had a sleep study done?

[Grumpy's Gal]

how was it?

 

[poohlover]

bumping as my DH is to go in soon for this study TIA for any info!

hopefully getting it done will allow BOTH of us better sleep!

 

[Pop Daddy]

I like watching people sleep , anit that weird

 

[NJBlackBerry]

I had one done a few years ago. Actually, two.

How was it? They hook you up to dozens of wires, and you try to go to sleep and they monitor you as you sleep. Audio, video, EEG, EKG, eye movements, leg movements, breathing - just about everything. All looking for a sleep or breathing disorder. Uncomfortable - yes; but nothing bad.

They eventually got back to me with a diagnosis (Sleep Apnea) and I had a second sleep study - less wires - but with a CPAP machine (mask/air pump) to see if thay corrected the apnea. Which it did for me.

So now I bring my CPAP everywhere with me (even to WDW) and I get a good nights sleep!

P.S. Both my DW and I sleep much better now. And I don't have to sleep on the couch because of that "snoring" that I, of course, never heard!

 

[arminnie]

I am probably the resident expert on sleep studies. I've probably had 7-8 in the past 12 years. The last one was 3 years ago.

All but one of mine were at the Stanford University Medical School Sleep Disorder Clinic. They are the "gold standard" in sleep disorders. They literally discovered sleep apnea as a disorder and have done most of the pioneering work in the field.

You report to the clinic usually between 5-7 pm. A technician will wire you up. They use a glue (that can be dissolved in the morning) and attach wires all over your body including the head. (lots of them - way more than for an ekg).

An oxygen monitor is placed on the finger. Sometimes a microphone was taped on, but now I think it is just in the room. There's usually a camera on the patient.

There a big room that looks like a computer headquarters where the technicians monitor everything as the night goes by.

Most centers tell you to bring reading material, regular pjs, etc and to plan to go to sleep at the normal time. There's usually a TV in the room. When I had sleep apnea the hardest thing for me was to stay awake until 10 pm.

If a patient has sleep apnea, they may wake the patient up and hook up a CPAP (constant positive air pressure) device. And then continue monitoring to see if that helps.

Stanford also likes to do the whole "tube" thing which is the worst part. Many centers don't do this as it is hard to install. It consists of a tube going throught the nose down the back of the throat and into the airways. Yes it is as bad as it sounds, and yes it does stay there all night.

As soon as the patient wakes up in the morning - the staff comes in, unhooks everything and sends the patient home. As an aside - they KNOW when you are awake - you can't fake it and pretend like you are still asleep if you don't want to get up yet.

The technicians aren't supposed to give you any results, but if they come in and put the CPAP on it usually means that there is sleep apnea.

Sleep studies can be used to diagnose restless leg syndrome and other things besides apnea. Apnea can either be obstructive (windpipe too small) or thing kind where somehow the body forgets to give orders to breathe (forget what they call that kind).

This is what I had done because CPAP didn't work for me. The mandibular myotomy was MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR surgery. Drs.Powell and Riley were my surgeons.

UVULOPALATOPHARYNGOPLASTY (UPPP)
What is available today in the way of surgery is the uvulo-palato-pharyngoplasty (UPPP). What does this mean? The uvulo refers to the uvula, that fleshy thing hanging in the back of your throat, palato refers to the palate, and pharyngoplasty means plastic surgery of the pharynx (the pharynx is the joint opening of the gullet and the windpipe). The uvula is removed along with excess tissue. This surgery is usually done for patients who can't tolerate nasal CPAP. This surgery has mixed reviews, it helps in around 50% who have the surgery and in others it does not help at all or it helps only partially and the patient may still need to use the C-PAP machine due to scar tissue.


MANDIBULAR MYOTOMY
A procedure called mandibular myotomy was crafted by Drs. Nelson Powell and Robert W. Riley who are associated with the Stanford University Sleep Disorders Center. This procedure, mandibular myotomy ( mandibular = relating to the lower jaw bone, and myotomy = surgical division of a muscle) with genioglossis (chin and tongue) advancement, involves cutting a rectangular piece of bone in the anterior (front part) portion of the mandible (jaw) to which the tongue muscles are attached. At that point, the rectangular piece is pulled outward, rotated 90 degrees and attached so it overrides the defect produced by the osteotomy (cutting of bone), where it is reattached. This pulls the tongue forward six to ten millimeters and almost always eliminates the sleep-related obstruction. These surgeries requires much research and consideration before you undertake it. They should only be performed by surgeons with considerable experience and documented training and skill in both ENT surgery and maxillofacial surgery.

 

[powellrj]

I have had 3 or 4 (I've lost count) They are pretty much as others discribed, except when you have to ones that you have to stay for 24 hours. You do the normal night study, then they wake you in the morning and give you breakfast. You have to stay in your PJs all day and they keep you hooked up to the machines. You can't stay in bed, you have to sit in a chair and read or watch TV. Then they come in and tell you to take a nap, then they wake you up and you sit some more, then they tell you to nap again. I forget how often they did it, but it made for a really long day.

Good luck!

 

[arminnie]

I have had 3 or 4 (I've lost count) They are pretty much as others discribed, except when you have to ones that you have to stay for 24 hours. You do the normal night study, then they wake you in the morning and give you breakfast. You have to stay in your PJs all day and they keep you hooked up to the machines. You can't stay in bed, you have to sit in a chair and read or watch TV. Then they come in and tell you to take a nap, then they wake you up and you sit some more, then they tell you to nap again. I forget how often they did it, but it made for a really long day.

Good luck!

Yeah I've had that one too. Fortunately only once and part way through the day they told me that because I was not falling asleep during the naps that I got to leave early. I think that might have to do with testing for narcolepsy.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

bumping as my DH is to go in soon for this study
hopefully getting it done will allow BOTH of us better sleep!

I am right there with you!!