Apria actually UPS’ed mine to me. I need to give 'em a call and get them to ship me a new mask, too, come to think of it. My current one has a small whistle somewhere that I can’t quite find.
Bump!
So I have a sleep study scheduled for tomorrow, I guess my snoring has been getting worse and worse the last few months so now I’m banished to the basement so I don’t keep the kids up as well as the missus. What am I in for? I have to go in at 8:30pm and after 90 minutes of setting up and asking questions (?) I am to go to bed at 10pm. Um. That’s a few hours earlier than normal, so hopefully I can fall asleep that early. I’ve been running this week, so I’m sure it will be okay though, from that perspective (hell, I’m tired RIGHT NOW). Hopefully they let me get up early enough to go for my Friday run - I’m trying to run every day this week.
Anyway, any tips? Suggestions? Warnings? Hopefully they can specify what might be causing my snoring! I would love to get a more refreshing night’s sleep!
I had the same worries as you. I did not expect at all to go to sleep at 10pm but the room was nice and comfortable. It was made up like a bed & breakfast room.
Watch your liquids, though. With all the head cables and such, it’s a hassle if you have to go in the middle of the study.
My mother-in-law recently did one of these studies. Like you, she was convinced that she’d never fall asleep that early, and further she has some issues with sleeping in any place that’s not her own bed. but despite all that, she konked out very quickly and they got some good data.
Now she’s on month two of using the CPAP and is VASTLY more sane than beforehand.
That’s good to hear, thanks guys. I woke up early enough to get my usual run in this morning, but staying away from caffeine is making for a long day, so I’m guessing falling asleep won’t be a problem after all. Hopefully they can track down something that helps me (and the rest of the clan) sleep better! :)
I’ve taken a number (4?) of sleep studies, and sleep with a CPAP. I can access the internet over wireless connections from a goddamn STARBUCKS… why the hell do they still need to attach 64 leads to every part of my body?? I cannot believe we haven’t invented reliable wireless connections for all the stupid sensors. And don’t get me started on that glue they use to stick the leads to you…
Anyways, you will sleep ok during the study, Scott. Typically a sleep clinic is very comfortable. Nice and dark, and the temperature is just right. And you shouldn’t be too concerned that someone is watching you. All. Night. Long.
As for the CPAP, I never sleep without it. It usually takes several weeks to get accustomed, but the quality of your rest will improve so dramatically, you will wonder how you ever got on without it.
Yeah, the glue for the leads is the worst. Like a mixture of vaseline and maple syrup. I went home feeling like I was covered head to toe in birdshit.
I guess I’m one of the unlucky few that had immense difficulty falling asleep at my sleep study (went to try and pinpoint constant breathing problems I was having). The bed and room were comfortable enough, but all that shit clinging to me wasn’t letting it happen. The fact that the other patients were all watching their TVs loud as hell didn’t help either. I had a feeling I would have trouble getting to sleep and made sure I got a short night’s sleep the night before, was more physically active than usual during the day, and took a fistful of Benadryll beforehand (which usually works great when I have trouble sleeping - doesn’t do a thing for my allergies however). I asked for a tower fan and they brought that in, which did help some. I managed to fall asleep, but kept drifting in and out. Finally, at around 2AM, one of the attendants brought in a CPAP and hooked me up to it, and I passed right out for the rest of the night.
My breathing troubles were later found to be the result of adult onset asthma, so the whole thing was ultimately pointless for me :)
Well this all inspired me to look it up, and it turns out the Benefits guy I talked to about this like 2.5 years ago was wrong, and my insurance actually will help cover a sleep study and CPAP if I can get the doctor to convince them I meet enough of the criteria for sleep apnea ahead of time. And then I guess I might get to sleep Darth Vader style for the rest of my life? Yaaaaaaaaay
So, thanks for bumping the thread, Scott, and good luck!!!
Good deal Armando, good luck to you as well!
My went okay, very painless. I did have a hard time falling asleep, which is dumb since I ran yesterday morning AND avoided caffeine all day so I was honestly just exhausted by the time 9pm rolled around and she was attaching leads to me. But I slept enough, and I know I was snoring (I’d wake myself up sometimes so as not to die) but this morning when she woke me up she confided in me that, while she’s not a doctor, she didn’t think I had sleep apnea. That’s probably good news, but it means I don’t know why I’m snoring. Hopefully the doctor has some more insight after reviewing the data.
I have to give a shout out to my sleep clinic lady, she was really cool about helping me around and even used alcohol wipes to clean the “birdshit” (as she ALSO referred to it) off my head and stuff. Kinda awesome, based on comments I read up above.
Thanks for the advice, tips, and info guys!
I just realized my note is a day late but will leave this here in case anyone in the future is reading through the thread.
I have sleep apnea, was diagnosed as not breathing 68 times an hour which means not breathing at least once a minute so it was severe.
Do not drink any caffeine the day of your test, they usually list this in their instructions. You can ask your doctor for a sleeping pill if you are worried. You would need to bring your prescribed pill with you. I do not use sleeping pills but I did the second test when they needed to learn my pressure settings.
Important:
They usually need you to stay in the lab for a certain amount of hours or the insurance may not pay — make certain you ask about this so you are not surprised by a bill the insurance may not pay if they let you go home earlier than required.
One thing to keep in mind if you do need CPAP. Once you start using it and feel better you may start to become tired of the machine. However, the machine is bringing you closer to normal sleep and we forget what we felt like before we started using the machine. In other words our normal has changed. If you give up the machine than that normal will degrade again. I see a lot of people go through this so something to keep in mind.
