Sleep study

Hi Everyone,

I went for my sleep study last night. What an experience. I wanted to get your thoughts about whether I did the right thing or not. I can't sleep without Ambien so I take it every night. I'll maybe get 1 or 2 hours of sleep without it and I keep waking up when I actually do fall asleep. So, the study was done to determine why I can't fall asleep and why I can't stay asleep. I decided not to take my ambien last night because I don't feel that it would be a true representation of my sleep pattern. When I take ambien I don't wake up during the night and I fall asleep within an hour usually. I don't want to take ambien for the rest of my life so I wanted them to see what I go through on a typical night without it. Well, I got about 2 hours of sleep out of the 6 that I should have been asleep. I don't know if this is enough to get any real information and now I am afraid I might have done the wrong thing by not taking the ambien. There were also a few environmental factors that made it difficult to sleep. My room was freezing and even when I asked for an extra blanket and for them to turn the heat up I was still cold, which is saying something because I am always hot at night. Also, my room was right across from the nurses station and the two of them talked ALL night so that is all that I could hear. Hello, it's a sleep lab people are trying to sleep!! I'm not here for a party I obviously have trouble sleeping so maybe you could keep it down?! Not to mention that I had wires coming out of every which way, that did not make it very easy to sleep. So, I am wondering if anyone else has had an experience like this and taken a sleep aid during a sleep study or if you think that I should have taken it? I'm worried I messed it up and I'm afraid I might have to do it again and I already waited months to get last night's appointment. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

-Jen

Thank you, Snowbunny! Yes, it was very confusing! I always sleep at 68 degrees at home because otherwise I roast all night so that wasn't that big of a switch but hospital blankets are about as thin as a paper towel! I always sleep with a big heavy comforter so even though it's cold in the room I am toasty under the blanket. I'm sure they keep the low temp in the room for the very reason that you said. If I have to go back I am bringing my own blanket. I brought my own pillow last night but I didn't want to look completely nuts by brining my own blanket too but that just may be what I have to do. I was also so annoyed with those nurses. It put me in a very hard position having to lay there listening to them talk all night. I'm not really assertive enough to dare ask them to shut up so I can sleep and I didn't want to be rude either. UGH.

I have an appointment with my sleep doctor in 3 weeks, which is how long they said it would take to get the results anyway. I have tried other sleep aids like melatonin and valarian root and melatonin does work but it makes me wicked nauseous and I had to take up to 5 huge capsules of valarian root each night which smells like horse manure! I'm also having a rough time falling asleep again because I was taking amitriptyline for fibro pain but had to go off of it because it was making me too lethargic in the morning. I would take that and 1/4 of a 5mg tablet of ambien and I was set for the night. Now without the amitriptyline I am back up to 5mg of ambien and may have to go back up to 10mg. I don't mind being on medication and if I have to take ambien for the rest of my life I guess that is okay I just don't want to if I don't have to. The real problem is that even though I may be physically asleep for 8 hours with the ambien I still wake up feeling fatigued and unrefreshed which makes it seem like there is something wrong with my sleep cycle. Crap. Maybe I should have taken the ambien so that they could have at least seen my brain waves. Sigh. I'm going to obsess about this for three weeks!

the most common complaint is that the study was wrong, the room was cold or noisy and that you didn't sleep long enough. you slept long enough and the ambien or lack of it will have no bearing on the results. normally the first part of a sleep study is without a mask to determine if you need cpap. the second part is with a mask to determine your cpap pressure. sometimes it is all done in one night, sometimes it is done on two different nights. i am a long time cpap user. if the doc prescribes a cpap it is very important that you use it every night til death do you part. untreated apnea causes all kinds of health problems. you will learn all about them years later if you don't use it.

your problem could be as simple as restless legs which has the same effect on your sleep as sleep apnea. a pill takes care of the restless legs which is also checked during the sleep test.

Jence- I am real surprised your Dr. Didnt have specific orders on what to take. If you have been taking ambien and suddenly stop taking it, you will have insomnia rebound. In other wards you can't fall asleep sometimes for many hours or days. You might mention to your Dr. on what happen with the ambien. This is why I don't take them anymore. I now have develope a natural good sleep habits. It really surprised me how well I can sleep now.

