Should a sleep study be stopped early and in this way?

hueyville · Post by **hueyville** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:19 pm

My first sleep lab visit I went into one of my goofy central apnea episodes that lasted 3 minutes. That was just before midnight and the tech came in the room and asked me to wake up and stay awake while she made a call. 30 minutes later she came back and asked me to leave. Next day I got a call from the doctors office saying my follow up had to be rescheduled due to a conflict the doctor had. I called back once a week for three weeks to reschedule my study and doctor follow up and every time they said they were booked and would call me when they had a cancellation. I took the hint. They were scared of my condition and did not want me to die in their lab so sent me away.

4betterO2 · Post by **4betterO2** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:25 pm

wow, I can't believe all the [...] I read, before finally receiving an answer that respectfully addresses the problem.

Foggy1 wrote: to actually address the original question... I have had a study stopped early, but the reason was explained to me. It is hard to say whether your experience was normal behavior by the tech, without knowing the reason she stopped..

As I did mention, she told me that it was because I was not falling asleep again since she last came, so the study could not go on with a patient being awake. No one has noticed the red flag, why I posted this question...: there had been only about 7 minutes since I last called her! Normally it takes someone about 20 minutes to fall asleep again. So stopping the study at that time seemed very arbitrary and not normal, like, she was forcing me to have a about one hour without monitoring, during which, being so early and so tired, I did need to sleep. This combined with the fact that the rooms are unlocked though the place feels more like a hotel than a hospital, (most patients not looking sick), was worrying. I feel a sleep center should have its rooms either unlocked WITH monitoring, or, lockable.
So first of all, is it normal for an RT to stop a sleep study when the patient has had only 7 minutes to fall back asleep?
And when the RT does stop a sleep study, exactly what monitoring is supposed to continue to be in place?
Should the patient still receive CPAP therapy, or should the mask be removed for the rest of the night?
Should all the leads still be in place and connected, if not, which ones?
(I remember specifically that she removed the one on my forehead).
Hoping a current or former RT can answer this one in detail?
In the meantime, considering the above questions, Foggy1 please reply describing with which procedures your study was stopped, and in which circumstances of therapy and monitoring you were after the study stopped, for the remainder of the night? Thanks a mil.

4betterO2 · Post by **4betterO2** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:37 pm

hueyville wrote:My first sleep lab visit I went into one of my goofy central apnea episodes that lasted 3 minutes. That was just before midnight and the tech came in the room and asked me to wake up and stay awake while she made a call. 30 minutes later she came back and asked me to leave. Next day I got a call from the doctors office saying my follow up had to be rescheduled due to a conflict the doctor had. I called back once a week for three weeks to reschedule my study and doctor follow up and every time they said they were booked and would call me when they had a cancellation. I took the hint. They were scared of my condition and did not want me to die in their lab so sent me away.

Very sorry to hear about your experience, it must have been awful to be denied treatment for so long.
You did not mention if that was an initial or a titration sleep study (very improbable), but if that was an initial study, I would have thought that seeing your obvious problem they would then treat it as a split study and immediately start titrating/treating you with an ASV machine right away. I can't see that an ASV machine would have left you not breathing for 3 minutes... This experience seems like malpractice to me.
I hope you did receive the treatment you needed somewhere else after that.

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:56 am

Hopefully if you inquire you will get answers. Without knowing how much you slept before this wakeup time, I'm just wondering if the time had already passed to be able to meet requirements for a successfully completed study so the tech stopped everything. I do understand your concerns about sleeping in an unsecured place with no one responsible for monitoring or observing your safety. Unsavory characters can be in professional positions, as well as can be a patient in the next room. I had one study where the facility was doing studies for a research lab the same night I was there. Those types of studies get priority. At one point I sat on the edge of bed and called out for the tech for a very long time with no response. If memory serves me correctly, it was about 45 minutes. Anything could have happened. Let us know what explanation you get about your specific circumstance. Your questions seem reasonable to me.

4betterO2 · Post by **4betterO2** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:20 pm

Sorry to hear about your 45 minute wait, there is no excuse for that.

kteague wrote:Hopefully if you inquire you will get answers. Without knowing how much you slept before this wakeup time, I'm just wondering if the time had already passed to be able to meet requirements for a successfully completed study so the tech stopped everything.

I am inquiring, here..., and hoping to get answers on the technical side of this procedure?
My study was a titration study divided in several periods,(5-6), with different machine settings in each, some good, some uncomfortable.
I had slept before the last tech visit, but still had sleeping to do. The question for me is not just how soon she stopped it after her last visit, (and my Dr was very surprised at that too), but what procedure she used (hence my prior list of questions).

Sheriff Buford · Post by **Sheriff Buford** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 5:14 am

Yes this is normal. It is not unusual for everyone to think they didn't sleep enough to get enough information. Wait for the results...
Now... did you look down the blouse or not?

Sheriff

cpapist · Post by **cpapist** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:21 am

I have RLS very bad so that I cannot sleep. The only thing that helps is an orgasm. Then I fall asleep.

I was worried about not sleeping at my first sleep study. The technician turned out to be a young male. I put on three blankets hoping he could not see the movement and pulled the sheet over my face. Told him that is the only way I can sleep.

I don't think he minded watching a female over the camera and I am not bad looking for a forty-year old. I slept enough they got the data needed. Who cares what he told his friends.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

Foggy1 · Post by **Foggy1** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:49 pm

4betterO2, my study was stopped early because I was having trouble getting back to sleep, and the tech felt that there was enough data for the study to be considered complete. But they certainly gave me longer than seven minutes to fall back asleep. Seven minutes is definitely a short amount of time to wait. Or so it seems to me. And that is certainly no cause for someone to pull an attitude with you.

Should a sleep study be stopped early and in this way?

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