that the doctor can't or won't answer, keep reading here. Although not MDs, we're all hoseheads and are living the world of XPAP. You'll do just fine!
Have you ever experienced a CPAP machine?
Lloyd
Easy does it too. You will get through this night. It might just be a bit uncomfortable. And I, like you, don't sleep well away from home. Just expect the next day to be a bit of a struggle. For me - Advil helped.
I'm surprised to hear you say that you wake up feeling refreshed. I USED to feet that way in the morning until about 5-7 years ago when the fat started creeping up on me. So go get this done - it's a step in the process and ya just gotta wade through it. For answers to your questions that the doctor can't or won't answer, keep reading here. Although not MDs, we're all hoseheads and are living the world of XPAP. You'll do just fine!
Have you ever experienced a CPAP machine?
Lloyd
Lloyd
Never had a Cpap machine. A couple of years ago my husband complained so much about my snoring, I moved to the spare bedroom. Every once in a while my husband will tell me that he misses sleeping with me and I'll go back to our master bedroom. The next morning, my husband says, "I love you, but you snore like a truck driver. Can't sleep with you."
I just talked to the sleep center and the nice receptionist/scheduler told me to talk with the tech and to let the tech know about my chocking fear and that they will work with me through this. She did say, "It won't be a picnic, but we'll work with you."
They didn't have the full result of my study from last Thursday, but the preliminary information was enough for me to go the second night.
Yes, the weight is creeping up and in the last nine years, I have put on 40 pounds. Hopefully, the by-pass surgery will help me get my eating under control and for me not to get diabetes or end up with a stroke or heart attack. My BP is out of whack, too. These are the main reasons I'm doing this by-pass. They have had me jumping through hoops to get approved and this is my last step.
Do you feel better after using the Cpap or don't you feel any different? I can't imagine being more hyper than I am already.
Thanks for answering,
Cat
I just talked to the sleep center and the nice receptionist/scheduler told me to talk with the tech and to let the tech know about my chocking fear and that they will work with me through this. She did say, "It won't be a picnic, but we'll work with you."
They didn't have the full result of my study from last Thursday, but the preliminary information was enough for me to go the second night.
Yes, the weight is creeping up and in the last nine years, I have put on 40 pounds. Hopefully, the by-pass surgery will help me get my eating under control and for me not to get diabetes or end up with a stroke or heart attack. My BP is out of whack, too. These are the main reasons I'm doing this by-pass. They have had me jumping through hoops to get approved and this is my last step.
Do you feel better after using the Cpap or don't you feel any different? I can't imagine being more hyper than I am already.
Thanks for answering,
Cat
Hi Cat,
Yes, I do feel better. As I said, it's only been three nights but I don't wake up feeling like I want to take a nap. I knew it was time to do something when I opened my eyes to find my wife standing over me and I was looking down the barrel of my .380! Not really, but she was close to sending me to the guest room.
It's so important that you go into and through this was a good attitude. I knew I needed help to stay alive - I was in real danger of a heart attack one day (mine's fine) or stroke, and I knew that my diabetes and weight gain are, in some ways, associated with my OSA problem. My BP is starting to go too high and I've got increased Occular pressure which might, in part, be attributed to my OSA too. So I went into this KNOWING that CPAP WILL help me live close to a normal life again. I WANT to exercise more, get out of bed in the morning refreshed and rested. I went into it knowing that there'd be a problem here and there, but I wasn't going to let it "get me down". Even just the bit of sleep I got during the tritration study left me feeling better that next day than I had for years.
It's just my HO, but your "hyperness" might settle down too. I can't conceive that improved sleep at night would lead to increased hyper activity.
Please don't even consider that. Think POSITIVELY!
I have a close friend who went through the bypass and she's doing fine. (when you first mentioned by-pass, I thought you were talking about heart by-pass)
I think part of the problem with this whole OSA thing - at least for me - is the initial embarrassment of having to use a machine to do a simple act like sleeping........and the embarrassment of wearing all "that gear" at night. But my wife told me she didn't care if I had to wear full body armour, as long as it worked she was all for it. And she says I haven't snored ONCE since I been using the equipment. She's sleeping like a baby now too.
