My sleep study night

[yankeeblue]

hiya
I just wanted to share with you all my experience in the sleep study since I came here before it with lots of questions.
I arrived there at 9pm. The Tech was a guy ( I expected a woman, dunno why except that is who I talked to on the phone all the time). He was quiet and just told me to sign in. There was one other lady there also, already in her room for the study.
He told me to pick a room (there were two to pick from). the rooms were like a hotel room. Regular bed, nightstand with a dim light on it and a cpap machine, and one chair. they had one community bathroom. No TV, no ceiling fan, no radio. I requested a fan since I like white noise and the room seemed warm. I can't sleep in a warm room, I prefer coolness.
Thankfully, the tech put the air conditioning on. ( I think he heard me say something to my hubby).
After filling out papers, I sat and waited for tech guy about 20 mins. He finally came in, and told me to sit in a chair that he brought in. Oh, first he put a key in a slot, and turn on the lights in the room. Why are the lights locked out?
So then he starts putting all the wires on me. He doesnt talk and I am nervous, so I ask questions, to which he barely answers. I was surprised that the majority of the wires go on your head! two on your legs, two on your chest area, one on my throat, and the rest were in my head! Then the worse one was the one they put in/by my nose. It annoyed me and he taped it to my face cheeks. Hated that one. The ones in my head and around my face I didn't really feel, but since I have alot of thick, heavy hair, It was kinda annoying not to be able to move my hair at all once I was wired up, and then the next day with the glue in it!! UGH! gross! thick and nasty, sticky type glue!
All hooked up, and he tells me to relax for a few minutes. I read my book some, but I was anxious to get started. at 11pm, he came in and asked me if I was ready to get started. I said yes, lets do this. So he turned off the light, and told me he was going to talk to me on the speaker monitor. He asked me to move my eyes left to right, move my feet up and down, and move my head. Then he was done and I tried to go to sleep. It took longer than I expected. I wasn't uncomfortable, just aware of someone watching me, and listening, and of course, the box with the wires attached laying next to me and trying not to pull the wires out.
I slept that night as I always do. Waking every two hours, sometimes every hour, and tossing and turning. At home, I would have gotten up and walked around, gone on the computer, but there, I stayed in bed, and tried to go back to sleep. I remember looking at the clock at 1:20am, 2:40am, and 4:10am, then he got me up at 6am by saying..."the test is over."
He removed my wires and gave me a towel and washcloth to go in the bathroom and cleanup some. I couldn't wait to get home and go back to bed in my own bed! no wires! LOL
I asked the tech if I stopped breathing, and he said he noticed a couple times, but he won't know how many until the data is read. He said what he mostly noticed was that I never go into a deep sleep. That's what I have been telling everyone all along! I don't sleep at night!
After that, I signed out and went home. Now, I wait for the call from my Dr after they go over the data. I bet it won't be "you're good, no sleep apnea!"....somehow, I don't think I will be that lucky.

thanks for letting me share my experience. I love this forum and all the help. My next problem is going to be getting over the anxiety of wearing a mask, and hoses to bed. I don't know if I will be able to accept all the stuff on my face. I tend to panic with the feeling of fight or flee. I hope I will be able to over come this and learn to accept what will eventually be the best thing I have ever done for my health.

thanks to you all!

UPDATE: Just got the call from my general Dr. he said I was Positive for Sleep Apnea. surprise surprise. I was expecting this...so now, I have to go for the second night study with the machine. He said the sleep clinic will go over my data with me then. So now it begins....hold me up here people...I need all the support to get thru this I can get! This ride is going to be a bumpy one!
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[tnmom]

good for you!!! I am a brand-new user, but I wanted to say your experience sounds much like mine did. I was shocked really at how NICE the sleep study room was.

the electrode right by my eye was the one that bugged me.

good luck!

[Guest]

My sleep study was similar except sounds like my tech was nicer. I didn't sleep much so didn't think there would be much to see but because my O2 levels dropped down to 85%, they did a much more in-depth review of my sleep study than they normally do and found that I did have enough "events" to qualify for insurance payment for CPAP.

Once I started using it at home, I started sleeping better (after getting somewhat adjusted to mask!) and the noticed that AHI was actually higher than in sleep study.

