Sleep Apnea

[goldicedance]

Recently there have been a number of posts regarding sleep apnea.

I would really urge everyone to speak with her/his doctor about the possibility that you may have it. Perhaps you can convince him to have the first part that you do at home by wearing an O2 sat machine on your finger overnight. That way they can check not only you Oxygen levels but also your heart rate.

If indicated, a full sleep study including a trial with a CPAP should be done.

I can't begin to tell you all how much better I am feeling. No more multiple bathroom trips during the night, hence a better sleep in itself, and a way to help retain those fluids so I am not fluid depleted when I wake up.

I finally feel that my sleep is better and I feel somewhat refreshed when I wake up. Moreover, to combat sleepiness during the day, a prescription for Provigil, which is an accepted use of the drug.

Please investigate this possibility...just to close the loop on sleep apnea, and move on to other things.

Lois

[morgan617]

I could not ever get my primary to order one, but my ENT didn't even hesitate. So I felt lucky. He was actually the one that brought it up and couldn't believe I'd never had one. Said he didn't care how my primary felt about him ordering it.

So if your primary won't, you shouldn't hesitate to mention it to another doctor you have! The worst that can happen is they don't find anything, but you never know. morgan

[Ernie]

Hi,

Yes, and I really appreciate my CPAP. I even use when I sleep in the afternoon and I bring it when I travel.

[mkoven]

It is interesting that they didn't try the cpap on me during the study. I think what happened is that they require you to have three continuous hours of sleep with a significant number of events in the first part of the night.

Well, I only slept two hours at first, and none in rem-- where my events occur. So not enough sleep and events at first. When I did fall asleep again for another two hours, I finally gave them some rem sleep, where I went to 48.6 /hr and 88% 02, it was too close to the end of the night to try me on cpap, I guess.

So I imagine I'll have to go back for another night.

In the interim, I've tried sleeping on my side. It just doesn't work, as it hurts my joints so much I can't sleep. So last night,on my back. I slept better, but woke up with a migraine. I now wonder if my waking up throughout the night is apnea. And if the headaches are if not triggered, worsened by this. and I usually wake up immediately following a dream-- which I guess would make sense if my apnea is worse during rem.

Just wish I didn't have to wait several weeks to get it addressed.

[morgan617]

I just remembered that the doctor said if I didn't need it by 2 am, they wouldn't use it....I thought that was odd, why is 2 am such a magical hour, but maybe that was it. I didn't get to sleep till after midnight. I only know this because my pacer interrogates itself at midnight, (I can feel it) and they won't tell you what time it is or let you have a clock in the room. morgan

[Sophia3]

I had bladder issues back then (before DDAVP SAVED me!) and I remember if I needed to go to the bathroom, to just say outloud "I need to go to the bathroom" and an attendant would appear to 'unhook me'.

There was one heavy set Russian woman there who was like a Grandma...so sweet.

But one time i did not approach REM...I think it was when I only slept 90 minutes...I saw the notes on my cart as they took off the electrodes. Also there was no READING light in the rooms and ready by FLOURESCENT light was gross to me.

[Ernie]

Hi,

I did 3 sleep studies before they even could diagnose me because my sleep was such erratic that they could not figure out what was wrong.

The specialist ordered the CPAP without a trial and I agreed because my guts was telling me that I would improve on it. It did starting on the second day and it never stopped.

Then I did a 4th and 5th study to adjust the CPAP. I am on my 3rd with my CPAP and would not give it away.

[Dawg Tired]

They tried cpap because I have what they term "severe sleep apnea"... it gave me a severe, unremitting headache.

About a year later I decided to try it again. Same results.... so the ENT decided to try surgery. Problem was, I need to have some extensive dental work done by an oral surgeon while I was out in the OR and Medicare will not cover it so the surgery never happened.

Plus we had to pay $390 out of pocket for the sleep study!

[DancingLight]

I just had my sleep study Thursday night. I don't know if I slept enough to get good data or not? Hmmm.

I won't find out anything until my follow-up in over a month.

The tech said to me at 5:30 am when I woke up to pee that I did not have sleep apnea. I think I slept about 2:30 to 5:30 and that was it. I never fell back to sleep much after that. And didn't fall asleep until 2:30.

I had so much trouble sleeping there...with the wires, trying to get up and down to go to the bathroom (should have gotten a bedside potty!), and the room was soooo stuffy and HOT. I think that was the biggest problem for me.

I was expecting the sleep study to be a piece of cake compared to other tests, but I really found it to be so difficult--esp. getting through the day of without a nap, and then not sleeping much during the study. Am I the only one who hates the sleep study????

How did you know you needed another test or even suspected apnea?

I don't want to do another study!

Of course, I came home and slept like a baby (which I never do) for four hours in the middle of the day. Go figure. I thought the change of scenery at the sleep study would do me well. Guess not.

What I learned is that my rigid routine at home does have a purpose...and I'm so much less flexible than I wish I could be. I need so many things in place to keep neck pain under control, to wind down for bed, to be comfortable, etc. that not having those things left me very uncomfortable. They also messed up and didn't give me a tempur-pedic bed, so that may have contributed, as that is what I am used to and am less achey that way. Woke up soooo achey in the middle of the night.

Morgan--No one said anything to me about a clock and I had my indiglo watch! Guess I was breaking the rules. (keep reading, you're in the next paragraph too )

The staff was wonderful and couldn't have been better. The nurses were 'morgan nurses'--the kind that love to take care of and nurture you--this morning the nurse talked about how she loved the days when she was able to give baths, backrubs, adn all those things and it reminded me of morgan. The nurse gave me a shower cap hair wash, got me hot tea and orange juice and did everything to help me out this morning. I couldn't get anyone to wash my hair after surgery, so I thought this was pretty fancy treatment for a sleep lab!

I'll be interested if they got enough data on me. They said most people don't sleep very well at these things.

Emily

[morgan617]

Emily....

[Ernie]

Hi Emily,

I did not know I needed another sleep study it is my sleep specialist who decided to do 2 others because I could not sleep enough for them to conclude anything. My symptoms were that I would wake up chocking as if someone was strangling me or as if I was drowning.

I also had dreams of drowning and being chocked. So I guess that was their hint that their was something wrong with me.

On my third study I was able to sleep and they could see the apnea.

[goldicedance]

So sorry to hear the problems some of you had with the sleep study. Before I had the study, my doctor knew I had problems falling asleep so he ordered Ambien CR. That seemed to work. Also, the nurse was really good about my comfort--made the room very cool; got rid of their fancy comforter (which others had used) and gave me some clean hospital sheets.

Also, I would be interested to know if any of you had the oxygen saturation test at home before you had the sleep study. Having the test before the sleep study gave my doctor valuable information.

Every time, the CPAP machine's pressure gets adjusted, I have to do the oxygen sat test and then see him again.

Lois

[DancingLight]

Thanks all for this helpful information. I've done nothing BUT sleep since arriving home from the study. Go figure!

I may ask about the home O2 test just to see. I don't seem to be a candidate in any way for apnea--young, not overweight, no one has ever heard me snoring, stop breathing, or any such thing. BUT, it seems it can be connected to ANS dysfunction.

I DO love the sleep doctor and he is ABSM certified. No one locally would meet with me in person ahead of time--they just go through your primary care doctor and NEVER see you.

So, I feel like this doctor is on the ball and will be careful not to miss things and I will make sure to ask the right questions, now that I see the things you have written.

Thanks!

Emily