Headed for Sleep Study

Greetings,

I have been a lurker here for a couple of weeks now since my doctor told me that I needed a sleep study. I am in for a sleep study on saturday. I do know that I snore, and my wife says that I have apnea. Unsure what will be the results when I take the test, it will be a two part. Study, then half will be on a machine.

What can I expect when I go. I see the doctor a week later and am wonding whant will be the results.

Anyone want to relate stories from when they first started their testing

Don

Welcome Don, you don't sound like you're too wound up over it and that's good, all YOU have to do is show up and sleep. Wish it paid better, I'd do it all the time! Take a good attitude with and it will be a breeze. You'll be wired up until you look like the house in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and "discretely" monitored while you try to act normal. When they fit you with a mask in the second half of your study be a good communicator and help them get the sizes right etc... Then... Sleep! Nothing to fret over, the worst thing they're gonna do is glue things to you. If you have a favorite pillow, bring it with and your teddy bear as well if you're so inclined. I had mine on a Sunday evening and went straight to work from there as there were facilities to get cleaned up in. Keep us all posted on your experience!

Would you take a sleeping pill? doctor sending me with Ambien and suggested I take it, i was wondering if it would affect the study.

Any thoughts??

One of those "everyone is different" things. I would say only if you normally take one. Try to make it as "normal" a night as you can and it should go fine! I spend a lot of nights in hotel rooms so it was easy for me to accept the different surroundings. I don't normally sleep with stuff glued to my head, but if you can manage to see the humour in it all, it's not that bad. Pretend you're "camping"!

My mother is and RN working in a small (8 beds I think) hospital. They have an outside company that comes in and sets up in one of their rooms to do sleep studies. All sleep study "participants" are given the option of taking an Ambian if they would like. I really wish I had had one for my study!!!!

I don't have a lot of problem sleeping no matter where I am, but the doctor thought it might help with all the "distractions" of the study.

I was mainly concerned that taking ambien might change the results of the study since it is not "natural" sleep

Having gone through two different sleep studies in order to arrive at a diagnosis, I can offer the following as "what I'd do if...":

1. Try both kinds of masks - and don't be afraid to speak up if you aren't feeling comfortable with one or the other.

My tech let me try the nasal mask to get the "feel" of it before the study started, and it felt fine. But when she finally put it on me, after 3 hours of being on my back, I had sinus drainage, and the mask actually made me feel like I was drowning.

I tried to be courageous and "grin and bear it" - but it never got better, and the study was a flop because I never felt safe enough to go to sleep. Had I simply asked to try the full mask - I might have avoided having to come back for a second study.

2. If you are a person who is sensitive to environmentals and suspect it might be a distraction - (night lights, small noises, etc) - talk to your referring doc or the sleep clinic about arranging to take a sleeping med. I've never in my life had to use a sleeping pill, but on my second study, it was necessary because they were titrating and I HAD to get some REM sleep. Second time around, I asked to use the full mask and it was a "night-and-day" difference.

The different monitors can sometimes be an annoyance, with "glowing" screens - some of the equipment can creek and "click" when the tech adjusts the monitoring camera, etc.

Other things to expect:

1. They may draw blood to get an "Arterial Blood Gas" reading before and after the study to measure how well you exchange C02 when you're awake vs. after you've been breathing in your sleep.

2. They may have a cannula-like tube put in front of your nostrils both during your "normal" sleep and when they put on the Cpap. They don't go "in" the nostrils - they just rest under the nose to measure how powerful your own breathing pressure is.

3. They'll ask you to try to stay on your back - but that doesn't mean esactly "flat." The tech will give you direction on this, but don't feel like you can't put multiple pillows under you, if that's what you're used to.

4. Bring a good comb with you - they'll most likely have a towel and shampoo available for you when you wake up so you can get the lead "goo" out of your hair - but it takes an effort...the first tech tried to build little volcanoes on my scalp - the second tech didn't need to use so much.

But it's not like an actual "glue" - it dries more like wax.


Hope some of this helps!

I've also had the experience of "failing" a sleep study, as has a friend. It is not pleasant - not the least of which because you have to go back and do it all again.

I think that split studies are better because you get it done all in one night - but you have to go - and sleep - and wake and sleep again.

If they will let you, get the mask all adjusted and ready before you go to sleep the first time - then you can just slip it on when the time comes. Try it lying down with pressure on if they will let you so that you can be sure it does not leak.

