noob, hehe

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:00 am

hello all, i am going in for my first ever sleep study on may the 3rd and was wondering if anybody could tell me what to expect when i go in, my dr has come to the conclusion that my problems of falling asleep while driving and my total lack of energy during the day was possibly caused by apnea, i was only recently made aware that i had this problem when i was visiting my family out in west texas, apparently i had some breathing issues while i was asleep.

anyways, i know this is probably a dumb question and am probably worried about nothing but can you give me some insight as to what i am going to experience? i have never had to do anything like this before, lol, hopefully it will all work out, but thanks in advance for any and all help, i look forward to hearing from you. thank you.

sundial · Post by **sundial** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:03 am

This http://www.sleepfoundation.org/hottopic ... d=9&id=260 covers the basics pretty well.

Nothing scary happens - but lying on a bed with a mask and electrodes all over you won't feel like a night at the Ritz.

roster · Post by **roster** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:37 am

My advice is to not worry about what is going to happen. Just my personal experience, but the best thing I did was surrender. I had tried a lot of "self-help" (oxymoron) for years with my misdiagnosed osa and now I knew someone else needed to take over. I went to the sleep lab with the attitude that I would relax, do what I was told and let the technicians do the driving. After all, they do this four other nights a week and I had never done it.

This worked for me; they got enough data the first night to make a solid diagnosis of severe osa and on the second trip they successfully titrated the machine.

When I took my machine home I was still quite ignorant about osa and cpap treatment. But thanks a great deal to this website I became much better informed over a few days.

I know some people will express umbrage at the idea of going "ignorant" to a sleep study. That's fine, different things work for different people. Speaking redundantly, in my case I believe if I had tried to fully educate myself in advance, anticipate everything that was to happen, and be "in control" of the situation, the quality of the study could have been negatively effected and I might have been unduly stressed.

Contrary to what you would expect the night of a sleep study is not about the patient. It is about the technicians being able to get their job done in order for the doctor to prescribe the appropriate therapy.

The test of the pudding is in the eating and it has taken some months, but cpap is starting to give me back a wonderful life.

Relax, good luck and let us know how things progress.

rooster

Sleepless in St. Louis · Post by **Sleepless in St. Louis** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:44 am

What Rooster said. Basically I was so happy to finally getting to the bottom of my ongoing (years) sleep problems that I slept better than I had in a long time at my sleep study. I never sleep well away from home on the first nigth in a hotel, say. But I did that night and left in the morning (split night study where they gather data the first half and hose you up the 2nd half of the night) feeling on top of the world. Expect to make some adjustments at home assuming you have OSA and they give you machine of your own. But, this stuff really works and should improve your quality of life, work, etc.

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:57 am

thanks for all the replies, i appreciate it very much, i guess it is better to go without knowing much about what is going on than to try to know everything to it, that way i know it will be an honest evaluation, lol, thanks for the link i will check that out right away, anyways, i will let you all know how it goes, my only prob is that i never can sleep well away from home, never had and prolly never will, but hopefully it all goes well, thanks so much....

GoofyUT · Post by **GoofyUT** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:10 am

Don't worry about not sleeping well in the lab. No one does. I had my split night study (diagnose/qualify-titrate) on my last night of a 4 day hospital stay after suffering a heart attack recently. All that happens is that some techs come in and will hook you up with MANY wires and electrodes. All of this is painless and not particularly intrusive. It will leave you gooey from the electrode paste int he morning, but it washes off in the shower easily.

You're then left to go to sleep, and you will drift off. All they need is about 90 minutes of constant sleep to diagnose and qualify you (for insurance purposes). if you're not having a split night study, that's it! When you wake up, you take a shower, get dressed and go home. Its easy.

If you ARE having a split night study, once they qualify you, they'll hose up up using the mask that you've previously selected and will let you go back to sleep. Then, they'll adjust the pressure until they achieve the best control of your breathing, according to the sensors, and that will be the pressure that the sleep doc will prescribe for you. Again, you wake up, shower and leave. Easy.

The only slight annoyance is that techs will be coming in frequently to adjust electrodes but you'll sleep through most of these or have only brief awakenings.

So, DON't FRET!

