A sleep study without sleep

[hyphenate]

Last night I was in a sleep study at the hospital. They hooked me up to all these wonderful leads, and made me go to bed with about two lbs. of equipment strapped, tacked and patched onto me. Then they say, just try to sleep like it's a regular night. 11:00 comes, I turn off the lights and try to sleep. I lay awake for probably an hour or more, and when I look at my watch, it's 2:30. For the next two and a half hours, I'm lucky if I slept for longer than 1/2 hour at a time, and I don't think I did even that much.

I turned on the light at 5:15, relatively wide awake. My tech said that I didn't get enough sleep for enough data, so they will likely be calling me and scheduling another one. I was philosophical about it--I told the tech that's pretty much how I slept at home every night--up, down, up, down.

Anyhow, now that I'm home, I'm going to do the one thing I couldn't do last night--sleep. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here.....someplace. Though for the life of me, I can't figure it out. Maybe that's because I didn't get much sleep last night. Aaargh.

The only main conclusion: I don't snore that loudly or that much. At least I have that to look forward to.

[Random_Australian]

1. And that practice falling asleep can help. That is good also.

[hyphenate]

2. As I was leaving,

one of the techs hollered to me: "Do you need instructions on how to sleep? I can show you!"

Yes, practice makes perfect, or so I hear!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

3. Out of curiosity,

Did your insurance cover the study?

The girl I'm dating is convinced that I have apnea and should get a study done. Our company is switching insurance co's right now though, so I'm waiting on that to get checked out. (And I'm not sure which one we're switching to so I can find out ahead of time.)

I have no idea if it's common for insurance to cover that sort of thing.

[hyphenate]

4. I would assume most health plans

would cover it if referred by a doctor. In my case, MassHealth covered it.

[REP]

5. My Insurance Covered It

I didn't sleep in a sleep lab, though; I took home a unit (like a pulse oximetry unit) and used it at home. It worked out well for me; I have severe apnea which they were able to diagnose from the readings they got; I guess it wasn't hard since while I'm awake, my oxygen saturation rate is 100% and asleep it's 66%. The readings also told them how may times I stopped breathing (41 times an hour, average) and that I only achieved Stage 1 sleep. All this from a small bedside unit.

I'd been told by another doctor that I was 'too young, too female and too thin" to have apnea, but these results were no surprise to anyone living within a five-mile radius of me!

[Midlodemocrat]

6. Mine did too, but I didn't register enough apnea to qualify for

a C-Pap. I did get oxygen for a while, but the cold oxygen just stopped up my nose worse.

Still suffering with the apnea. My husband says I snore terribly.

[REP]

9. That's Odd!

My O2 sat before CPAP therapy was dangerously low, yet I did not receive O2 therapy - just a CPAP (which did improve my sat rate to 99%). You might consider another opinion and test. I don't know what the threshold is for recommending xPAP is; mine AHI was obviously terrible and needed xPAP ASAP! and it sounds as though you might need to be reevaluated.

In the meantime, if you haven't tried these things already, they might help: try sleeping propped up to a near-sitting position, and if possible, on your side (it's easier than it sounds, making a 'wedge' out of pillows). If your sleep is very poor, sleeping in a recliner might afford you some decent sleep until your sleep issues are addressed. Avoid sleeping on your back if possible; this is the worst sleep position for all forms of apnea (side and stomach are best).

Good luck! I went far too long undiagnosed, and you have my sympathy - it truly sucks.

[Midlodemocrat]

10. I'm almost to the point where I would like to get the doctor to

prescribe it and buy it outright. Sleeping on my side helps a little, but not all that much.

The O2 therapy didn't help at all. I kept losing the canula all night long, so I really wasn't getting a lot of oxygen.

Probably losing some weight wouldn't hurt either.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

7. That's nice that you didn't have to go to a lab

Like the OP, I don't know how easily I'd be able to sleep in a lab setting.

I shouldn't really be an apnea candidate either (20s, not overweight at all, etc.), but I've always snored really loudly and, as I mentioned, after taking a nap at my gf's place recently while she was puttering around the apartment, she informed me that I stop breathing for for long periods of time really frequently.

Good to know about the non-lab testing. Thanks!

[REP]

8. *Anyone* Is a Candidate for Apnea, Unfortunately

It's more likely to get diagnosed in older, heavier men but really, anyone can have it. There's obstructive apnea (small and/or airways that collapse when lying down), central apnea (the brain 'forgets' to breathe) and mixed apnea (a combination of both, the type I have).

Besides loud snoring, choking when sleeping or sounding like you're not breathing while sleeping, other symptoms can include excessive daytime sleepiness, frequent night time urination, blackouts and hallucinations (the last two are more likely with very severe apnea). If your doctor says you can't have it based only on yor weight and age, get another opinion - apnea can be deadly if untreated.

- signed, the Apnea Evangelist!