Do you ever pull all nighters? Might be time for one. Consider staying up most of the night before - getting only three hours of sleep, say between 7 and 10AM and being exhausted when you get there - with a split study, you need to go to sleep, sleep for over 2 hours, wake up, get fooled with while they put you in the mask, then go back to sleep.

This has made the difference for me in my last study and also for others I know. They fooled with me so much in my last study that had I been well rested it would have been a mess. But I was exhausted - so I got the sleep I needed when they needed me to have it and I was able to get back to sleep quickly when they had to wake me to mess with me.

The stuff in my hair was more like toothpaste. You will probably be more comfortable if you shower just before you leave for the study, but do not use a cream rinse and do not use a shampoo like Pert which has cream rinse in it - don't put anything on your skin like lotion or anything oily or waxy - they need to stick stuff to your skin and if it is oily or waxy the stuff won't stick - if the stuff falls off in the middle of the night, you will probably wake as they reattach it - if you can't go back to sleep that will be a problem, which is why you need to be tired (IMHO).

Drink coffee in the morning if you usually do, but no coffee or tea or chocolate or other stimulants after mid-afternoon.

If you sometimes get nighttime reflux, put antacids where you can reach them without moving much. They wondered why I had my keys in bed with me - but there are antacid pills in a container on my keyring - I wanted to be able to deal with the issue and get back to sleep if needed.

Don't forget PJs - something that you don't mind someone of either sex seeing you in while you sleep - and which won't bother them - there may be a camera on you as you sleep - tumesence during rem is normal. I don't own any pyjamas so I brought sweatpants and a t-shirt.

If you are the sort of person who never needs to get up at night, well, plan on getting up at night. Ask what the protocols are, where you disconnect, do you do it yourself or get someone to help you, how do you plug back in. Try to avoid it - don't drink a lot of liquids, use the toilet just before they wire you and all that.

Find out, in advance, how late they will let you sleep. Many places get you up very early - whenever they have enough monitoring done. If the place is near your house you can just drive home. If it is far away, and you have taken a sleeping pill, and all that, well, evaluate your ability to function carefully and don't be afraid to say, "Sorry, but I am not ready to drive five hours after taking a sleeping pill. I will need to rest, I'd prefer the bed for a couple hours," or call a cab or your SO. The instructions on most sleeping pills tell you to allow eight hours after taking them before operating machinery.

Zillions of people take sleep tests. Most "pass" them. They are not hard, all you gotta do is sleep when they tell you to. As has been pointed out, being nervous is bad and calm is good - and there is nothing to be nervous about. If you can get to sleep quick in a strange place without being overtired (not true for me) you don't have to muck with staying awake.

Now you get to answer a question, if you would not mind - there is something called a "sleepstrip" that costs about $70 quantity one. It has three thermistors - temperature sensing devices - and you stick it to your upper lip with two thermistors in your nostrils and one in the airstream from your mouth - it is a screening test that can tell you whether you have severe apnea or not at home - did your doctor think about something like this before giving you a full test? Do you have symptoms other than snoring?

Did your doctor talk to you about any other alternatives to the full sleep test?

I don't think they're giving out Ambien if they think it's going to affect the results of the study, unless the doc doesn't know what he's doing. It depends on how you react to Ambien. I'd probably give it half an hour without Ambien, then take the Ambien. But I just might take the Ambien offered. The problem with me and Ambien is that if I'm insomniac for more than half an hour, Ambien will not help. So if you don't know, it's probably six of one and half dozen of the other, as long as you can get it quickly if you need it.

At my sleep study, there was no Ambien and I couldn't go to sleep for hours. They were pleading with me to go to sleep and asked what would do the trick. I told them I needed to smoke a cigarette. So they called the doctor, who authorized their taking me outside for a cigarette. I went to sleep. The next day they told me how unusual the whole thing was -- that the doctor authorized it, and that it worked because nicotine is a stimulant.
You would have thought I had turned the whole medical profession on its ear.

Caroline

oh yes, bring your own shampoo and soap just to be safe. That glue stuff is murder to get out, and the stuff they supplied was low-lather. Not fun.

A good book if you think you might like to read. Maybe a book that will put you to sleep if you get insomniac. Better to have both than not. whatever you think you'll need to be comfy.

Caroline

thanks for the information. I did not get any other tests or information prior to scheduling the study. my wife and I have the same doctor, so she may have been listening to my wifes complaints about stopping breathing while I sleep. She has complained to me for a while and says it is getting worse. I do wake up very tired and with major headaches alot so kind of believe her.

Guess I will know more on Saturday