Sleep Study Done

Just got home from my sleep study. The technician said that I do have sleep apnea so I will have to go back in at a later date to be fitted. Let's just say that that was one of the worst nights of my life!! The technician was great, and very helpful (Linda, if you have Carl on Sunday, tell him Bil said hi. , not that he will remember me) Now I'm off to Portland for visits with the nutritionist and the nurse prac. It's going to be a long day!!! Bil

Hey Bil, I've done the sleep study 3 times....1st time-in the hospital, it was terrrible!! 2nd/3rd time in the Eugene Sleep Center & it was much, much better!! I have been on my Cpap machine since last March. I've also done the Nap Study...take a nap every 2 hours for 20 minutes, then they wake you up........I was exhausted by the end of the day! I had to take a shower just to wake up before driving home! Good luck in Portland!

I hope I don't have to do the nap study!! YIKES!! Thanks for the support! Bil

Gee Bill ,it looks like you, Linda, and I are running neck and neck I go for my 45 min talk today so the sleep study will be soon, I think . good luck on your use of your mask you'll realy get a good rest by using that. Are you going to OHSU? I'm going to Lagacy .Jo Ann

Bil - did you take anything to help you sleep? Dr. Tearse said they would have Ambien and something else if I needed it. In addition to the apnea, I also have severe insomnia. I told him I didn't think I'd ever get to sleep with all those wires on me. I think I'm gonna go for the drugs. I sleep so little as it is (well, except when I nod out during the day in my office!). Good luck in Portland today. Let me know how it went! Linda

I did opt for the Ambien. I would never have slept without it. When they woke me up often in the night I was able to go back to sleep easier. We all have things we need to go to sleep. Mine is reading until I'm tired and turning off the light. They only had big overhead lights, and then you had to ask the tech (by just talking out loud to the speaker on the ceiling) to turn the light off. Which of course made me more aware I was being watched! I would have done so much better with a little bedside lamp. For my kids it was rather intriguing and historical that mom was going away for the night and to a hospital to do a sleep study. They really wanted to go and do one too. It wasn't a night at the Hilton, but when your kids are young you'll take just about anything and call it a vacation! Patty

They wake you up? Why do they do that? I have enough trouble waking during the night and not being able to go back to sleep. I'll probably slap them if they wake me up! Linda

It seems it was mostly because wires came loose or sticky things were unstuck. I seem to remember sweating in my sleep back then which probably contributed to that. Patty

They do wake you up but the sleeping pill will help you get back to sleep. I took a Sonata and did pretty well. My first sleep study wasn't the greatest-I was at OHSU in a bare-bones room (not in the hospital, but in the clinical research center) and could see the medical students in the library through my window! The room wasn't dark, and the mattress had a plastic protector that crinkled and crunched every time I moved. I was very anxious about pulling wires out or having to go to the bathroom, but somehow got through it. I was so exhausted the next morning, I went home and slept for 3 hours. My 2nd sleep study, this time with a CPAP, was much better. I slept the whole night through and woke up refreshed. It turns out that there was a light-blocking shade on the window that I had somehow missed the first time! Duh. But don't worry-sleep studies aren't fun, but I am sooo grateful to have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and now on a CPAP. For the first time in years, I have the energy to stay active all day, even in the evening. I feel so alert and energetic now, that I can't believe I lived so long feeling so awful without even realizing it! Oh and by the way, my boyfriend had a sleep study last weekend at Good Samaritan, in a lovely yellow bedroom with a TV and fruit and cheese platter awaiting him!

Oh DANG! They just called and postponed me till next Thursday. Looks like I will have Carl, Bil. Now I have more time to get anxious about it. I hate postponements!! Ah well, get used to it, right?