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zzzleeep Clinic !!

sternum
0 Recommendations

Well I'm back !

What an experience the sleep clinic was. You all know that I was qite apprehensive about going, to say the least. I arrived at the clinic just in time to get settled in and hooked up and so help me nothing was as I expected.

The hook-up process took away any worries I had. Once the technician started adding gobs of wax to my scalp and sticking tiny electrodes in them and then taping everything so they would stay in place, I just lost it. My internal vision just saw all the tape covering my face and overlapping one another (My head isn't all that big) and then all the wax gobs and electrodes with my hair sticking up in between, priceless !! I started to laugh at the picture and that set the tone for the rest of the night. Relax and go to sleep. Stop being nervous.

The bedrooms are just as you would have at home, and as cool as I like it. So --- I did get to sleep, woke up a few times and found it somewhat difficult to get comfortable and back to sleep, but I did. Six o'clock came much sooner than I thought it would so I really did sleep.

Now for the results: Apparently I stopped breathing about 33 times an hour and worse when on my back or in REM .

Leg movement were about 19 per hour(with medication) So we'll keep taking that.

Dr. asked how many times I thought I had wakened during the night. Who knows, so I said maybe 4or 5. He smiled his doctor smile and told me it was actually 247. The result of all this monitoring is that I do have severe sleep apnea, mind restless leg and insomnia. The day testing will be done later after we try the CPAP (oh oh).


So to make a long story short --- Thankyou for all your help. My fears where groundless. I more than survived the night and these disorders are now verified and documented.

Be blest --- Gloria ---

Explore topics in this discussion:

Exercise Heart disease Provigil Dry mouth Insomnia Sleep apnea CPAP

19 replies

Kennarina

You woke up 247 times?!?! Oh my! This has got to affect your physical and mental state during the day!! Aren't sleep clinics amazing?!? When does the CPAP start?

XOXOXO


http://www.myheartsisters.org

sternum

Hi Kennarina ---

Boggles the mind. They say you don't actually come fullyto the surface every time, but it does interrupt your sleep. Those results were copied from the report that will be going to my Md. and the sleep therapy clinic in town. The clinic
in town will be able to fit me with a CPAP that will meet my needs. So I just have to wait for them to call with an appointment time.

See you later,
gloria

Gammacygnus

Welcome to the club of sleep apnea. I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea. I had difficulty with the mask (tried 3 different kinds), brand new machine* a Bi-cpap, tried to sleeping with it , the *noise kept me a WAKE, hmmm with the insomnia. Good luck with your Cpap appointment

Lynnedz56

Glad I found this. My doctor wants me to do a sleep study. I have actually put it off for years. I tried once years ago, but had severe back problems and could not sleep. So, that does worry me. But I guess it's time to do it. My pulmonary doctor is a "sleep" expert and has for years been doing sleep studies and is actually one of the first doctors in this area to start doing that years ago.

martzj

Gloria,

247 times??!!! This kind of apnea can definitely create heart arrhythmias and spasms...not to mention a fatigue factor that causes increased appetite and leads to weight gain.

Thanks for sharing what it was like. I've always wondered. I saw a PBS special that featured a male who'd been beset with horrific spasm attacks only during waking hours. Turned out it was apnea and after a few months on CPAP, the heart irregularities vanished...no more scary, mystifying ER visits!

Good luck with all this,
Jaynie

sternum

Gammacynus ----

You are so right. Insomnia and sleep apnea, a wild combination. I have a hard time getting to sleep and when I do relax enough to get to sleep I stop breathing and wake up. No fun and it goes on all night.
At least now it is on paper and hours of graphs. Duley noted and verified. Just when I am learning about the different types of masks available, you say there is another type out there. Oh well !!

Lynnedz56 -----

My internalist was a sleep disorder therapist as well. When we talked about restless legs, all he had to say was "No problem there are lots of medicines out there to stop it" But never once did he perscribe one of them for me and sluffed off the whole problem. It took a visiting resident in Victoria to see how bad it was and actually perscribe something for me and IT WORKED.

