Showing posts with label sleep apnea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep apnea. Show all posts

Jun 8, 2011

Sleep Study



My polysomnographic study (sleep study) was not nearly as restful as this...

Did you know that a sleep study requires quite a bit of monitoring? Between EEG wires glued into the hair, ECG leads glued to the chest, wires attached to the legs to monitor for restlessness, wires in the nose to capture breathing and a pulse oximeter on the finger, it is not easy to pretend you are home in your own bed.

Despite the odd sensation of having a video camera pointed at me whilst tied to the bed with wires, I managed to fall asleep quickly and slept straight through until the wake up call at 6:45am. (Of course, I can fall asleep pretty much any time, anywhere these days...)

In the morning, I asked the technologist about my night's sleep. After the usual disclaimers, the tech told me that my study surprised her. Given my level of sleepiness, she expected to find clear indications of sleep apnea or restless legs. However, despite some arousals throughout the later part of the study, my oxygen remained high and my legs remained still.

I am now waiting for final report from the physician, but not surprised that I had another unrevealing test.

After the test, I made my way home, ate breakfast and went back to sleep - for the rest of the day.

Feb 23, 2011

An 'overnight' cure?

I saw another doctor yesterday. This time an ENT.

I told him about the headaches, the brain fog, the sleepiness, fatigue...and the constant pain around my eyes (sinus area).

He said my sinuses looked great on my recent MRI (I love electronic health records). And then he asked me if I have ever been evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea. Apparently, it could account for ALL of my symptoms.

Sleep Apnea? Wow. What if everything I've been going through could be explained? And treated easily? What if the past four years of my life were a bad dream?

The only hesitation is that I don't have the typical risk factors associated with OSA. I am not overweight, not male, and DH has never complained about me snoring...Still...my sleep study is scheduled in two months.

I hate to get my hopes up, but if this is "it", I will be eternally grateful.