I had my sleep study Friday night. I was comfortable except for the chest and tummy straps which were too tight. The tech said they needed to be tight but loosened them slightly.Sooo all was fine lights out I get comfortable and just as I begin to drift off boom I jerk wide awake and feel as if I cant get my breath. That has never happened before. Oh well I ignore it and again just as Im about out I jerk awake and feel breathless. This happens a third time and the tech comes in and asks if Im alright. I tell him I feel as if the straps are too constrictive and wont allow my chest to expand fully enough to get a full breath. He loosens them again and I even push them to a less constrictive point and try once again. Well now I feel fairly alert and cant get comfortable. After what seems forever I begin to get drowsy but now Im on my back and for some reason as I doze off my airway consrticts enough to cause a terribly loud snore/snort which wakes me up. Now Im beginning to dread falling asleep for fear of what will happen next.I toss and turn for about 2 hours. The tech comes in to replace a couple of wires Ive knocked off my scalp and after three more lights on attempts to get the connections restored all is quiet again. By now its 1:30 and I dont think Ive slept yet and Im not sleepy. At 2:30 the tech comes in again to check a connection and asks if Im alright. I tell him Im not sleepy and ask if we can just quit. He says just give it a while longer. I toss and turn till 5:30 and dont think Ive slept more than 10 minutes the entire night. The tech says I slept 3 hours or so but very little was a deep sleep. He also mentioned a lot of leg movement.So any way I guess my question is what will they deduct from the sleep study? It seems like a waste because I slept so little and I never sleep like that normally. By that I mean feeling like I cant get my breath, being unable to sleep, leg jerks, etc. The reason I went in for the study was because of my loud snoring(I have to sleep serarately from my wife) waking up often with a pounding heartbeat and constant tiredness. Normally apart from those symptoms I feel like I sleep soundly. My test didnt simulate my normal sleep patterns at all. Ive never awoken and felt like I couldnt get my breath until Fri. night. Thats scary and really unsettling. I really felt like a failur for not being able to fall asleep and lying in a strang bed unable to sleep or move(without breaking a connection) made for an incredibly miserable experience. I really really hoped a cpap machine would revitalize my life and now Im worried I wont even get one. The tech mentioned at one point that if my symptoms were right they would come in and hook me up to the machine for the 2nd half of the night(split study) but that never happened. Did I fail the test? What will happen now? Thanks for any response and oh by the way Im delighted to be part of this forum You guys have really educated me and comforted me a lot.

zbee,

As far as I  can tell, there's no way to fail a sleep study.  Need more data, yes.  But any data will help pinpoint your problem.

You did have quite an adventure, though.  It's my guess that the straps were what broke the camel's back, so to speak, by constricting your breathing even more than usual.  Instead of having your heart pounding, you woke up because you couldn't get a deep enough breath, I think.  Your tech sounds like he was ok.  It's almost always harder to sleep in a different setting even without all the wires.

My guess is that you did sleep enough for them to get some good data.  From your symptoms (snoring, pounding heartbeat on awakening and tiredness) I'd guess you'll get a cpap pretty soon.  Sounds like you'll be in for a second test, this time the titration.  Hopefully it'll be without the breathing straps... but even with, you'll probably see a difference.

The leg motions are another problem, better solved once you've gotten some of your sleep caught up.  I've got that too, and I'm amusing myself with herbal remedies while I get used to the cpap.  If I can't solve the problem myself, I'll ask the doc to help.

Sometimes all the symptoms and tests and results are just overwhelming.  Root around in the sleep tests to find more on test results and what they mean.  Everyone's here to help.

Post back, let us know what's happening, and stay positive.

Had my sleep study done on Saturday night as the Friday night the tech could not get here due to a snowstorm. I avoided caffiene and had  extra exercise that day and made sure not to nap. Fell right to sleep with two Tylenol pm but woke up an hour later with the same panicked feeling as you had. I could not breath and basically fidgeted the balance of the night. The tech told me I did have serious Rem sleep and completed the evaluation. I don't know how. The room was not darkened properly and she did not know how to get the lights off due to a locked switch. Also as a hospital, the air exchange requirments meant a fan was blowing hard in that room all the time.  Conditions were less than ideal for sleeping even without the test but I toughed it out. Kind of scary though.

If I move onto a titration, I'm requesting a knock me out pill and will try one at home with a bunch of rubber bands wrapped about my head and a tight belt around my chest to simulate the upcoming event. I'll be glad to move onto a CPAP if that is what is needed.

That's what happens when you don't study hard enough. Had you stayed up all the previous night and crammed like any good student would do, you would have been exhausted and slept the whole night then passed with flying colors. Or you could have done what I did - look at the other person sleeping that night and copied his answers to getting a good sleep.

John  

zbee wrote:

I had my sleep study Friday night. I was comfortable except for the chest and tummy straps which were too tight. The tech said they needed to be tight but loosened them slightly.Sooo all was fine lights out I get comfortable and just as I begin to drift off boom I jerk wide awake and feel as if I cant get my breath. That has never happened before. Oh well I ignore it and again just as Im about out I jerk awake and feel breathless. This happens a third time and the tech comes in and asks if Im alright. I tell him I feel as if the straps are too constrictive and wont allow my chest to expand fully enough to get a full breath. He loosens them again and I even push them to a less constrictive point and try once again. Well now I feel fairly alert and cant get comfortable. After what seems forever I begin to get drowsy but now Im on my back and for some reason as I doze off my airway consrticts enough to cause a terribly loud snore/snort which wakes me up. Now Im beginning to dread falling asleep for fear of what will happen next.I toss and turn for about 2 hours. The tech comes in to replace a couple of wires Ive knocked off my scalp and after three more lights on attempts to get the connections restored all is quiet again. By now its 1:30 and I dont think Ive slept yet and Im not sleepy. At 2:30 the tech comes in again to check a connection and asks if Im alright. I tell him Im not sleepy and ask if we can just quit. He says just give it a while longer. I toss and turn till 5:30 and dont think Ive slept more than 10 minutes the entire night. The tech says I slept 3 hours or so but very little was a deep sleep. He also mentioned a lot of leg movement.So any way I guess my question is what will they deduct from the sleep study? It seems like a waste because I slept so little and I never sleep like that normally. By that I mean feeling like I cant get my breath, being unable to sleep, leg jerks, etc. The reason I went in for the study was because of my loud snoring(I have to sleep serarately from my wife) waking up often with a pounding heartbeat and constant tiredness. Normally apart from those symptoms I feel like I sleep soundly. My test didnt simulate my normal sleep patterns at all. Ive never awoken and felt like I couldnt get my breath until Fri. night. Thats scary and really unsettling. I really felt like a failur for not being able to fall asleep and lying in a strang bed unable to sleep or move(without breaking a connection) made for an incredibly miserable experience. I really really hoped a cpap machine would revitalize my life and now Im worried I wont even get one. The tech mentioned at one point that if my symptoms were right they would come in and hook me up to the machine for the 2nd half of the night(split study) but that never happened. Did I fail the test? What will happen now? Thanks for any response and oh by the way Im delighted to be part of this forum You guys have really educated me and comforted me a lot.

HI....you should have been given a sleep aid like ambien to help....you really need to get back and follow up with another test...talk this over with your dr...good luck.


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bill from Seattle

Well I finally heard from my doctor today. I go back on 3-3 to retest. This time she is prescribing Lunesta for the test. Ill report back after this one but I think Ill be fine.