The lab tech will often give you a mask that is easy for them to fit during the test but you will want to try out various types eventually. That can be another thread in the future. :)
I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea last summer, and have been using a CPAP machine for about a year and a month and sleep so much better it’s not even funny. On the couple of occasions when I for some reason removed the mask (maybe due to nasal congestion–I use the “nasal pillows”) and even slept for a couple of hours without it, I felt so crappy (not to mention waking up with a horrible sore throat due to snoring) that I would never want to go back.
One thing that puzzles me is, OK, now I’m 54 years old, about 5’10" and 190, it’s understandable I’d have apnea, but I snored like crazy even as a skinny teenager who was 150 soaking wet. Is snoring some kind of genetic thing?
Have you ever been checked for a deviated septum or other structural abnormality? While obstructive sleep apnea’s not impossible in folks who are a healthy weight (and–since you’re half an inch shorter than me and 2lbs over my goal weight–I think you’re within about 5lbs of recommended BMI, as poor a measure as that is), to suddenly show up after a lifetime of bad snoring in someone of your size doesn’t strike as the typical clinical presentation.
Says the guy who coasted through a Journalism major alarmingly close to 10 years ago, so, you know, YMMV, grain of salt, etc.
I think someone would have caught that or brought it to my attention over the decades (I’ve been fortunate enough to have health insurance for most of my life, except for a brief period in my 20s). The thing I’ve had for the longest time (as long as I can remember) is nasal congestion due to (as it turns out) dust mite allergy. It’s controlled now with generic flonase + occasional use of the neti pot–trying to keep my environment dust-free is a losing proposition, since I’m single and find nothing less interesting than housework (well, except for yardwork).
The apnea was diagnosed all nice and proper, though–I had 30-some instances of not breathing per hour, my blood oxygen level was dipping down into the high 70’s, and I often woke up with headaches. The latter have gone away almost entirely, and I also don’t walk around in a fog most of the time during the day. I suspect that I’d had it undiagnosed for a number of years (maybe as many as 10 given my symptoms).
From what I read, for most people when they sleep the airway closes in a bit as the jaw relaxes back, but for some people and for no real reason, that airway drops very narrow indeed regardless of age or anything. So I guess yeah, it’s in a way a genetic thing - it’s just the way your body is built. Seems like it’s that way for me, though in my case age is probably also a factor. I don’t have any sort of apnea, and when I asked why I might be snoring, the nurse just told me, “well you’re getting older” which, you know, is true. Still. Ouch. :)
as someone who may have to eventually go in for a sleep study (wife has asked me to go in…) and has lame high deductable insurance, what’s kinda cost was the study? Although the study I’m sure is nothing compared to the actual machine. Which is what? a couple of grand?
No idea about how much the study costs, but if it’s any indication, my 20% share of the machine + mask last year was about $370 or so.
Hi guys, just wanted to add some of you might want to get your blood sugars checked as well. I was pre diabetic and was sleeping 10 hours and then felt like shit throughout the day, dozing off at the wheel kind of thing. got diagnosed and now sleeping 7-8 hours and wake up feeling great and not tired throughout the day. My wife snores and she uses these nose strips that cover her nostrils and now she sleeps 8 or so hours as well. down from 12 hours plus multi hour naps throughout the day. CPAP is not the only option for some people.
For pretty much all of 2014 I was experiencing what I would later learn is many of the common symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I could sleep 12 hours and still wake up feeling like I had barely slept a wink. Eventually it was greatly affecting my job performance and I got over my usual aversion to doctors and finally got a prescription for a sleep study. Sure enough, I had a pretty clear case of severe sleep apnea.
With my not so stellar high deductible insurance it ended up costing me more than $1000 for the sleep study, the CPAP machine and the various other bits to make it work such as mask, tubing, headgear, filters, etc. It was the best money I have possibly ever spent though. Not exaggerating. I sleep great now and now after 8-9 hours, at least when I don’t set an alarm on the weekends, my body practically kicks me out of bed.
I got my machine in February of this year and it took me a few weeks to really get used to it and sort of “catch up” on my sleep deficit, but now it has become a regular part of my daily routine and sleeping without it sucks.
The cost I saw on one bill was about $1400 for the sleep center but I had met my deductible this year. I had no cost for the equipment but not sure what would have been out of pocket if I had not met my high end deductible.
It is possible to have a take home sleep test. I believe they use the CPAP equipment. I suspect that is not the best method to do a study. They have to get you on your back at some point because that determines the highest pressure necessary to your keep your breathing tubes open since the most obstruction occurs in that position. A tech will make you lay on your back if you do not naturally rotate in your sleep (normally people rotate to their back in REM sleep). I would think this could be a problem in a home test. If you are not sleeping well already and do not go into REM you may not rotate to your back.
I have to agree that I have felt so much better since being on the machine. I did take it on the plane for the first time and I was allowed to carry it even though it was a third carry on item.
I have had some skin irritation lately from the masks and have been using colloidal oatmeal to cleanse my skin and a B3 vitamin skin cream which seems to be helping. I developed Roscea so the oatmeal is more for that condition but not sure if that is not also helping with the irritation so mentioning here.
I’d just like to mention here that my sleep study was not conducted in a lab but rather with a small apparatus that I took home with me, and that I had to strap on to my chest before sleep. As I recall it hung from a lanyard around my neck and had a bunch of tubes, wires and sensors: there was a thing that went in my nose (like when you get nitrous oxide at the dentist’s) one that was sort of a microphone or breath sensor in front of my mouth, and a thing that clipped onto my finger, secured with tape, that I think kept track of my pulse and blood oxygen level.