Two years of "treatment" and I had never had a formal PSG study -- not even an at-home study, except some simple ones I devised for myself:
1. trying an occasional night with machine pressure set as low as possible (4 cm H20) to see what my AHI would be at a virtually non-therapeutic pressure. Every autopap I used generally came up with an AHI of 7-9 at the minimum pressure tests.
2. trying several nights with a borrowed recording pulse oximeter, both with and without my autopap -- coming up with:
No cpap for a 6 hour session: brief dip to 83%, average 93%
With cpap for an 8 hour session: lowest dip 93%, average 96%
Ever since I embarked on treating myself for what I felt sure was mild OSA, I've wanted to have a real sleep study. Got my wish when none other than sleepydave himself told me the hospital based accredited sleep lab he manages would be moving into a new wing of the hospital and would be testing their equipment for several days immediately after the move before patients would be scheduled again. If I could be there Oct 17 - 19, I could be the lab rat wired-up for verification of equipment. Could I be there? Took me about one second to decide. Yes!!! Thank you, thank you, Dave!
The PSG study was fun! Yeah, I know...."fun" is not a word often used to describe going through a sleep study. I had the advantage of two years worth of reading the apnea message boards about people's experiences with sleep studies, plus already had my own mask and my own equipment comfort issues fully resolved. There'd be no tight-strapped leaky mask or chin strap on this gal! LOL!!
I'd read that most people take their PJ's, slippers, a robe, a few toiletry items and maybe their pillow to a study.
Hah! With all my supplies in tow, I looked like I was moving in for a month rather than three nights of PSG studies!
1. my own mask - Aeiomed's "Headrest" nasal pillows interface, formerly called the "Aura".
2. my own headgear for said mask. (Hint...the homemade straps were red and green.)
Picture of my mask/headgear.
3. Adhesive tape/scissors. Yes, indeedy. I taped my mouth for the titration night, just as I usually do...to control mouth air air leaks. Probably the only person who will ever be videotaped in that lab with mouth taped securely shut. LOL!!
4. my PAPillow.
5. my Aussie heated hose.
6. ponytail scrunchy for hanging the airhose - had to tape it to the brandnew headboard (shhh, don't tell Dave... maybe he thought the gummy adhesive residue was left from a price sticker on the new headboards! lol) I'd have taped the box the wires go into up there, too, if I hadn't been afraid it might fall on me.
7. my 420E autopap -- for use on the third night to see how it compared with simultaneous PSG data. Dave and I still have a few minor (lol) differences of opinion on autopap performance. I think sabotage was involved!
8. several 10 mg Ambien - even though I've never had difficulty going to sleep or going back to sleep if I happen to wake up... and, I've never taken a sleep aid in my life, not even a Tylenol PM, Benadryl or melatonin, I knew I'd be like a kid at Christmas! The excitement of finally getting a real sleep study. I sure didn't want to botch my big chance, so I went prepared "just in case." As you'll see on the titration night report, I did have some difficulty maintaining sleep during the last half of the night. Kid at Christmas!!
Man, were those brand new full size beds comfy. I slept well.
Tried out almost all of them before the visit was over. Like Goldilocks, I slept in a different room each of the three nights. Each beautifully decorated room had a big tiled private bathroom. Individual temperature control in each room. It was a four bed lab. State of the art. If a person can't sleep there, they realllllly have a problem.
All the techs who were working while I was there were wonderful -- made me feel very welcome and answered every question I had. They also had great personalities...fun people who obviously love their work. Despite still being in the midst of a complicated equipment move and having to drop everything for several hours each evening to play host/hostesses to a steady parade of VIP's (doctors and donors visiting the newly opened wings) Dave and the techs never seemed harried. Nor the least bit perturbed that here was this extra person adding to the workload in the middle of the move. I noticed they were beginning to get dark circles under their eyes as the week days went on, but they were professionals all the way - doing their jobs perfectly.
I thoroughly enjoyed being wired up three nights in a row and getting to see the full results the very next day. Dave is a great teacher. Sleep is fascinating stuff. It still all looks like squiggles to me, but when someone who is top notch at this is explaining it to you right there on the screen, it becomes more interesting...especially when it's your own squiggles.
Speaking of squiggles -- something the PSG turned up that no machine (cpap, autopap, bi-level) could have ever told me is that I have PLMs (periodic limb movement.) I'll leave that to Dave to explain better than I can. Those ornery things can disrupt sleep, and apparently do for me quite a bit of the time without my being aware of them happening. Since I feel very well rested every morning, however, (and don't have medical insurance to pay for prescription meds) I'll ignore them for the time being. However, I'm very glad to have had the study which is the only way the PLM problem would have been discovered. If ever I start feeling less than well rested in the future, I'll know that there's a possibility it might be due to the PLMs; not simply a failure of cpap treatment, and can address the PLMs then.
The PSG also revealed the arousals that fragment sleep. It provided a look at the sleep architecture. Toted up an RDI. Gave detailed information no cpap machine can give. Gotta have all those wires attached to see the big picture. And gotta have people who know what they're doing collecting the data, scoring it, interpreting it.
The reports from all three nights (and some pictures) are here:
study-Oct2005 Laura (rested gal)
sleepydave, you're a "good'un!" Thank you again for such a wonderful opportunity to find out what a well run sleep study and a well equipped sleep lab are all about. Not to mention learning more about my own sleep from a genuine expert.
Last edited by rested gal on Sat Nov 19, 2005 1:22 am; edited 1 time in total
