[dance59326]

I'm getting a sleep study soon and am really nervous. Has anyone here had a sleep study, please e-mail me if you could dance59326@rocketmail.com That wouild be of much help. Even reassurance would be good.
~ dance59326

[SweetSunshine]

Dance,

I had one done in December. It was just like staying in a nice hotel room. Very comfortable bed, they accomodate you with what you need. They just have you put on your pj's, and attach wires into your hair and you have a monitor attached to ya. They also have a video camera up on the ceiling to watch what your body does during your sleep. And either that night or on a different night, depending on if they find anything wrong with your sleep pattern, you might be trying out a mask to help you sleep. I have sleep apnea. And they had me try out a few different kinds of masks. I ended up getting one that just covers my nose. The full mouth/ nose one made me feel to clostrophobic. They will work with you on this ok? Its really not bad at all, I promise. Just a little awkward having the wires attached to you. And let me tell you, since I've used this mask, I've felt a whole lot better!! More awake feeling, my fibromyalgia is not near as bad. I still get bad days, but not near what they were!! I think even my arthritis has eased up, but that could be because I am feeling less pain with the fibro too. I feel more focused and all that. So its well worth the try!! It will take a couple weeks for you to get used to if you need a mask. So don't give up on it. Ohhh and another good thing.. I don't have to get up during the night to go potty lolol!!!!!!!!!!! Imagine that!!

Good luck with your study!! I hope it goes well and you find it to be informative! Taking charge of your life like this always makes a difference in your self confidence and quality of life. Best wishes

[dance59326]

They just think that I have a sleep disorder because I have such bad nightmares
What if I can't fall asleep???

[jen29]

Hugs hon,
I am having a sleep study on monday. I haven't slept more than 2 hours a night for the past 8 weeks. I had a sleep study 3 years ago and had the best night sleep of my life. It is a very comfotable room. Yeah you are hooked up to a bunch of wires, but you really don't notice them. I know that where I am, I can take whatever I want with me, pillows blankets, stuffed animals, whatever it is to feel like I am in my own place.
If you have any questions please feel free to PM me, i am going to be gone for a couple days but where I am at they have a computer I just won't be on it as much.
Take care
jen

[dance59326]

Thank-you so much Jen, I haven't been on the forum since forever ago, but thank-you for the advice. Could you PM me about what tests they run while you're asleep???

[feddy]

Hey Dance,

My sleep study was done many years ago but it was exactly like Jen & SweetSunshine described it. You can bring whatever you need to make you feel good and the room is very comfortable. It's a bit like having a sleepover, just without any friends. The only thing that's strange is having all of the wires attached to your head, but just like everyone else, I went in because I had chronic insomnia and I had the BEST SLEEPS I'd had in months for those 3 nights! I was panicking about not being able to sleep before the study and it was no problem at all.

The doctors and nurses were great and they are very experienced with helping people like us feel comfortable and getting us to fall asleep. You have nothing to worry about at all, you will do great! You won't even be aware of the testing that they'll complete because you will be out like a light.

Good luck, you are going to be just fine.

Feddy

[dance59326]

what can they do to help you sleep if you can't???

[sunrise]

I had my sleep study 2 weeks ago and it was no fun at all. I hated it. Sorry to be negative after these positive reports. Part of the problem was they made me go to bed really early. I don't usually go to bed until after midnight. They started hooking me up to all the wires at 9 pm. I read from 10-12 and still wasn't tired, then turned out the light. I fell asleep after about a half hour and usually it takes me 3 minutes. I woke up about 2 hours later and could not get back to sleep for another 2 and a half hours! It was terrible. Finally I fell asleep and slept for another hour and half and then they woke me up to go home. Part of what made it so hard for me was that they put all these electrodes on my scalp and then they were so uncomfortable to sleep with. I am a side sleeper so they were between me and my pillow and ground into my head. Very uncomfortable. And you have this air sensor up your nose. Again very uncomfortable. I didn't mind the leads on my legs, though, or the breathing belts. I also had leads taped all over my face. They said these would detect whenever my eyes were open or when my jaw moved. What was really annoying was I had a follow up visit with the sleep doctor the week after and he didn't even use this data about eyes and jaw! So what a waste. All that discomfort for nothing. And I was very interested to see if I ground my teeth in the night which the jaw electrodes should reveal and he said they can't tell anything when the person is in the sleep center for only one night with that. They would have to stay a week to get reliable data about the jaw. Well, why hook me up to all those extra leads if the data is no good? He wanted me to come back and do it again because of sleep apnea, to test out machines, and I said I would come but they only needed to test the breathing, right? I wouldn't need all those extra electrodes on the jaw, etc., right? ANd he said NO, they would still put all that stuff on me. I declined to come in. It was a bad experience there. I hated lying awake so uncomfortable for so many hours. So I will just go to the sleep machine store and they will outfit me there and I will take it home to try out. Much better solution. So if you end up having sleep apnea, don't let them try to get you to go in 2 nights--it really isn't necessary.