So, let's get with the POSITIVE ATTITUDE right now! You WILL get through this and you'll soon love getting a good nights sleep.
Keep writing,
Lloyd
Yes, I do feel better. As I said, it's only been three nights but I don't wake up feeling like I want to take a nap. I knew it was time to do something when I opened my eyes to find my wife standing over me and I was looking down the barrel of my .380! Not really, but she was close to sending me to the guest room.
It's so important that you go into and through this was a good attitude. I knew I needed help to stay alive - I was in real danger of a heart attack one day (mine's fine) or stroke, and I knew that my diabetes and weight gain are, in some ways, associated with my OSA problem. My BP is starting to go too high and I've got increased Occular pressure which might, in part, be attributed to my OSA too. So I went into this KNOWING that CPAP WILL help me live close to a normal life again. I WANT to exercise more, get out of bed in the morning refreshed and rested. I went into it knowing that there'd be a problem here and there, but I wasn't going to let it "get me down". Even just the bit of sleep I got during the tritration study left me feeling better that next day than I had for years.
It's just my HO, but your "hyperness" might settle down too. I can't conceive that improved sleep at night would lead to increased hyper activity.
Please don't even consider that. Think POSITIVELY!
I have a close friend who went through the bypass and she's doing fine. (when you first mentioned by-pass, I thought you were talking about heart by-pass)
I think part of the problem with this whole OSA thing - at least for me - is the initial embarrassment of having to use a machine to do a simple act like sleeping........and the embarrassment of wearing all "that gear" at night. But my wife told me she didn't care if I had to wear full body armour, as long as it worked she was all for it. And she says I haven't snored ONCE since I been using the equipment. She's sleeping like a baby now too.
So, let's get with the POSITIVE ATTITUDE right now! You WILL get through this and you'll soon love getting a good nights sleep.
Keep writing,
Lloyd
Lloyd
I'll let you know tomorrow. I have an all morning meeting tomorrow and will get back on line in the afternoon.
I do agree, attitude is the answer. Thanks for the words of encouragement and good luck with your continued success.
Luckily, I'm only on 1 pill for my BP. I feel like my grandmother talking about my health problems. When did I get old? I'm only 54, but want to retard as many health problems as I can.
I don't care about the machine, I just want to fix it. I never went to the doctors until about a year ago and now it seems like I have a lot of problems that I wasn't even aware of.
Thanks again. Appreciate the feedback.
Cat
I do agree, attitude is the answer. Thanks for the words of encouragement and good luck with your continued success.
Luckily, I'm only on 1 pill for my BP. I feel like my grandmother talking about my health problems. When did I get old? I'm only 54, but want to retard as many health problems as I can.
I don't care about the machine, I just want to fix it. I never went to the doctors until about a year ago and now it seems like I have a lot of problems that I wasn't even aware of.
Thanks again. Appreciate the feedback.
Cat
the most important thing you can do is sleep, take your own pillow, I would follow your regular routine, if you have some anxiety and need a TylenolPM, take one in the parking lot if you feel you need it, once you get in the door they won't let you take one without a doctors note.
Basically, I'd ignore the cautions on taking any sleep supplements before the titration for fear of it making your condition worse, we all have nights of insomnia where we cannot sleep, what do we do? we take something like a TylenolPM, melatonin or whatever you may use. If taking that makes your condition worse, then you want a titration pressure that will resolve it. At worst your titration pressure may be a bit higher but you can always back down on pressure, but if you don't sleep you'll be going back for another titration study.
Some other tips:
1. Wash your face right before you leave for the lab, or wash your face when you get there, no facial creams or anything is advised, the cleaner your face is and free of any oils the better seal the mask will have. The better the seal, the better your titration results will be.
2. Ask the tech to give you a mask to try on before your study if they don't start working on you right away. Sometimes they are busy and you have to sit and wait for 20 minutes before they hook you up.
