HI I had  a somnoplasty done about a year again. I wasn'table to go to the follow up study coz if insurance.

Anyway I had a split study done last week. The surgery worked. !!  I had an average of 30 events per hour and now I am at 3. ANd that si only when I sleep on my back. They said if  I could stay on my side i wouldn't;t even need a machine,

NOw I'm thinking of all kinds of devices to stay on my side. HAHAH Every thing from handcuffs to a padded coffin so I can't roll over.
BUT that is not my main concern. They said that I did not ever hit below a level 2 all night. no 3 or 4 no rem. Which would explain why the last 5 sleep studies were all different. Also why I am still tired all the time even when I did use a machine,

ANY way Enuf of that. The techs said it was probly one of the medictions I am on.

Makes sense when I think about it.

So if anyone has any advise especially a tech I would love to hear your input./..

THANX,

EZ

EZ-
I'm not a sleep tech or a medical professional, but I would like to suggest the following:

First, if you don't have copies of your full sleep studies, I would suggest that you request them.

Second, compare your studies and especially compare arousal rates, types of arousals, amount of REM and whether youor AHI was much higher during REM sleep than non-REM sleep. High rates of spontaneous arousals would tend to suggest other sleep problems on top of apnea. If your AHI was much higher during REM sleep than during non-REM sleep and if you have had better REM sleep in the past, then your current results lose some of their luster because you want and need more REM sleep, if you can get it, and as your REM sleep improves we would expect that your AHI would increase as well. Since you had no REM sleep during this study, you will not know for sure how much improved your REM AHI might have improved. Looking at your sleep architecture across your 5 or 6 sleep studies might help identify any changes in your sleep architecture and this might be helpful in identifying what medications or other factors may have a role in decreasing your REM sleep.

Hope this is of some help. Keep us posted.

Best wishes,
Bill

Hey, congrats on your surgery working.  You are so lucky. I had no
success with it.

However, the oral appliance has me down to 4 apenas a night, which
makes me happy, but I continue to be fatigued.

I have five sleep tests and in NOT ONE of them do I go beyond Stage
2 sleep.  I have not changed any maedications since the first test.

Just Plain Bill, I honestly did not understand what you said in response
to this post.  Anyone - what does this mean>  Is there something wrong
with my brain?  I am so tired of being tired; all this work to find a way
to stop apneas turns out not to resolve all my problems.

Plus, my blood pressure is skyrocketing and I am frightened.  Any HeLP
out there???    Best to all, St. Remy


_________________
St. Remy
Night/Day Sleep Study Gtwn.Univ.
29 apneas/hour; no REM; no deep.
Oxygen desat 90-84%
14 cm H2O pressure
Failed CPAP use
TAT oral appliance 8/13/07

justplainbill wrote:

EZ-
I'm not a sleep tech or a medical professional, but I would like to suggest the following:

First, if you don't have copies of your full sleep studies, I would suggest that you request them.
Thanks for your input. I have all of that info/ MY ahi was 3 alost nothint

But what I pposted is the fact that i never got below level 2 sleep the whole night with or without the machine. SO I never got into rem to even tell what thons numbers. ANd you missed my point when I said I had the surgery and It worked. SO could care less about the prior studies as they would be useless because they were prior to the surgery.

Thank you for your input....

WM


Second, compare your studies and especially compare arousal rates, types of arousals, amount of REM and whether youor AHI was much higher during REM sleep than non-REM sleep. High rates of spontaneous arousals would tend to suggest other sleep problems on top of apnea. If your AHI was much higher during REM sleep than during non-REM sleep and if you have had better REM sleep in the past, then your current results lose some of their luster because you want and need more REM sleep, if you can get it, and as your REM sleep improves we would expect that your AHI would increase as well. Since you had no REM sleep during this study, you will not know for sure how much improved your REM AHI might have improved. Looking at your sleep architecture across your 5 or 6 sleep studies might help identify any changes in your sleep architecture and this might be helpful in identifying what medications or other factors may have a role in decreasing your REM sleep.

Hope this is of some help. Keep us posted.

Best wishes,
Bill

I'm sorry my earlier post seemed off point.

What I was trying to suggest is the following:
Eztorun, to understand your current results, which showed a very low AHI (3) but no sleep other than stage 1 and stage 2 sleep, it would be helpful to look in the following spots-
a. in your most recent study for information about arousals, especially spontaneous arousal;
b. in your prior sleep studies to see what they say about your overall sleep.

The past studies may help show whether you have had such problems with not getting stage 3/4 sleep and enough REM sleep before (and under what circumstances) and what your AHI had been and under what conditions. While I accept what you say about the results of the surgery, I am mindful of people who have had low non-REM AHI and high REM AHI. In such a case, the results you describe, while very encouraging, may not conclusively guarantee that your apnea is wholly addressed by the surgery. (Having said this, let me add that based on what you have posted there is not reason to believe that your surgery has not helped).

Spontaneous arousals, or other sleep problems such as periodic limb movements, can disrupt sleep as surely as sleep apnea can and may not be resolved by CPAP (even where CPAP helps). This is not to suggest there is nothing to be done, at least not without more discussion with the sleep doctor.

I hope this helps clarify.

Best wishes,
Bill

eztorun wrote:

HI I had  a somnoplasty done about a year again. I wasn'table to go to the follow up study coz if insurance.

Anyway I had a split study done last week. The surgery worked. !!  I had an average of 30 events per hour and now I am at 3. ANd that si only when I sleep on my back. They said if  I could stay on my side i wouldn't;t even need a machine,

NOw I'm thinking of all kinds of devices to stay on my side. HAHAH Every thing from handcuffs to a padded coffin so I can't roll over.
BUT that is not my main concern. They said that I did not ever hit below a level 2 all night. no 3 or 4 no rem. Which would explain why the last 5 sleep studies were all different. Also why I am still tired all the time even when I did use a machine,

ANY way Enuf of that. The techs said it was probly one of the medictions I am on.

Makes sense when I think about it.

So if anyone has any advise especially a tech I would love to hear your input./..

THANX,

EZ

I am a sleep tech and I often see people who have little to no stage 3 or4 and very little REM. Sometimes it's just a matter of you not having slept as well as you would at home due to the wires and strange bed, etc.  Some meds can affect the states of your sleep, especially meds for depression or other psych disorders and, ironically, some meds taken for sleep. The tech who did your test probably had access to the list of meds you took so (s)he may be right.

A good trick for keeping yourself from sleeping on your back is to buy some t-shirts with breast pockets on them and then put a tennis ball in the pocket and sew it closed. Then, when you go to bed, wear the t-shirt backwards. Everytime you roll over onto your back, the ball will cause it to be uncomfortable and you won't stay on your back.

Hope this helps,
Donna