I Survived My Sleep Study!

[jessr0se 1]

Hello all! When I was told I would have to have a sleep study, I researched information about it, and found other people's experiences. I would like to share mine in case anyone was wondering what a sleep study is like. First off, I'm 250 pounds, BMI of 40, and trying to get approved for the gastric sleeve. It's tough to get my insurance to approve of the surgery, so I thought proving I had sleep apnea would improve my chances.

The day of my sleep study, I woke up pretty early so I would be tired at night. I was a little worried I wouldn't fall asleep, or sleep well, which is odd because I can fall asleep on the hard ground with no blanket. I used to fall asleep on the noisy school bus ride home as a kid as well, so I wasn't too concerned.

I was asked to check in around 9pm. A nice lady walked me up to the sleep center and I was greeted by the technician. She brought me into a very nice, hotel style room. It was on the smaller side, but it had a large queen bed and my own personal bathroom. I immediately was relieved and my worries melted away. She told me to get ready for bed and buzz her in when I was ready. I was already wearing sweat pants and a night shirt, so I just took my contacts out and washed my face. The technician and another man had me sit down and they started attaching the wires. I lost count of the wires, but I know I had 2 or three throughout my scalp that they attached with some kind of glue, 3 on my chin, one on each collar bone, and two that ran from my temples all the way down to right below my knees. I also had a wire taped right on my upper lip under my nose, and I have no idea what it was used for. All of the wires were then attached to a convenient battery pack looking device that lied beside me on the bed. If I needed to get up, I just hung the strap around my neck. Once I got past the fact I had wires on my face, I was ok.

At around 9:30 they brought in a 4 page sleep survey and they left the room and let me get comfortable. I flipped through the channels on the tv finally resorted to the book I brought. At around 10:00 the tech brought in a cpap machine so I could see what It felt like in case they needed to put it on me during the night. It was a small rubber piece that fit right under my nose that blew air pretty forcefully. It was attached to an elastic band that went around my head (think of goggles). I wore it for about 15 minutes but it was actually quite uncomfortable. Then around 10:30 she came in to take it off, and I said I was pretty tired. She turned all the lights off and left. Then she called through the intercom and had me move various parts of my body. She also had me breathe through my nose only, then my mouth only, and then cough, and fake snore. Then she said goodnight! Luckily I got to have a fan in my room because I can't sleep without one. It was pitch black and I fell asleep quickly. I only woke up once in the middle of the night to use the restroom and I fell asleep right away after that.

They came to wake me up close to 7am and removed a few wires on my face. About 15 minutes later, two nice nurses came to remove the rest. It was a little bit of a process, since the glue was holding pretty tight. I filled out another 1page survey (how was your experience). They then told me I could get dressed and leave. When I scheduled the sleep study, I scheduled a follow up appointment a week out, so I'll have to wait until then to get the results.

All in all, it was an ok experience. I'm glad I can fall asleep pretty much anywhere. I've heard lots of stories of people having awful experiences, but I can't complain about mine.

[Ginger Snaps 1,323]

Sounds like your experience was exactly like mine except for one thing -- they told me I was doing a "split study" which meant if I had apneas in the first part of the night, they would wake me up and put on a mask and do the rest of the night with that on so they could get what setting I needed for the machine. I did have apneas, they did wake me up and put a mask on me and I went back to sleep (and had no apneas for the rest of the night). That kept me from having to go back for a second night to do machine adjustments.

Glad your experience was positive!

Ginger

[twinmommiesrock 72]

Just had my sleep study last night. I'm claustrophobic couldn't sleep for second half of the test. Poor attendant had to keep me from bolting. He finally found a mask I could tolerate. Not looking forward to that ever again in life.