Monday, December 20, 2004
My sleep has been studied....
The technician during the first part was nice and let me go to sleep a little later than 10pm. When I don't have to conform to the hours of my work schedule, I usually am ready to go to sleep about midnight. I think I went to sleep about 11pm.
I was happy to have short hair because of all the electrodes and such I was hooked up to. I had stuff stuck to my face, back of the head, shoulders and calves. In addition, I had a band around my chest, a connector for a CPAP device on my upper lip, and a finger cuff.
Now, you'd think with all these itchy electrodes stuck on me, there'd be no way I could sleep. Believe it or not, I think I dozed off after about 15 minutes, not bad for someone who'd skipped their usual Ambien. Even though the bed was too firm for my comfort, I brought my own pillows, which helped.
I did tell the tech I thought it unlikely I had sleep apnea as I'd lost 60 pounds and had had sinus surgery since the previous study (that one had showed mild apnea). So he agreed to only hook me up to the CPAP if I showed any signs of apnea. He never did wake me up for that, so I'm guessing that aspect of the test was normal.
But I did wake up 5 times last night, which is probably not normal. One of those times was for a potty break. The technician had to come in and unhook various devices, which woke me up enough to make it difficult to get back to sleep.
I did, however, sleep deeply enough during the night to dream, and the dreams were quite bizarre. One dream was that several sleep study patients had agreed to have a contest for entertainment, and one of the patients did an imitation of Buddy Holly being electrocuted in a shower while wearing all those electrodes for the sleep study. I guess I don't lack imagination.
Part two of the test was during the day today. All I had to do was take five 20 minute naps (fully monitored, of course) at intervals of two hours apart. The only bummer is that most of the electrodes stayed attached all day, and if I wanted to move around, I had to cart around a box that everything was plugged into.
I killed time by watching TV (Price Is Right, Millionaire, Jeopardy and the news), eating a few snacks I'd brought from home, playing a hand-held Yahtzee game and reading Mark Twain. I did some stretching, or at least as much as I could being attached to all those wires. I did not find it boring at all, but then, I am quite easily amused.
Oddly enough, I believe I did doze off a bit during each of the naps. At least I know for certain I was NOT alert each time they came to wake me up. And I think I may have dreamed at least once....I don't know if I was in deep enough sleep to show up on the charts, but I suspect it is not normal to doze off that fast several times in a row.
As for narcolepsy, I guess it depends on whether I achieved dream sleep during at least two of those naps for a positive diagnosis. If I did not dream but simply reached a light doze, they may decide I have hypersomnia instead. One really amazing result of this test....after five naps, I am more alert right now than I have been in at least two months.
I get the official results during my follow-up appointment with the sleep specialist on January 6th. I am very curious about this....perhaps I'll have an answer for this horrible nearly constant exhaustion. Or maybe they'll just confirm the same lack of stage 4 sleep that they found five years ago.
I think I'll get dressed and go to the 24 hour grocery for some ingredients to make cookies. Yes, I feel that good, and I think I should take advantage of it.
Pain level: 6
Fatigue level: 2
I was happy to have short hair because of all the electrodes and such I was hooked up to. I had stuff stuck to my face, back of the head, shoulders and calves. In addition, I had a band around my chest, a connector for a CPAP device on my upper lip, and a finger cuff.
Now, you'd think with all these itchy electrodes stuck on me, there'd be no way I could sleep. Believe it or not, I think I dozed off after about 15 minutes, not bad for someone who'd skipped their usual Ambien. Even though the bed was too firm for my comfort, I brought my own pillows, which helped.
I did tell the tech I thought it unlikely I had sleep apnea as I'd lost 60 pounds and had had sinus surgery since the previous study (that one had showed mild apnea). So he agreed to only hook me up to the CPAP if I showed any signs of apnea. He never did wake me up for that, so I'm guessing that aspect of the test was normal.
But I did wake up 5 times last night, which is probably not normal. One of those times was for a potty break. The technician had to come in and unhook various devices, which woke me up enough to make it difficult to get back to sleep.
I did, however, sleep deeply enough during the night to dream, and the dreams were quite bizarre. One dream was that several sleep study patients had agreed to have a contest for entertainment, and one of the patients did an imitation of Buddy Holly being electrocuted in a shower while wearing all those electrodes for the sleep study. I guess I don't lack imagination.
Part two of the test was during the day today. All I had to do was take five 20 minute naps (fully monitored, of course) at intervals of two hours apart. The only bummer is that most of the electrodes stayed attached all day, and if I wanted to move around, I had to cart around a box that everything was plugged into.
I killed time by watching TV (Price Is Right, Millionaire, Jeopardy and the news), eating a few snacks I'd brought from home, playing a hand-held Yahtzee game and reading Mark Twain. I did some stretching, or at least as much as I could being attached to all those wires. I did not find it boring at all, but then, I am quite easily amused.
Oddly enough, I believe I did doze off a bit during each of the naps. At least I know for certain I was NOT alert each time they came to wake me up. And I think I may have dreamed at least once....I don't know if I was in deep enough sleep to show up on the charts, but I suspect it is not normal to doze off that fast several times in a row.
As for narcolepsy, I guess it depends on whether I achieved dream sleep during at least two of those naps for a positive diagnosis. If I did not dream but simply reached a light doze, they may decide I have hypersomnia instead. One really amazing result of this test....after five naps, I am more alert right now than I have been in at least two months.
I get the official results during my follow-up appointment with the sleep specialist on January 6th. I am very curious about this....perhaps I'll have an answer for this horrible nearly constant exhaustion. Or maybe they'll just confirm the same lack of stage 4 sleep that they found five years ago.
I think I'll get dressed and go to the 24 hour grocery for some ingredients to make cookies. Yes, I feel that good, and I think I should take advantage of it.
Pain level: 6
Fatigue level: 2
Comments:
Post a Comment