[ECHOES]

Originally Posted by dance59326

They just think that I have a sleep disorder because I have such bad nightmares
What if I can't fall asleep???

To ease your mind about this, it would be a very good idea to call the place where you will be having this done, and talk to them about your concern. I am confident that there are many who, even if they don't have trouble falling asleep on a daily basis, will be afraid they won't be able to fall asleep in this situation.

I had a sleep study done about 15 years ago. At the time, I was taking a med to help me sleep and they told me I could take it that night, but I didn't because I didn't always need it and I didn't want it to be a factor in the study results.

One thing that helped is that while it is anxiety-provoking beforehand, once there and talking to and being cared for by the technician, seeing more of what to expect, getting the elctrode connections stuck on (usually some humor there because it feels humorous!), and then getting squared away in bed with your book or TV or iPod, you feel relieved to have made it through the uncertainty and you really feel ready to climb into the bed with the fresh, clean, cool sheets and rest....

[jen29]

I have my sleep study tonight. Got about 2 hours of sleep last night, I am not allowed to take a nap today even though i am on some pain meds that make me sleep for a very short time. So no pain meds today. I don't think I will be able to take them there either, but will ask when I get there. I am kinda nervous but I need to know what if anything is wrong.
In the last 2 of the 9 weeks of barley any sleep I wake up and have chest pains, the anxiety kind not the heart attack kind. I am having trouble getting my breath at times, so hopefully that will be caught on the moniters and maybe they can do something about it.
Anyways, just wanted to let you know that tonight is the night and won't get the results till the following Monday unless there is something really wrong.
Jen

[dance59326]

I had my sleep study 2 weeks ago and it was no fun at all. I hated it. Sorry to be negative after these positive reports. Part of the problem was they made me go to bed really early. I don't usually go to bed until after midnight. They started hooking me up to all the wires at 9 pm. I read from 10-12 and still wasn't tired, then turned out the light. I fell asleep after about a half hour and usually it takes me 3 minutes. I woke up about 2 hours later and could not get back to sleep for another 2 and a half hours! It was terrible. Finally I fell asleep and slept for another hour and half and then they woke me up to go home.

Part of what made it so hard for me was that they put all these electrodes on my scalp and then they were so uncomfortable to sleep with. I am a side sleeper so they were between me and my pillow and ground into my head. Very uncomfortable.
how many electrodes were placed on your scalp and where were they located, I am also a side sleeper too and a roller also, I roll over constantly and switch where my head of the board is to where the foot of my head is, how would this work, could they position this better to accommodate my needs??? Where are the wires coming from and are the wires long enough to help me with this???

And you have this air sensor up your nose. Again very uncomfortable.
Is the air sensor in your nose like an oxygen tank, I had to have an oxygen tank on me and I hated it like hell

I didn't mind the leads on my legs, though, or the breathing belts.
How many breathing belts and is there one located on my rib cage??? To fall asleep I massage my rib cage to alleviate some of the really bad pain located there.

I also had leads taped all over my face. They said these would detect whenever my eyes were open or when my jaw moved. What was really annoying was I had a follow up visit with the sleep doctor the week after and he didn't even use this data about eyes and jaw! So what a waste. All that discomfort for nothing.

And I was very interested to see if I ground my teeth in the night which the jaw electrodes should reveal and he said they can't tell anything when the person is in the sleep center for only one night with that.
I self-harm in my sleep, do you think that they could detect this???

