1st lab based sleep study

I'm having my first one tomorrow and am a bit anxious about sleeping in a strange bed with all that stuff on me, including the camera. Hopefully I won't sleep so great tonight and then maybe will tomorrow.
Rob

I'll tell you honestly when they started hooking up all the wires and stuff I was like..... NO WAY can anyone sleep in this get-up!

Then I laid down and fell asleep.

Got up at 5am and took a shower and went to work. I do remember them being in the room with me on occasion. Let's face it. I have apnea. So I was awake a lot... or... partially awake... kinda sorta. You know what I mean. They put a mask on me part way through the night and were concerned because my O2 levels went so low.

I had never been hospitalized for anything so this was my first overnight in a hospital even.

Anyways... it went fine. And here I am. (Aren't you glad? hehehhe)

I had my first sleep study on November 16th. I stayed up later then usual the night before so I was good and ready for sleep. Brought a book to read but didn't even open it. Was asleep in 25 minutes.
My levels also went very low and mask was put on around midnight. Don't worry about it. Its a breeze!

I had my sleep study about 2 months ago and felt like you did. I told them a week before that I would take 2 Benadryl to help me sleep (has minimal effect on me). I called to see how much this study was going to cost and they said that it would cost another $3K if I didn't not sleep well with the CPAP. That bothered me.

The morning I was to go to the lab I called my ENT and said that I need a sleeping pill. There was no way I was going to have to go through a second study. I got the pill (Ambien - 5mg) and made it through the sleep study just fine. Still took me an hour to get back to sleep when they put the mask on me.

Once I got in bed with the wires, straps and tubes on me I figured that if they fall off it would be their problem. So, get in bed and don't worry about them. Wires on your legs may be more prone to coming off, or so the tech implied. Ignore the camera. They most likely would rather be watching Letterman and just may be doing that. Besides, what can you do about it?

Bring a good book, relax as best as you can and it will all be over in the morning.

Good Luck!

the most important thing you do is sleep, if you don't sleep they cannot monitor it.

if they wake you up during the night to try on a mask don't fight it, you still need to fall back asleep after putting it on for that test to be successful.

Thanks for all the experience, strength and hope. I hope it is easier than it looks, sometimes sleeping is.

I had my sleep study awhile back; must be about 6-8 weeks ago. I have a couple of suggestions.
Bring your own pillow.
Bring a good book, but they will most likely have cable tv.
Ask them to double-tape the sensors that go on your legs so they don't fall off.
If noise bothers you when you are trying to sleep get a pair of ear plugs. Mine was in a hospital and was rather noisy. For my 2nd study I brought earplugs and it helped.
Ask your Dr. to prescribe something to help you sleep, if you feel that you may be nervous or wound up.
If possible take Friday off if you are supposed to work. I went to work and had a very rough day.
Good luck. You'll probably breeze through with no problems; the sleep technician that did my study told me that most people do better than I did.

laurie2025 wrote:I had my sleep study awhile back; must be about 6-8 weeks ago. I have a couple of suggestions.
Bring your own pillow.
Bring a good book, but they will most likely have cable tv.
Ask them to double-tape the sensors that go on your legs so they don't fall off.
If noise bothers you when you are trying to sleep get a pair of ear plugs. Mine was in a hospital and was rather noisy. For my 2nd study I brought earplugs and it helped.
Ask your Dr. to prescribe something to help you sleep, if you feel that you may be nervous or wound up.
If possible take Friday off if you are supposed to work. I went to work and had a very rough day.
Good luck. You'll probably breeze through with no problems; the sleep technician that did my study told me that most people do better than I did.

good suggestions, I tried to keep my routine as normal as I could, I took a melatonin out in the parking lot before going into the lab. I would have had a hard time had they cancelled my study but they didn't.