Chuck

mjohnson31909 · Post by **mjohnson31909** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:21 pm

Yes, I would not worry about not sleeping at the sleep lab. I am the same way can not sleep at all away from home. tissed and turned to what felt like all night and even apologized to the tech thinking I had wasted thier time in the morning...but she said it was ok, that they got what they needed.

So long story short, relax and just be natural.

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:35 pm

okay so if they are doing a split study then they would tell you, right? cause the lady on the phone never mentioned it, is it standard practice to do a split study or do you have to ask for it, cause my problem is that it's a 150 mile round trip to and from san antonio where i am scheduled for the study, and with gas prices like they are it would be way more economical to have it all done in one night, not to mention having to pay my deductible only once, . man, i wish i woulda found this place sooner, maybe i could of done it that way if i'm not getting a split study after all.

GoofyUT · Post by **GoofyUT** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:47 pm

I'd explain your circumstances and ask for a split-night study. I've found that most folks I've run into in this adventure have been WONDERFUL and generally very concerned about helping. So, ASK!!!

(It is kinda creepy tho, taking a job when you gotta work all night fiddling with others as they sleep. Evokes Phantom of the Opera kinda thoughts for me, and I wonder about who's drawn to this line of work, just like I wonder about proctologists.)

Anyway, again, DON'T FRET!

Chuck

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:45 pm

RedThunder94 wrote:hello all, i am going in for my first ever sleep study on may the 3rd and was wondering if anybody could tell me what to expect when i go in, my dr has you.

**
You may be wired differently from me but I had two tests and could not go to sleep. Waited 10 years to have the third.. I ask my Dr. for something to be sure I slept. He prescribed Ambien 10 mgs and said it would no interfer with the test. I was asleep in 10 min after going to bed. You may do fine without it but it cost so much for the test that it seems terrible to not be able to go to sleep.

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:54 pm

yeah, i think my copay is gonna be about 80 bux out of pocket since i'm staying in network with my insurance co, i doubt i will be able to see my dr before the study so i have to just hope for the best and hopefully i'll be able to sleep.

GoofyUT · Post by **GoofyUT** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:54 pm

I'm not sure that i'd agree that a sedative-hypnotic like Ambien won't affect the test.

rosiefrosie · Post by **rosiefrosie** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 5:32 pm

I also have problems sleeping when in a new environment and discussed this with the sleep doctor before my study was done. I was given Sonata during my study, not once but twice. Once before I initially fell asleep and then after I was woken up to be hooked up to the cpap machine. It was a split night study. My doctor explained that Sonata is fast acting, out of our systems in about 4 hours and would not affect the study. I was happy to be able to sleep and complete the study.
Rosie

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:24 am

well, it's done already, dunno if they got any meaningful info from the study though, after they hooked me up to the sensors i fell asleep around 10:30 pm and then woke up to have a bathroom break thinking it was early am only to find out only two hours had passed since i fell asleep, that was weird,

i couldn't get any meaningful sleep for the next 3 hours, just a light dose, had another restroom break and then finally fell asleep til about 6, they let me sleep in a little since i told them that i hadn't rested in between breaks so they got all the other people up first and left me for last lol,

anyways, they said they couldn't tell me any specifics about it but they said i do snore, sometime slight sometimes pretty loudly, but that all in all i have a little bit of everything, but that was it, nothing else, so now alls i gotta do is play the waiting game now.

so the best i can figure is that they got about 4 - 4.5 hours worth of meaningful data, is that enough to make a decent diagnosis? does it matter that it was split by a 3 hour slight dosing period? or do they also look at the dosing as well? sorry for all the questions it's just that the waiting is killing me. thanks in advance.

Sleepless in St. Louis · Post by **Sleepless in St. Louis** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:03 am

I've heard of people being diagnosed with less data than you mention. You probably slept more than you think even though you thought you were dosing. I've had times when I thought I did not sleep when a bed partner said, "are you kidding me?. You were snoring to beat the band." So, perceptions are sort of deceiving, at least in my case. If they diagnose you with OSA, make sure you get a machine that collects data and monitor you progress. That way you can make small adjustments to your treatment until you hit your sweet spot. Mine is still a work in progress, but I have things narrowed down. I feel good an the numbers look pretty good. Good luck with the next steps in your saga.

noob, hehe

noob, hehe

Don't fret.

Split night study

Re: noob, hehe

HUH?