3. Learn beforehand how to adjust the mask, they don't want ANY external leaks, so the tech will tighten the straps TIGHT for the test, you will probably never wear one that tight again, if they could, they would stick their knee in your chest and pull up on all straps.
How to do it:
1. Don't worry if the cpap pressure and study has started, if the mask is way too uncomfortable, laydown with your head on the pillow, grab both straps from their side (most are velcro) and pull them away, pull them out to the side, then tighten them until you feel the leaks stop, since it is a titration study, you don't want any leaks pull them as tight as you can put the velcro back. Have the tech help you with the handling of the straps if you do this before the study starts.
2. Ask that the background noise maker be turned On to something you find pleasant (even if you never have used it before, ocean sounds help drown out the noise from the mask). Ask that the humidifier be turned on at least low (tech will know how high to turn it up for mask you are using to prevent rainout). Just make sure they give you some.
3. Lastly, try to ignore the mask noises, take some or ask for some ear plugs if you don't use them leave them on the night stand in case you do.
Your titration study will only be successful if you can sleep, in addition to sleep you need to at least reach REM sleep, if they are clearing the events preventing you from currently reaching REM you will probably have the best sleep you've had in years.
Lastly, try to ignore the discomfort of using cpap for the first time, the sleep lab experience is probably the worst you will ever see. Don't be concerned it may be hopeless because of your experience at the lab, understand the labs use the cheapest and most noisy masks available.
Some find a cup of decaffinated Green tea before you leave, to help settle you down for the study. Don't forget a bottle of water and TylenolPM if you need that.
Basically, I'd ignore the cautions on taking any sleep supplements before the titration for fear of it making your condition worse, we all have nights of insomnia where we cannot sleep, what do we do? we take something like a TylenolPM, melatonin or whatever you may use. If taking that makes your condition worse, then you want a titration pressure that will resolve it. At worst your titration pressure may be a bit higher but you can always back down on pressure, but if you don't sleep you'll be going back for another titration study.
Some other tips:
1. Wash your face right before you leave for the lab, or wash your face when you get there, no facial creams or anything is advised, the cleaner your face is and free of any oils the better seal the mask will have. The better the seal, the better your titration results will be.
2. Ask the tech to give you a mask to try on before your study if they don't start working on you right away. Sometimes they are busy and you have to sit and wait for 20 minutes before they hook you up.
3. Learn beforehand how to adjust the mask, they don't want ANY external leaks, so the tech will tighten the straps TIGHT for the test, you will probably never wear one that tight again, if they could, they would stick their knee in your chest and pull up on all straps.
How to do it:
1. Don't worry if the cpap pressure and study has started, if the mask is way too uncomfortable, laydown with your head on the pillow, grab both straps from their side (most are velcro) and pull them away, pull them out to the side, then tighten them until you feel the leaks stop, since it is a titration study, you don't want any leaks pull them as tight as you can put the velcro back. Have the tech help you with the handling of the straps if you do this before the study starts.
2. Ask that the background noise maker be turned On to something you find pleasant (even if you never have used it before, ocean sounds help drown out the noise from the mask). Ask that the humidifier be turned on at least low (tech will know how high to turn it up for mask you are using to prevent rainout). Just make sure they give you some.
3. Lastly, try to ignore the mask noises, take some or ask for some ear plugs if you don't use them leave them on the night stand in case you do.
Your titration study will only be successful if you can sleep, in addition to sleep you need to at least reach REM sleep, if they are clearing the events preventing you from currently reaching REM you will probably have the best sleep you've had in years.
Lastly, try to ignore the discomfort of using cpap for the first time, the sleep lab experience is probably the worst you will ever see. Don't be concerned it may be hopeless because of your experience at the lab, understand the labs use the cheapest and most noisy masks available.
Some find a cup of decaffinated Green tea before you leave, to help settle you down for the study. Don't forget a bottle of water and TylenolPM if you need that.
8 posts
• Page 1 of 1