My wife had a sleep study a week ago, she has not gotten the results as yet. We had it done basically because we had met our insurance deductible for the year ($10K) so it did not cost us out of pocket and we know she has sleep apnea issues. (The one night sleep study was close to $4K.... crazy)

In Michele's case (my wife) we have done a lot of work on trying to help her sleep. Testing lots of different supplements and meds plus lots of sleep hygiene options like time to bed, time awake, light levels, background noise, temperature, pajamas, bedding, pre-bed activity.... and all of that has paid off as her sleep has improved. But I know she has issues within easily waking up and the apnea issues. We are looking to try a cpap machine.

The idea and process of a sleep study to me does have lots of issues. You go to a strange place, sleep in a strange bed with lots of wires and electrodes attached to you and you are totally outside of your routine. How can this provide data that is really indicative of your typical sleep patterns?

One thing we have used with success is the Zeo device. This is basically a "home sleep study". The device is worn on your head. If you are touch sensitive or unable to sleep with something like a headband on then it will not work for you. But what it does is measure and track brain wave activity as you sleep. It comes with a bedside base for charging that includes the best alarm clock ever devised and it gives very detailed charts on your sleep patterns. It shows how long it took you to fall asleep, sleep patterns relative to deeper sleep and REM sleep, when you woke up or reverted to light sleep - all sorts of very helpful information. The Zeo was great for helping us test the effectiveness of different things we tried to improve Michele's sleep. Its pretty neat, Michele goes to bed before me but when I go to bed I can see the charting in real time on the bedside display. If I make noise and wake her or arouse her from deeper sleep - I can see that in real time (oooops - sorry hon).

She does strange stuff in her sleep. I will sometimes wake up and notice her waving her arms around in the air or making funny sounds.

For Michele, melatonin and valerian along with the sleep hygiene changes made a huge difference to beating her insomnia. She now gets to sleep quickly, and sleep well through the early portion of the night. But through the middle and latter stages of the night her sleep patterns are poor with frequent waking and jolting out of the deeper sleep she really needs. I think the apnea is a major cause of this and we look forward to testing a cpap.

Snowbunny.... your self-management skills are impressive - congrats!


Terry

Terry...thanks for the compliment...I'm certainly not perfect with my health by any stretch of the imagination!!! But in regards to sleep issues....I literally feel like an entirely new person since I started getting better sleep! So it's worth doing things that will help me.

The audiobook thing started awhile back after my 2nd cervical fusion to where I just couldn't hold a book anymore for a minute or two...Now I am so hooked on them as I just love listening to someone read me a bedtime story! As well as I use it while waiting in Drs. offices....going for my nightly walk..etc..I "read" about 3 books a month now:)

LWF....I think that there are a lot of people who feel the way you do about the CPAP machine...we have one of the Mods on the chronic pain forum..WhiteBeard who often tells his story of this...But when it comes down to life or death which what it truly is for some people who have terrible sleep apnea...you'd be amazed at what you can get used to. He says now he can't be without it as it has helped him in many ways....

I thought I'd never get adjusted to my cpap when they ordered me one. In two days of using it I fell in love with it. You'd be surprised at how quickly you get used to it.
I use a full face mask and when the air is going I can't tell it's there. It's very comfortable.

Thank you for the responses everyone! Snowbunny, thank you for the encouragement and the humor! I know that some of my lifestyle habits probably do contribute to my poor sleep and/or fibro pain but I am not sure how to change it right now. In a nutshell, I work full time (11am-7pm) I work an hour away from home and I am in grad school part time so I am literally either working or doing homework or just trying to relax in between. I don't get enough exercise because I just really don't have time. I know it seems like an excuse but it takes me a long time to do my course work due to poor concentration, pain, anxiety etc. so even if I make a set plan on what I will accomplish it does not often work out because if I can't get my brain to work properly then I can't get my homework done and I stay up too late trying to finish it. I don't drink caffeine and I do try and drink water throughout the day but I know that my diet could be better. Due to school I go to bed at all different times because it just depends on what I have due that week and if I have been able to stay on track. I know this isn't good and is probably affecting my sleep but I am in a viscous cycle that I can't get out of. The semester ends in about a week and then I have five weeks off so I am going to try and get back to a normal sleep schedule and then try really hard to stay on track with studying with the next semester.

Fibrotracker- I was wondering the zeo thing, did you share that info with your Dr.? Was it helpful to the Dr. ? My Dr. Says for sure he knows I have sleep apnea by looking at my throat. I just don't know if I would really wear the mask. The cost of it's crazy.