I am 35 years old and about 50 pounds overweight.  I have been dealing with unbelievable daytime fatigue for the past year or so.  I've felt so tired and awful forever now, and I'm desperate to get an answer and solution.  I saw an endocrinologist a few weeks ago for hypothyroidism that is now under control, and she said I sounded like I also have sleep apnea, which is contributing more to my fatigue at the moment than my thyroid.  She sent me to a sleep specialist who said he was 90% sure I have sleep apnea based on the history I gave him.

I had my sleep study last night, and it was a difficult and disappointing experience.  I was very anxious and had a hard time falling asleep, even after taking 10 mg of Ambien.  Plus, you could hear every little noise in the lab, especially the techs walking up and down the hall all night.  I only got about 4 total hours of sleep.  The tech said I'd have to wait a week or so for the total results, but she said that she didn't see any apnea events.  She said I just snored a lot and that I sleep really hard.  But she said they'd also probably bring me back because I snore and that can be a form of sleep apnea.  (???)

I am just crushed, because this was my last possibility to explore to fix my fatigue.  My thyroid is stable and I'm at the right replacement dose, so that's not it.  I've had all kinds of other tests done and they are all fine.  I'm taking medication for depression, and except for the fatigue, I have no other symptoms.  Now I'm thinking I am just going to have to live with the fatigue.

Is it possible to still have sleep apnea, even if the tech didn't observe any apnea events during 4 hours of sleep?  Is it possible that my complete study results will reveal more information?  I have the classic symptoms, my husband says I snore loudly and irregularly and make funny noises, I am tired all day every day no matter how much I sleep, and I am overweight.  Does it sound like I'm at a dead end?  I hate just waiting for the results.

My sleep study showed that yes I did only sleep for four hours and that I did snore.  Yes I was invited back for the follow up study one week latter.  My results of the first study showed that of the 4 hours of sleep I woke up 84 times and my oxygen level went down to 60 percent.  I was told that at no time is
it suppose to go below 90 percent.  This all took place in April and I now have 1003.3 hours on my Remstar Pro-2 c-pap machine.  
I have been observing  some people doing some strange things in traffic, preparing food at the delie where I get my lunch, & walking the street of the city I work in.  I have to stop and think was I like this before my good nights of sleep?    I guess I was, and people just put up with me.

I will never go to sleep without the c-pap.  For I choose not to feel that way ever again.

Don't be discouraged.  I recently was diagnosed with sleep apnea, which was a surprise to me.  Much like your experience, I had difficulty going to sleep as well during the test.  But I did.  The next morning, the technician said that I would be back, I just don't have the signs.  She said it would take approx 3 weeks to get results.  When the sleep lab nurse called me, not only did I have sleep apnea, but I was borderline between moderate/severe.  You could have picked me up off the floor, especially since the tech said I just didn't have the signs.  I cannot remember how many times an hour, but I do remember my oxygen level dropping to 80. )I have requested a hard copy of my results.

So, wait until you get the official results.  Best of luck to you.

Mark

Hi awnewkirk!
Yes, the best thing to do is wait until you get the results, everything else is speculation until then.  OK, maybe just a couple of thoughts to keep you going until then:
Depending on what you're looking for, you may be able to get sufficient data in a sleep study in as little as 2 hours, and people's perception of a bad night's sleep is usually worse than it actually was (make sure you come back and post your results, let's see how close you were in your estimation, and yes, some people hit it right on the nose).
Don't know the qualifications of the tech to make such an assessment, or if they are under orders not to reveal diagnostic data to patients, so that's not necessarily a slam-dunk yet.
It's not the apnea that makes you have daytime sleepiness in sleep apnea, it's the breaks in sleep continuity, or arousals, that occur as a result of the termination of the event, as well as an overall lack of quality sleep, that make you tired.  And lots of things cause arousals.  For instance:

Quote:

Upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is a condition in which patients complain about excessive daytime sleepiness and they may snore and wake frequently during the night. However, UARS patients do not have the breathing abnormalities that characterize sleep apnea and they do not show reduction in oxygen levels in the blood. Unlike apnea, UARS is more likely to occur in women than in men. Treatments are similar to those of sleep apnea. It is not known if UARS has any serious health complications.

So, yes, there is a range of sleep-disordered breathing problems.  But no, that doesn't mean "AHA! that's what the tech meant by that!"  That means, here is a possibility.
Bottom line, don't be discouraged, get the results and go from there, please write back and let us know how you're making out.
sleepydave

Hi-

  I too was not pleased with my sleep study in that I could hear the tech talking for over an hour - so much for insulated walls.  My problem now is adjusting to the C-pap and healing from surgery to deal with sleep apnea - so far it hasn't helped me - but time will tell.

Good Luck to you - John

Thanks so much for responding to my post.  All three of you gave me reassurance and hope while I was waiting to hear the results.  The doctor's office just called and gave me results over the phone.  I was trying to get everything on paper, but I might have missed something.  They are mailing a copy to me, so I can post the actual results when I get it.

Here's what I managed to write down:

Total study:  386 minutes
Total time asleep:  223 minutes

During those 223 minutes I had 61 abnormal breathing events for an average of 16 per hour.  These were not complete obstructions, but were what they called partial apneas or hyponeas.  The lowest my O2 level got was 92%, which they said was normal.  Even though I'm not having total obstructions, I'm still arousing every time I have the hyponeas, so that is probably the cause of my EDF.  I go back on 9/19 for CPAP trial, and he's going to put me with a more experienced technician.  He said my technician was fairly new and still learning.

So, any thoughts on these results?  I know it's not as severe as many I've read here, but do these results seem significant enough to be causing me to feel so badly?  And to have trouble with weight loss?  I'm really hoping CPAP will help me feel better so I have more energy and can more easily lose weight.

Thanks again for everyone's help!  I will post my complete results when I receive them.

Amy