Read my first post before I went to the Clinic and you will see how stressed out I was, and seriously it was all for nothing.
Now after years of trying to get doctors to listen to me and that I was not exaggerating, it is finally down in black and white and red and green and yellow lines plus a video ..... noted and documented so we can move on to the next step at last.

Gloria

sternum

HI Jaynie------

Yes my heart did strange things and my oxygen level went down to 82% 33 times and hour. No wonder my doctor didn't want me to use any sleeping aids. I might not wake up in time for a kick start.

I am hungry all the time and if I kept anything in the house other than fruit and fat free yogurt, I would no doubt be back at my origional 195 lbs. Things can only go up from here. Sleeping -- what a concept

Gloria

NewAllie

Gloria, I'm so glad you got some answers and have the dreaded sleep clinic ordeal behind you. It's no wonder you dreaded it so, waking up 247, not breathing 33 times each hour and all that leg movement. At least in a drowsy state you had to associate sleep with disaster or impending doom! Maybe the mask will feel like a child's security blanket. Sweet dreams! Love, Allie

AuntieMom

Allie,

The mask actually does feel like a child's security blanket.

AuntieMom

sternum

NewAllie

I put off going to bed as long as possible and actually prefer to fall asleep on the chesterfield or in the chair. I may get an hour or two that way without waiting and waitng. You know how it is --- sart to watch a late movie and you always wake up at the end. But at least it is sleep. So
security blanket sounds good to me.

Gloria

sternum

AuntiMom :

Do they come in colours? At least around the edge. It could match the decor of my bedroom. Did t take you a while to get used to it?

Gloria

AuntieMom

Sorry, no colors. The mask and head gear is a combination of dark blue and clear. The straps that go around your head (to keep the mask on) are a navy blue with velcro for adjustments. The front part of the head gear is clear. The mask itself is about 80% clear and the rest is blue - it's the calming color isn't it?

The first night wearing it I had a little trouble basically because I like to read in bed and it was a little difficult to see around the mask - but I have that mastered now. So when I first put the mask on it was when my eyes were drooping. Once I had the mask on I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I have since discovered that if I read with the mask on I can get past the claustrophobic feeling by concentrating on my reading then when it is time to turn off the light the mask just feels like a part of my face. Probably not the best way to describe it but it works for me.

Once your subconscious realizes that the gear helps you sleep it's easy. It just takes a little while to get to that point. I've gotten so used to it that if I don't have it on when I sleep I wake up gagging, choking and gasping for air - very scary.

AuntieMom

sternum

OK AuntiMom ---

I'm beginning to get the picture. The claustraphobia thing is an issue with me. But I might just as well meet the whole thing head on.
I'm sure I'll get over the nerves and actually sleep if I stop fighting it and start working with it. You seem to have gained quite a bit from the process, so I'll stop worrying and fussing and get on with the job. It is for my own good and I'll be breathing (novel idea) all night.

If I can deal with heart disease and all the ways it has changed my life, surely I can conquer this life long mess of sleep apnea with the help of a CPAP. And be grateful there is help. Thank you so much.

Be Blest --- Gloria ---

AuntieMom

Gloria,

I forgot to mention earlier that I was having 45 episodes an hour of "waking up". I was never getting to the REM level of sleep.

Just as an FYI don't expect to get a complete nights sleep the first couple of nights, you will still be getting used to sleeping with the mask. Each night gets better and better. It's just an adjustment that you need to make, similar to going from sleeping by yourself to sleeping with someone else in the bed, hogging the bed or the covers, etc.

I really think reading or doing something else to distract you from the mask helps to get used to it. Maybe wear it for a little while during the day or take a nap with it on the first time you try it out.

Basically it comes down to if you could sleep with all those electrodes, wires etc attached to you during the sleep study because it was good for you and going to help you, you can adjust to the mask. Just keep telling yourself that it is going to be so wonderful when you get used to it and can sleep straight through the night. It's heavenly! I know you can do this, like you said if you could adjust to the heart disease, you can adjust to this and it doesn't require reading all kinds of labels!

Give me a holler if you need any more help, questions, fears, etc. I'll do anything I can to help you.

