Has anyone ever had a sleep study for sleep apnea or others sleep problems?

Has anyone ever had a sleep study for sleep apnea or others sleep problems?

The reason i ask this is because i fell asleep driving my pickup to wrok and wrecked it.

Yes, I have done a sleep study for apnea. You arrive at the hospital at 8 PM. They put you in a room like a hotel room. They come back with a cart with all kinds of electrods that they put all over your head, chest arms and legs. They monitor your heart and lungs as well. You go to sleep about 11-12 PM. They wake you at 5:30 AM you have to stay awake for 2 hours then you can take a 10 minute nap, if you fall asleep, they will give you another 10 minutes. They do this for 4 cycles. They give you breakfast and lunch. By the time it is over you just wanna go home and go back to sleep.

I had a sleep study for apnia 2 weeks ago. I had more wires glued to me than you can imagine. The tech told me that everything works best if I sleep on my back. I don't sleep on my back - I sleep on my tummy or on my right or left side. I told him I would try to sleep on my back for the test. The mask was akward and the air pumped into the mask was under pressure. I went to bed at 11:00 pm and I was still awake on my back at 12:30 am. Finally, I said a "four letter word" and rolled over. I finally went to sleep but kept waking up every 30-45 minutes. The next morning I got unhooked from the wires, took a shower then I filled out a questionaire. I rated the tech very well but rated the entire experience as horrible. One question asked what I was going to do the rest of the day. I wrote that I was going home to get some sleep. I went home and slept for 4 hours. The whole experience was a pain where a pill won't reach!

Sleep studies with masks, telemetry, a strange room, strange people. In physiological studies you want conditions as close to those of the patient's life - a sleep lab is not this - any idea how they are justified - sounds like "snake oil" to me.

DrLaennec who hits the pillow and is out in 15 seconds!

"Sleep the balm that cures all earthly woes"

Me neither. I too have problems sleeping in cars, planes and train. I guess I just miss the bed too much 😃

My father has sleep apnea, and it might be hereditary condition so I am a little bit nervous whether I have this condition also. Waiting for someone says that I don't breath while sleeping... Now there is nobody to notice this.

Just some additional comments about my post of 9/16/09:

The cost of the sleep study for ONE NIGHT was $3,500.00. As far as I'm concerned, that's an outrageous amount to charge.

The study said I woke up 13 times during the night. That's true. I was so uncomfortable that each time I woke up I made a mental note of the interruption.

As far as I'm concerned the whole experience was a pain where a pill won't reach!

Dr Laennec,

AMEN in regards to your thoughts on sleep studies.

As you know so well, I am a true nightowl, have been my whole life. I am able to have a non nightowl circadian rythm when I am ill, recovering from injury or something that requires my body to need additional sleep or something that forces me to have a non nightowl circadian rythm. Then when those parameters are removed I automatically go back to my nightowl circadian rythm. I have attempted to reset it many times to no avail. I would be open to your suggestions.

Perhaps you and your esteemed colleauges and students could come up with a research project. My name would be first on the list to enroll in it 😄 ! You know how to YIM me. I look forward to your thoughts on this 😉 .

Though I do chuckle as to how many times you have said that you wish the medical students, residents and fellows had my circadian rythm. Perhaps I would make a good test subject for them. Rewire their rythms to mine 😃 . Could be interesting 😁 !

I have sleep apnea and use a CPAP to correct it. I use a full-face mask partially because I like the flexibility of breathing either through my nose or my mouth, and also because I can pretend it's an anesthesia mask putting me under...

The sleep studies were a misnomer--it's more like an INSOMNIA study. But I'd been having great trouble sleeping. I knew I had sleep apnea because I'd sometimes wake up in a panic and realize that I had not been breathing, and I was getting hardly any REM sleep. So the sleep studies were necessary and my machine is a godsend. 😃

rare_air

What age are you catheterboy , I find the older I get the less I sleep at night but the more I value my afternoon nap

I have had a diagnosis of OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) since September 2007. I decided on getting diagnosed when I had trouble sleeping in general and it was starting to affect my work. I'd stay up for days on end, and it would seem I could only manage to get about 2 hrs of sleep a night, if that. My body was so run down and exhausted, I didn't know how to cope. The best thing I ever did for myself was get a (non) sleep study, because it provided me with answers.

I currently use a CPAP machine set at 12cm/h2o and utilize a full face mask that covers my mouth and nose. People freak out at the thought of having to use a machine and using a mask that goes over the face, but I liken it to braces, or other things. It takes time to get used to wearing a mouth guard, or braces, or head gear or anything else for an extended period of time, but once your body gets used to it, it is like anything else.

The relief I get from wearing the CPAP Mask is unparalleled and indescribable. I've actually gotten to the point where I cannot physically fall asleep without it.

My only issue with having sleep apnea is the fact that others do not understand it. I ran into difficulty this year back in July/August where my sleep apnea diagnosis almost prevented me from working because a medical professional who was NOT my sleep specialist decided to take it upon herself to DEMAND I get another sleep study, even though I had JUST been to my sleep specialists office and had no problems. I am the first to speak up when I think my machine isn't being as effective as it should be.

The other half (my life mate) has. Suspecting she had sleep apnea, our GP sent her to a Sleep specialist and she is now on a CPAP machine like Phoebe. It has improved her sleep greatly, giving her much more energy during waking hours; I assume from getting a better (not interrupted) sleep. When I see her donning her mask, I tease her by saying 'I see we're going to bomb Hamburg tonight', a reference to when WWII bombers went over 10,000 feet, the crew had to go on Oxygen, i.e. don breathing masks, as the bomber was not pressurized. I know the CPAP machine is not oxygen, I was just referring to the face mask routine. It does take getting used to (sleeping beside it, that is). She has learned how to while asleep subconciously open her mouth when the pressure from teh CPAP machine is too high, thus allowing the air to escape through her mouth. I call it her 'Shamu' imitation, in reference to one of the Orcas (Killer Whales) at San Diego Sea World; the blowing being similar to the 'venting' that Whales do. She has asked that I just nudge her when I notice it. I do, and after a few nudges, sure enough, she closes her mouth. I am not sure why she doesn't use a full face mask, which may prevent that problem.

and a post script; her sleep study consisted of taking the machine home and using it for a month (I am not sure of the settings). Then, they take the memory chip out of the machine, and run it through a program on a PC, from which they can tell your breathing patterns and how often you are interrupting yourself to recommence breathing. Based on the observations, they decide whether or not to recommend that you obtain the machine.

Cos.

Cos-that is true with most newer CPAP models. They can get a 30 day picture of how well your machine is working as well as how long you wear it every night. For my 30 day "snapshot" it shows I wear it at least 7-8 hours a night, which is true. It does help every night that I wear it.