sleep apnea

[KarenF1972 78]

I have sleep apnea and didn't have to get cleared by a pulmonary doctor. They are having you do one because after being under general anesthesia, you have higher risks of having complications or issues immediately after surgery. My hospital requires that we bring our CPAP to the hospital and we have to use it after surgery while we are in the hospital.

Like others have said - you should have electrodes hooked up, a pulse ox placed on your finger to monitor your oxygen and electrodes on your chest to monitor your heart rate and rhythm. You spend the night in the facility and they monitor all of your vital signs, your REM sleep, etc and determine if you have sleep apnea. As said above, some facilities will hook you up to the CPAP during the nigh, others will have you come back in and will set you up with a CPAP machine with either the nasal pillows or full face mask. You spend the night again and they adjust the settings and determine what setting you should be on to control your symptoms.

[woo woo 872]

For those that are wondering what it's like for the sleep study;

You go to a special sleep study place in the evening, where they have hotel-like bedrooms with tv, bathroom etc.

At your normal bedtime the technician will come in and connect about 20 or more electrodes to your head, face and body. Then you will get into bed and go to sleep.

The technician will monitor you from another room while you sleep. At some point they might come in and ask you to try wearing a cpap if it seems obvious that you are having apnea.

The tech will wake you around 6am, come in and pull off all the electrodes and then you are free to go. The data from the study will be looked at by the doctor and later you will go to your doc to get the results.

It's not great but not that bad. Bear in mind that you will have to wash your hair the following morning because of the goo they use to put the electrodes on your head.

Edited August 21, 2014 by woo woo

[laurie_k 5]

I had an at home sleep study test. I picked it up at the doctor's office & they explained how to use it. I brought it in the next morning & they took all the info off of machine. I have/had moderate sleep apnea.

My BMI was 37.6 and I went to bariatric doctor in April - my sleep study was last June / anyhow, my cholesterol was high also.

I did not go see pulmonary doctor, my doctor just wanted copy of sleep study.

I weighed 201 on May 1 and on July 28, day of surgery I was 187. Today I am 170 & still a long way to go.

My husband tells me I am not snoring & he's not waking me up all night to tell me to stop snoring.

Good luck!!!

[mz.newlife54 103]

Thank u all. They told me exactly what all of you have told me. Like a hotel room, put my sleep wear on and then they hook all the wires and everything up to me.

[JCP 619]

Mine was two nights... First with no mask, just monitoring. Second with a mask and monitoring, and they made adjustments to find the right settings. All I can say is, I don't ever want to live without a cpap again. I had no idea how bad my apnea was. I had it so long, I thought feeling dead was normal. Thank God for modern medicine!