Bad experience with sleep study - need to vent

[mstrina27 0]

One of the doctors that is part of the LB program I am going through asked me if I ever snore. Ah, yes? I have allergies (and a cat who sleeps on my head), a partially deviated septum and adnoids, of course I snore a little! I always have, when I was a kid, when I was thin, etc. She immediately said I need to be evaluated for sleep apnea. There is a HUGE stretch between a little snoring (which doesn't even disturb DH) and sleep apnea. But this woman is a bull dog and there is no convincing her, so I play along. They schedule the sleep study (wonder how much this is costing my insurance, and what it will cost me?) and they send me a letter beforehand telling me most people sleep fine and many "sleep better than they do at home". Riigghhtt.

So I get there and the room STINKS like perfumy laundry detergent. Have they ever heard of ALLERGIES? I had a burning throat and headache within 5 minutes. They turn off the stink machine on the wall for me. The room is roasting hot (I sleep with the room at 57 usually). And then they proceed to glue these things all over my legs, back, upper chest, head (glue in my hair), neck and face. I'm supposed to sleep with this on? It gets better. They want to stick 2 things up my nose. I can't stop sniffling and scratching at my nose. I finally fell asleep at 1:00 am, but they had to keep coming in the room because I kept taking the thing out of my nose. It was like sleeping with plastic straws shoved up there. I woke up (enough to remember) at least 4 times. At 6:00 they woke me up to go home. My face was so puffy I could barely see from my right eye (allergies, likely) and my face was puffy and bright red. I also had a raging headache from sleeping on a rubber wrapped mattress with rubber wrapped pillows. Then I couldn't find my car in the parking garage.

I am so POed I could scream. It's now 18 hours later and my face still feels weird (puffy and dry). The tech said if they saw any evidence of apnea they would wake me and give me a mask, which they never did, so I assume no signs of apnea. Aside from a little snoring, I have no apnea symptoms.

Thanks for letting me vent. I am getting really aggravated with this program. I've been jumping through hoops with them and I've had it up to "here"!

Oh, so what did I do today? I didn't stick to my diet, that's for sure! I was too cranky and upset to deal with just cottage cheese and grapes.

Like I always said they will send u thru hoops to charge your insurance all kind of charges... for what.... for u to get a swollen eye.. and a restless night.. i'm sure u could have slept better in the waiting room...wow.. i hope u feel better soon....:thumbup:

[Ailie 1]

You pretty much described my night of hell doing the sleep study. 45 minutes to put all those wires on me. The room was at least 75 and I am used to sleeping in a much cooler room. Every time I moved my legs, I could feel the wires pulling, which kept me awake. If I managed to get 2 hours of sleep that night, that would have been a lot. The diagnosis was that I do not go into REM sleep. Ahhhh, no kidding, that would be because I didn't sleep at all. They got me up at 5:00 in the morning and started pulling all the wires off of me. By the time I got home at 6:00 I was sick to my stomach, and completely exhausted. I didn't even make it upstairs to bed. I crashed in my chair and slept for 6 hours. Oh, and I do snore a lot, and I've even woken up gasping for air. Do I have sleep apnea? I think so, but there is no way I'm going back to do that test again.

[Catalystmb 2]

Sue,

By any chance did you happen to have the study in NY?

Yours sounds eerily similar to my situation.

ALSO, I was told that my insurance does what is called a split night- meaning, IF I had signs of apnea they would mask me halfway through the night.

Me waking up with no mask meant, hey, I don't have it.

A week later they say I need to come in for another night. They say they don't have enough data(she woke me up around 6am) and that I had episodes denoting SA.

F that!

I went on vaca for a week and a half and told them I'll talk to my doctor and then reschedule IF my insurance covers it.

I called the Pulmo today and he will review the rreport and let me know tomorrow.:thumbup:

Grrr......

ETA:

Oh. and the sticks they shove up your nose..NO THANK YOU! Mine had a semi circle which hung on my chin and bothered the shit out of me. I also have a germ problem and told her that her bacteriocidal wipes would not rid any pseudomonos(sp) on them......

Edited April 9, 2008 by Catalystmb

[amsderb 1]

I hear everyones frustrations on it all....

My sleep study was in a nice new place and I know they tried to make it as "homey" as possible...

I know that sleep is important and the one thing no one has mentioned here is....I am not a dr....

If you have sleep apnea it is hard on the left ventrical of your heart...

Well, I can tell you my very healthy Dad has had the snore for years and guess where his 3 heart attacks were...Left Ventrical!!! We talked about this and decided that it is a great thing that at my age now we know this and I won't be putting the years of stress on my heart...I've done enough damage with my morbid obestiy....

So, even I know the importance of trying to resolve this...the cpap is quite barbaric but HOPEFULLY someday they will invent a better treatment...

Until then I will keep trying to wear mine...I really want to be able to...so I just keep trying every night...course with my current cold it has been harder....

Later friends

[amsderb 1]

You pretty much described my night of hell doing the sleep study. 45 minutes to put all those wires on me. The room was at least 75 and I am used to sleeping in a much cooler room. Every time I moved my legs, I could feel the wires pulling, which kept me awake. If I managed to get 2 hours of sleep that night, that would have been a lot. The diagnosis was that I do not go into REM sleep. Ahhhh, no kidding, that would be because I didn't sleep at all. They got me up at 5:00 in the morning and started pulling all the wires off of me. By the time I got home at 6:00 I was sick to my stomach, and completely exhausted. I didn't even make it upstairs to bed. I crashed in my chair and slept for 6 hours. Oh, and I do snore a lot, and I've even woken up gasping for air. Do I have sleep apnea? I think so, but there is no way I'm going back to do that test again.

I never got into REM in 2 different nights! The wires didn't even bug me the second time...it was the mask!!! If and when I go again....because I will have lost enough weight...HOPEFULLY I will sleep...