AuntieMom

sternum

Thank you so much AuntiMom --

I was just thinking while reading you post.
Last year when I was still in the hospital, a sleeping mask would have been taken in stride. I had the pickline in my right arm delivering vancomyson, antibiotic filled foam packed into the hole in my chest with a draining tube that ended in a vac system on a stand at the end of my bed AND the oxygen tube in my nose. Granted, I had a little help getting to sleep but I just lay on my back and didn't even think about all the lines after I straightened them. Surely I will be able to adjust to a face mask. But to be able to sleep without any pills and breathe at the same time. Well, that is the payoff, isn't it.

Thank you for your encouragement. And read I will !!

Be Blest. --- Gloria ---

AuntieMom

Gloria,

One more thing that I didn't think of until I put my mask on last night - you might be better off putting it on first and then turning the cpap on. If you turn the cpap on first it can be a little initimidating when you first hear the air rushing out. It sounds so loud and powerful. The powerful is what I noticed but when you have the mask on you don't notice the force of the air. Just keep in mind that the air being forced out of the mask is going to keep your airway open and get you a wonderful nights sleep.

AuntiMom

Renate

Hi there,
Can I ask how the noise level is for you partner sleeping next to you?
My friend's husband had the mask and his wife ended up sleeping in the next bedroom. He then got his tonsils removed and did no longer need the mask.
I am supposed to have another sleep study done (I had one in 2005). At that time I had only mild sleep apnea. But I know I stop breathing very often now--not sure if it is sleep apnea or what.
I am reluctant to do another study. I think I will be one of those people who invests in the mask and not wear it. I am a side sleeper and move around all night long.
I am anxious to hear how you will do with the device.
Renate

AuntieMom

Hi Renate,

Oddly enough my partner sleeping next to me also uses a cpap. I will say though that I can't hear his unless he takes the mask off to get up out of bed.

I am a side sleeper and a squirmer also. the only time I had trouble with the equipment being knocked out of place was when I got the equipment. It came with the nasal pillow which just would not stay in place when I slept on my side. Of course, part of the problem may have been that I was getting used to sleeping with something on my face. I haven't tried the nasal pillow again since I got my mask.

I was told that I "don't have sleep apnea per say, but very shallow breathing of 45 episodes (stop breathing and waking) per hour." Hence, the cpap and mask.

I will say that when I am at my Dad's for the weekend (I'm not looney) and my birds sleep with me the noise doesn't seem to bother them. Dad has peeked in at me while I am sleeping and the birds are in various places sleeping. Mickey likes to stand on my right hip (left side sleeper), Mischief is usually on my head or the head gear and the other three are scattered - some are at the foot of the bed and some are on the pillow right beside my head.

AuntieMom

P.S. the newer machines may be quieter than previous one i.e. your friends husband's machine.

SAgniadis

Hi Gloria,

I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea 4 years ago; I mever gpt omtp REM and also have the leg jerking. When you get the CPAP, it should have a ramping mechanism to start out the air flow slow and then, over 30 minutes, it increases to your pressure level (mine is 11). You will only need it for the first couple of nights. You will find you are more alert the first morning. As you use the machine, and your sleep becomes deeper, you will wonder how you did without it. I still experience excessive daytime sleepiness a few times a day; they recently prescribed Provigil. It, too, helps clear the brain fog. I suspect, if I loose the excess weight and exercise more that, too, will disappear. Unfortunately, with working full time it has been difficult keeping up with an exercise program since I returned to work full time about six months after my MI.

Anyway, give the CPAP a chance. I use mine faithfully every night and most of the time when I nap. I used to sleep 2 to 4 hours a night and could tell you every time someone walked past the house, or one of the kids rolled over in bed, etc. Now, I don't realy hear, or recall, any of those things when I sleep. Don't worry though you can wake up when you need to (it's mom's intuition). Enjoy the sleep!

By the way, once you get used to it and increase your daily activities, you will find that you have more energy, a better mood, less of an appetite for carbohydrates (since your body will start to use the sugar better as your activity level increases). It's all good.

Also, at least in the beginning you may want to get a chin guard to help keep your mouth closed when sleeping.

Also make sure your machine has a humidifier with it (warms and moistens the air you breath). That way you won't wake with a very dry mouth and throat.

Best to you.

Susanne

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