They would have to stay a week to get reliable data about the jaw. Well, why hook me up to all those extra leads if the data is no good? He wanted me to come back and do it again because of sleep apnea, to test out machines, and I said I would come but they only needed to test the breathing, right? I wouldn't need all those extra electrodes on the jaw, etc., right? ANd he said NO, they would still put all that stuff on me. I declined to come in. It was a bad experience there. I hated lying awake so uncomfortable for so many hours. So I will just go to the sleep machine store and they will outfit me there and I will take it home to try out. Much better solution. So if you end up having sleep apnea, don't let them try to get you to go in 2 nights--it really isn't necessary.

[jen29]

Had the sleep study....have sleep apnea. Was a rough night at the sleep study and just am overwhelmed by the results and how am being treated at home right now. Anyways, that's the results.
Jen

[dance59326]

are sleep studies really that bad???

[jen29]

They aren't meant to be bad. They are meant to get the best results possible. Things have changed since the one i had 3 years ago. Either I don't remember having any of the same wires on me or it was totally different. but how it was explained above is exactly how it was that night. I usualy fall asleep right away too, but it took at least 30 min, and during the night he had to come in and put the machine on. I ended up with anxiety mostly throughout the night and terrible dreams. He came in about 7 times to check on me.
Jen

[dance59326]

Too nervous, changed the date to June 1st

[sunrise]

Originally Posted by dance59326

how many electrodes were placed on your scalp and where were they located

On the sides of my head, above the ear, near the temple, on the top-side of the head on each side--seemed like everywhere. About 10, I think.

I am also a side sleeper too and a roller also, I roll over constantly and switch where my head of the board is to where the foot of my head is,

I don't know what you mean by the head of the board and foot of your head, but if you mean can you roll over while attached, yes. When you get up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom, they unplug the wires en masse and hang them around your neck, then you go do your thing, come back, and they plug you in again.

Is the air sensor in your nose like an oxygen tank,

It is a thin tube up each nostril, but there is no tank. Unfortunately, my tubes also had this hard plastic thing sticking out that kept gouging me in the mouth. I told the technician about it and she cut part of it out, but it still kept gouging me. It seemed like this totally useless piece of plastic on there just to make me uncomfortable--it had no function at all.

How many breathing belts and is there one located on my rib cage???

There was one under my arms, like how you might measure for clothes with a measuring tape. Then there was one under my breasts on my rib cage. These belts did not bother me at all.

I self-harm in my sleep, do you think that they could detect this???

How do you self harm? If you are cutting yourself, they will be able to see you doing that because they have a camera on you the whole night. Unless you do it under the covers. You might warn them of this in advance.

[dance59326]

I cut in my sleep some how, not quite sure
I also somehow bruised my leg bad just below my knee cap. I'm not sure how it happened, but yeah, it happened under the covers

[dance59326]

((((((((Sunrise)))))))
Thank-you sunrise for helping me. The sleep study was good. It was ok, but not great, I did keep waking up, but nothing too unpleasant, i had to deal with two things in my nose, but i still could breathe through them wow, that was amazing, they kept waking me up though because i kept trying to remove the electrodes apparently in my sleep, wow, I figured that I was doing that on purpose, but ha ha, I really wasn't. I did keep having to adjust the equipment on my own because it was bugging me so much, but mainly only to tighten the belts and keep the finger stick on. I kept sliding it off and previously in the hospital I needed a one-to-one just like in the psych hospital because I was subconsciously rocking side to side and taking off the heart monitors and electrodes for the EKG's and the finger-stick, but especially the oxygen and the oxygen tank. In bed though, I just moved all the wires wherever I wanted them to go and they gave me the roll of tape so that I could tape the box that held all the wires in one place to which ever section of the bed I wanted and my bed was a double queen bed, but I was forced to sleep in the middle. I wasn't very happy though that I had to sleep in the middle and I kept rolling over and they kept having to reconnect things. That made them dis-pleasured, but whatever, it wasn't technically my fault. It wasn't like I was doing it on purpose and I did act very polite and sincere. I showered as soon as I woke up and they let me remove the electrodes and equipment on my own. That made me content.
~ dance59326