August 12, 2009
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Sleep Study
I had my sleep study last night. After a full night's sleep, I was still waking up mega-tired and had a lot of trouble concentrating throughout the day at times. The doctor thought I might have sleep apnea or other things going on, so she scheduled a sleep study.
The day before I had to avoid all caffeine (not difficult as I'm not a big imbiber of caffeine), avoid naps (this one was a bit harder) and so forth.
I arrived at 8:15 pm last night in my PJ's, ready to go. She glued all of these fangly little sensors all over my scalp, face, legs, and chest. It wasn't too bad. The only thing that bugged me a little was the sensor that went half in my nose, but after a while I got used to it.
The beds were so comfortable. They just cradled you and were so soft yet supportive. Ahhh! Just thinking about that bed makes me happy.
I had to be asleep by 11pm (or lights out trying to sleep by then). I had no issue falling asleep, but the nurse came in about an hour after I was asleep and told me to lay on my back. They wanted to see how I did on my back, on my sides, etc. After that, I tossed and turned for about 3-4 hours (and apparently that's when I did present some mild sleep apnea). The last few hours I slept soundly again. I dreamed about the study so it was like I never really slept. Ugh.
They woke me up at 5am and unhooked me, then sent me home (where I slept for another hour before E got up).
The nurse also said that I have "primary snoring" which isn't the kind to be worried about.
Interesting experience. I have to say that I was expecting to sleep a lot more during a sleep study. Go figure. When they had the electrodes hooked up to my head, I kept thinking, "I wonder if they can see my brainwaves change when I think about different things." So, I thought about different stuff (and thought HARD)! We'll see if it shows up. See what a science moron I am?
Comments (1)
I have sleep apnea and I can relate to the sleep study you went through, sensors and all. I was also told to sleep on my back, which was fine for the first while, but then my back began to get sore and I wanted to turn over. The nurse wouldn't let me, so I had to endure the remaining hour or two uncomfortably staring at the ceiling. When I later had the consultation with the doctor, he asked me how many times he thought I woke up during the night. I said, probably 4 or 5. He told me about 70! There was even a moment when I apparently stopped breathing for about 60 seconds. He said to me, "can you hold your breath under water for 60 seconds"? And I said, "I very much doubt it"! Rather unnerving, all that!
Anyway, I'm glad you don't have sleep apnea. As for myself, I now wear a mask when I sleep and it's helped me tremendously (no more nodding off during the day at the drop of a dime).....
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