The mask is, IMHO, the hardest part and I thought I would be panicky but wasn't. Some people do find it claustrophobic and I'd suggest doing what they did --- wear it while sitting up, without the cpap machine at first, to just get used to the feeling. Then try it with the machine - still sitting up. Then go to laying down with it, say in the afternoon, when you're not trying to get to sleep. Once you're comfortable with that, you will probably feel much better about sleeping with a mask.

Good luck!
Mindy

[Pineapple]

You'll be fine. Don't worry about the problems not sleeping, lots of people report they have problems sleeping in the sleep lab.

They changed my sleep tech from night 1 to night 2, maybe you'll get a different one. My guess is he was a guy and just didn't feel comfortable chatting with a lady.

My sleep lab had 3 differnt mask and I ended up trying all 3. If your not comfortable with the mask, do feel bad about asking to try another one, from what my sleep tech said, it happens all the time.

Relax, help is on the way (in the form of a CPAP).

[DaveKeith]

I'm new to this forum, but have used CPAP for about 9 years. Although I'm sure it doesn't work for everyone, I have had great success with the CPAPPRO nasal interface. It has a boil-n-bite mouthpiece to which two tubes attach to bring the air to your nose. No straps go around your head and nothing touches your face except right at your nares.

If you have your own upper teeth, this might work for you. Just speaking for myself, I would never go back to a mask. I think you can find the product at nomask.com

Along with most folks here, I can say that getting treated for OSA was a tremendously positive, and possibly life-saving, thing for me.

Good luck

Dave Keith

[trice54]

You will probably surprise yourself at how well you will be able to adjust to the mask and machine. I was freaking at the idea myself, but really it wasn;t that difficult to adjust to the equipment. I am still tweaking the mask issues, but the overall experience is much better than I imagined! I thought I would be feeling this air shooting down at the back of my throat, but NO...not at all! Good luck and keep coming back here...this group is great! Trice

[Fredman]

Well I can't say I had the same experience. I had a home study done. Less obtrusive, but I am not sure how it compares to a real sleep lab.

I was given a cigar box sized unit to take home and hook myself to it and then went to bed and in the morning remove all the stuff and took it back to the DME and then it was sent off to be read by a Sleep specialist.

I had one round small microphone taped to my throat (measured snoring. An air candula in my nostrils (measured I think air in/out - not sure), and oximeter clipped to my index finger (measured blood gas - O2) and finally a strap with an electrode thingy across my chest.

As much as the sleep lab sounds not so comfortable, I am wondering if it is a better way...the sleep labs in my area are backlogged up to a year at least!

[alnhwrd]

Yankee,

I can definitely emphathize with waking up "every hour on the hour". For me it was so much work I just gave up after a few hours. It is sooooo nice to sleep for six, seven, sometimes eight hours now. My sleep tech was great, very professional, really made a difference in helping me settle in. I was lucky enough to be able to get it all done in one night.

I would suggest you spend some time, if you haven't already, reading some of the articles found in "Our Collective Wisdon" by clicking on the yellow light bulb on the top of the page. Here are some links on articles on masks and other Cpap hurdles to overcome:

cpaptalk-articles/390/CPAP-Mask-Choices.html

cpaptalk-articles/solving-CPAP-mask-problems.html

cpaptalk-articles/CPAP-stages-feeling-good.html

cpaptalk-articles/recovery-CPAP-adaptation-stages.html

Believe it or not, once you get used to the mask you will hardly know you have it on, and even forget you are wearing it. Best of luck to you!

[Slinky]

Thanks for sharing your sleep evaluation study experience, YankeeBlue. I was more fortunate than you in terms of sleep accomodations and sleep tech for my sleep evaluations AND titrations. Well, I've been to 3 different sleep labs, the second one was about on a par w/yours.

My first was at a hospital sleep lab. That was great! Private bath and shower as well as a spacious, comfortable room and bed including table, chair, upholstered chair, TV, VCR. Friendly, chatty techs. The men had a male sleep tech (he stopped in to see me since his mom was my best friend) and a female tech for we women. I slept ALMOST as good (bad) as at home. None of the "equipment" bothered me except for the "potty breaks". When I gotta go, I've gotta go and I'd lay there awhile before asking to go which didn't help. I was kept over for a daytime MSLT so got a chance to meet and chat w/the RPSGT who did the scoring and she let me watch some of the graphs on the monitor, etc. I found it quite fascinating.

