it was awful and quite possibly the worst night's sleep I've ever gotten outside of the night after my gall bladder was removed or the occasional stomach virus
T, I no longer have anything to say about your mom cancelling hers...they want me to come back and do another one sometime this week except this time with a CPAP and at this point it's a H-E-L-L no, nada, nyet, nein.
I had a spaghetti bowl of wires sitting on my shoulder all night including about 8-10 stuck to my scalp with gloop which was scrubbed off with what he told me was a washcloth soaked with rubbing alcohol but which felt like a steel bristle brush. My scalp is still hurting. The room was hot, I was uncomfortable and I never sleep on my back. Is it any wonder that I had problems? Let me take the damn test again sleeping how I'm comfortable...I'd really like to know the results of that one.
Maybe tomorrow I'll be more myself and in a position to be rational about doing the follow-up but I get teary-eyed just thinking about it right now. I know how much M swears by her CPAP but good god, how did she stand the test? Unless I can wear the thing and sleep however I want to, it's not worth it to me.
Don't ever get a sleep study, never ever, no matter what your doctor says. They are evil and torturous.
:(
unhappily
htw
6 comments:
poor holley! :( i'm so sorry it sucked. just don't do it again!
M says they let her sleep however she wanted. (she doesn't sleep on her back, either) As for Mom, I think it would work great.. if they put her in a recliner ;-)
Dear Holley,
I was searching for something about sleep when I came across your blog in a google search result. I am a sleep tech and I just wanted to comment on your experience and explain to you some things about what usually happens at a sleep study.
First I wanted to say that not all labs are the same. There are some really good labs that have excellent technicians and have high standards and other labs that just do the study as crappy and as cheaply as possible just to make money. (I am not saying that the lab you went to is not a good lab.)
We usually ask the patients to sleep on their back because that is when the apneas are most seen. If you sleep on your side you might get back a false negative study. Usually the people who cannot sleep on their back is because they cannot breath or its difficult for them to breath. That is a clear sign/symptom of Sleep Apnea.
Unfortanetly the wires have to be alot to monitor several things that sleep apnea affect. Such as your heart rate (heart rate increase when an apnea occurs) EKG (cardiac arrythmias occur due to apneas) and the chest and abdomen belts (for monitoring central apneas) leg wires (for periodic leg movements) and the most wires are the head to identify if you are asleep or awake and what stage you are in and if your sleep pattern is normal which is also affected by apneas.
If the bed or room was uncomfortable then you can find another lab in your area that you can ask to see the room you will sleep in before you schedule an appointment. And they should have lowereed the A/C if you told them. The room should be at the patients comfort level.
Since you are a librarian I am assuming you did some research before you did the study. I am just trying to spread the knowledge and help you out because you will ddefinetly benifit from the CPAP if you do have sleep apnea. (Not trying to be a smar@$$) :D, sorry for long post also :P!
Good Luck!
Hi Anon! Never apologize for long posts...that's what we (well...I)specialize in around here! Thanks for the inside scoop on what was going on. I've had my own cpap machine at home for about 3 weeks now and everything is going fine except my search for a comfortable mask :( Any pointers on that?
Hey Holley,
Glad to see that you went with your CPAP night! Most patient like the nasal mask like the respironics optilife, but there is a new mask from Fisher & Paykel called opusit more comfortable than the optilife and resmed's swift. If you dont like the nasal masks let me know I will recommend others.
I have a nasal mask, similar to the regular Fisher & Paykel models, with a gel insert that is shaped like a triangle with rounded corners. It is okay, but I'm on a high pressure treatment and I have to have the headgear very tight to keep the seal so then I wake up with the world's worst fossils on my face, pressure sores on all sides of my nose. Also, it sits on my front teeth all night and I feel like they are shifting during the night from the constant pressure. My bite is off first thing in the morning and I'm concerned that this mask, just from sitting on my teeth so hard during the night, is going to act like braces in a way and move my teeth around. That is a big no-no. Have you heard anything bad about the nasal pillows as opposed to the nasal mask?
Thanks for your time, BTW!
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