POLL: What two symptoms lead you to have a PSG?

[lazyace]

Another unscientific poll for those that don't mind polls

[MoneyGal]

My "other" (so far it's the only one there) was low daytime O2 saturation.

[BlackSpinner]

It was my visiting sister who recognized the lack of breathing between the snores.

[twokatmew]

I was feeling like death warmed over, and I'd already been tested for just about everything including diabetes, all with negative results. I really didn't think I had OSA, so it was a shock. But I'm starting to feel better, so it was great to have the sleep studies. That said, I hope I never have to have another one!

[rested gal]

I checked two symptoms:

Snoring
Other -- Once I knew that snoring was a big red flag for sleep apnea, I did a self-test of sorts. If I deliberately relaxed the back of my throat as much as possible to try to simulate what was happening to my airway during sleep, the back of my throat and back of tongue collapsed together instantly and completely. No air could get through at all like that. I realized that the cutting off of air was no doubt even worse during the more extreme relaxation of sleep. No wonder I'd been told I snored like a freight train ever since my early teenage years.

If I'd had insurance, those two things would have made me go for a sleep study. Without insurance, those two things made me start looking for someone in town with an extra, or discarded, CPAP machine.

So, around age 59, I borrowed a friend's old extra CPAP to try. When I saw how well that worked for me (felt like a morning person for the first time in my life!) I got a good old family doctor to write me a Rx for an autopap, which I bought online. Treated myself with excellent results for two years before finally having an opportunity to have a PSG sleep study thanks to a good friend. It will be 6 years this fall, that I've been treating myself successfully.

I expect to happily use "CPAP", the rest of my life. Thank you, Colin Sullivan!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.sleepapnea.org/resources/pubs/pioneer.html

"Our rock stars are not like ...." I love that commercial!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqLPHrCQr2I

But. I digress...

Anyway, if I'd had access to a recording pulse oximeter "back before" and had spent just one night at home sleeping with that on my finger, I'd have seen that my SpO2 dips occasionally into the low 80's. That would have been another symptom. But I didn't know about recording pulse oximeters "back then" so didn't try to find one. Besides, I already knew from what was said about the loudness of my snoring all my life, and the feel of throat collapsing... I had it! OSA.

It was later, long after I had put myself on autopap treatment, that another good friend loaned me a recording oximeter. I got to see the difference in my O2 staying well up in the 90's (using my autopap) and my O2 dropping below 90 (sleeping without the machine.) Quite an eye opener - no pun intended!!

[drj130]

For me, it was mostly my snoring that prompted me to get checked out. You could say that my other was my Soldiers complaining about me snoring.

[jennmary]

My "other" was that I thought I was going crazy. I had been seeing things in the morning when I woke up. My mood could go from happy to furious over nothing in about 4 seconds. I went in and told my Dr I thought I was bi-polar or schitzo or something. I told him I felt like I could be a danger to myself or others. I had hit rock bottom. I couldnt even make myself brush my hair before going to work. I was no longer a funtional human being. Between being so tired I crashed my car into my trashcan while parking (I had fallen asleep behind the wheel) and feeling like I needed an exorcism I knew something wasnt right. Luckily my Dr is also a friend of mine, and someone I worked for when I was in the nursing field. He knows me very well, and knew just enough to put some pieces together. I no longer feel insane (most of the time. lol) and havent fallen asleep behind the wheel since.

[lazyace]

"Our rock stars are not like ...." I love that commercial!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqLPHrCQr2I

Funny commercial, I hadn't seen that before

[SleepyT]

My "other" was depression...

[elg5cats]

Another unscientific poll for those that don't mind polls

Fatigue and my PCP's concerned about 02 desats on a previous sleep study that described but did not diagnose OSA.

[jnk]

My primary doc and I had discussed apnea, but he had said I should just lose weight to help it and that if he sent me for a study I'd end up with a UPPP--which is a terrible thought for any singer, even if it IS just a hobby for me.

What finally got the ball rolling for a sleep study (my "other" symptom) was when I told him about my wife often finding me in the middle of the night fast asleep but sitting on the edge of the bed or propped up on one elbow. (That really drove her crazy!) His eyes got big and he said I needed a sleep study right away.

Apparently my body was trying to find a position I could sleep in and still get some air.

[Muse-Inc]

I checked Other because I did not request a PSG. I had no idea I had SDB, I thought my adult-onset asthma had returned from its retirement in the '80s, that plus horrible allergies from the buildout of the rest of the floor where my employer had moved 5 months earlier...the dust & odors were awful the entire time. Surprise, new doc took one look, asked me a few questions about my exhaustion which I'd come to accept as normal, then said he thought the worst of what I was experiencing was OSA. He said I needed a sleep study to positively identify apnea, hence my PSG. I was so brain addled I could barely make sense of any of this. A little reading on the net terrified me...bought a baby monitor and set it up & quit sleeping on my back. I quit reading as I was only making myself feel worse...shoulda keep reading, might have discovered this forum and learned what I needed BUT back then my brain wasn't really working so that's pretty iffy.

[fishhead]

i checked fatigue and headaches but other factors were depression and family history.

the clincher was i happened to notice while taking a rare nap one saturday afternoon, in that moment where awake and asleep overlap, i actually felt the muscles in my throat/tongue relax and completely block all air movement and i would wake up in a panic gasping for air. this happened several times in a row and i knew it was time for the sleep study.

has anyone else out there also had that experience, that is being aware of the obstruction as it is happening?

[Section1]

I was just tired all the time and could sleep day and night and never felt rested. My Dr. had suggested a sleep study and I drug my feet thinking it had to be something else but I finally did get it done. I was dx with sleep apnea and put on cpap. I'm still tired tho.

[rested gal]

has anyone else out there also had that experience, that is being aware of the obstruction as it is happening?

Yes.