Forget the second sleep lab. It was in a BEAUTIFUL older home. Absolutely gorgeous - but community bath, no shower, sink not even convenient to wash your hair in, not particularly impressive techs - nor results nor access to results. A "chain" sleep lab (recently undergoing fraud indictment in Nevada).

My current sleep lab, it was a GREAT surprise to find my original RPSGT is one of the owners AND the manager!! She's still every bit as pleasant, friendly, helpful ... etc. Can't say enough good about her, she's just great! She's come up thru the ranks, is great at mask fitting right on thru the entire spectrum of sleep medicine - except, of course, sleep doctor. My only criticism is no private shower. Good size, attractive room, comfortable bed, TV, small table and chair, nightstand, bedside lamp, HUGE bathroom full of wasted space that COULD have had a shower *sigh* Each room has individual temperature control. I've had two different techs (same one for both evaluation and straight CPAP titration - a different one for the bi-level evaluation and titration). Both were friendly, good sense of humor, informative and both female. They do have at least one male tech. They have 4 sleep rooms. AND the SAME sleep doc that I liked so well from my hospital sleep tests!! I was delighted w/that too. Unfortunately, that sleep doctor has left and the new sleep doc and I are just getting to know each other.

I had no problems w/the sensor at the nose any of my studies until the bi-level evaluation, it was a new type of sensor and I HATED it! It was very bothersome and the tech had to come in several times to adjust it and add extra tape the last time to stabilize it. I still HATED it!

The new hair glue they use at this sleep lab sure beats that horrible stuff used at the hospital's sleep lab and the second sleep lab currently under fraud indictment! This new stuff washed out easily.

Ha! You have that 2 hour sleep cycle problem too, eh?? And at home I would also normally get up and putz on the 'puter til I get sleepy again too. Two hours asleep, two hours awake, two hours asleep, all night long. *sigh*

At this sleep lab you see the sleep doc for evaluation before your actual sleep evaluation test, again AFTER the sleep evaluation test with the recommendation of a titration study (or at least an explanation of the results of the sleep evaluation). You see the doctor again AFTER your titration, altho they can and will FAX in your equipment order as soon as the titration study has been scored if you haven't expressed your wish to have some input into the equipment you will be provided. The extra sleep doc visits are a "complimentary" part of your sleep evaluation and titration and not charged extra for.

The techs only have 2 patients each. One is scheduled to come in at 8:30 and one at 9:30 so there is time for each patient to be "prepared" and to ask questions, etc. You are asked your regular bedtime and they try to accomodate your normal sleep hours as much as possible (keeping in mind the sleep tech works 12 hours, 8PM to 8AM).

Fruit juices and soda pops as well as crackers are available and offered in the evening as well as coffee in the morning before you leave. Ooops. And popcorn in the evening as well.

[Slinky]

... As much as the sleep lab sounds not so comfortable, I am wondering if it is a better way...the sleep labs in my area are backlogged up to a year at least!

Yes, the in-lab sleep evaluation DOES provide a better overall sleep evalution than the in-home titration simply because they are able to evaluate your sleep for MORE than just OSA. Altho OSA is the most prominent sleep disorder, there are others that can and do occur in conjunction with or instead of OSA. For instance, Restless Leg Syndrome/Periodic Leg Movements which often respond well to medication.

[thetylerose]

I had my first sleep study at our hospital based sleep lab and my tech was great. What I was impressed with was they offer a sleep med to assist you if you have trouble sleeping away from home. The following morning the tech told me to expect to hear from the doctors office within the next day which surprised me. Well they called before lunch and asked me to come into the office and talk to the doctor regarding my results. OK now they are worrying me because I figured it would be months or longer before we got this show on the road. The doctor told me that my O2 sats were dropping to the lower 50s which we all know is very dangerous. They scheduled me for a titration study immediately and so here we go again. I slept like a dang baby. Yes all the wires and junk are still there, but the machine was very easy to adjust to and the following morning, the doctor came to the sleep lab. He wanted me on a machine immediately. They started my pressures out at 22 /16 which as many of you with lower pressures may not realize is equal to having a leaf blower strapped to your face. I ordered my own equipment from the company and did not go through a DME. I have been on my machine now for a couple of weeks and even though I am still adapting, I am feeling great. My O2 sats are now not going below 90 and this is with no oxygen added. Now me and my husband are both hose heads. How sexy is that?

[Slinky]

CONGRATULATIONS, TyleRose! And welcome to the "club". Yer in good company!