Sleep Study....uggghhhh

Hi everyone -
Well, I had my first sleep study last night.  What a pain in the butt it was.  Hooked up to a miilion wires and the goo....oh my goodness, the goo.  It took forever to get it all out of my long hair. 

Looks like I will be going back on Thursday night to do it all over again with the C-pap machine.  The technician couldnt/wouldn't  tell me much, other than the fact that she did see a few things on the readings that were indicative of sleep apnea.

On the main board, someone posted an interesting question about sleep apnea and weight gain.   My technician actually talked about this with me and I responded on the main board since it was fresh in my mind...check it out.

Hope everyone is having a good day.
Lisa

Oh man I feel your pain from the sleep study - that was the nastiest stuff they put in your hair - and fortunately I have short hair so it wasn't quite as bad, but man when my husband picked me up the next morning I scared the hell out of him - hair sticking out all over the place because they didn't give me time to even wet it down, much less wa****!!

If you do have apnea you'll be surprised at how much better you feel once you start sleeping with the machine - I wasn't aware I had it so bad until I got the machine and started getting a good nights sleep. It took some getting used to - its awkward and not the most comfortable thing to wear at first, and some nights I would wake up and have taken it off during the night - not sure when or how - LOL!!

I will tell you this - if your surgeon required the sleep test and you do have apnea, WEAR THE MACHINE - when you go for your PATs prior to surgery they might require you to bring the machine and they can read how many hours you've worn it! Fortunately I wore mine a lot but didn't know why they wanted me to bring it to PATs until I got there and found out they could read how often (how many hours) it was used.

Kathy

Thanks for the advice Kathy - I will definitely wear it if I have to.  When I had my consult with Dr. Pupkova, she said that they could tell if we actually wore it and for how long.  I think Dr. Pupkova requires something like 6 weeks on the C-pap if you are diagnosed with .  That actually works out fine for me, since I have to wait until June to schedule my surgery anyway due to work/family commitments.
Lisa

I didn't realize you were having your surgery at Barix, so yes, they definitely check it there. Like I said it just takes some getting used to and oooh boy is it sexy - NOT! But it does work and will definitely help your breathing during surgery, and after. I only had to wear mine a short time after surgery and then the mask got too big - I never went back for another eval but I've been sleeping great since losing so much weight - no more snoring and hubby loves that!

I had to go back 2X for sleep studies as well since it did turn out that I had apnea. It was torture and i think I slep collectively abotu 5 minutes during both studies. The goo comes out after abotu 6 hours standing under the hot shower

Barix will require 200 hours pre-op and they WILL check the machine.

The sleep study was definately difficult to sleep during!

I don't have any personal experience with the cpap.  I know people had trouble getting used to it and needed to "play around" with settings and what not in order to be able to wear it - but you do what you need to do!

Good luck on Thursday!

Pam

Yes, Barix will check and you need at least 200 hours on the CPAP.   I know this will be the minority opinion here, however, I liked the CPAP!  The sleep studies were a total pain in the arse (although I did actually manage to sleep during the 2nd one) but once I had the CPAP, I started sleeping better than I had in a long time.  I still use it now, although the pressure setting has been greatly reduced because of my weight loss so far. 

My advice is to try at least 2 types of masks -- or more, if they'll give them to you!  There's the over-the-nose one that they give everyone (basically a cup over your nose).  I didn't like that one too much.  The one I like is the "nasal pillows" one -- basically it goes right up your nose.  Sounds weird, but I love it.  You will have to play with the humidifier settings in the beginning to find one that works for you.

Good luck on Thursday!

Lesley

Lisa I did the sleep study after arguing with the doctor that I don't have sleep apnea and boy was I wrong he was right so I got a cpap machine and logged a little over 200 hours and then had my surgery.  It wasn't that big of a hassle and so worth it. The tech is not allowed to share results with you that is what mine told me other than if you do or do not have it.  It has to be "read" .