Sleep Study

I've been sleeping rather terribly lately. I can fall asleep just fine, and I'm getting 7-8 hours a sleep a night (on worknights, I generally go to bed between 10 and 11pm and wake up between 6 and 7am). However, I can't seem to stay asleep. I wake up at least 2-3 times a night (that I remember) and just feel pretty exhausted a lot of the time. And with the lack of sleep, my emotions get a bit haywire, and my brain sometimes just didn't seem to function.

I was thinking it was a bit problematic how tired I was (and how emotional I could get and how my brain didn't always want to work), but I figured I'd just talk to my doctor at my annual physical that was scheduled in July. I thought I could last until then. My mind changed when my alarm went off one day and I just wanted to cry (I really almost did). So I called my doctor to see if I could move up my annual physical, but apparently that truly has to be a year apart, so that wasn't possible. Then they tried to see if I could get in to see my doctor sooner, but she didn't have any availability in the next two weeks. Once I decided I needed to see a doctor, I didn't want to wait any longer, so they booked me at a different clinic with a different doctor (that was conveniently located closer to both my work and my house) that was still in the same health care system.

I went to the doctor and was really impressed with him. He talked to me for almost a half hour about my concerns and gathered information. Based on everything I said, he determined that it was possible that I had sleep apnea (I had thought that might be a possibility), so he arranged for me to do a sleep study. I also did some blood work (he wanted to rule out some other things), but that all came back normal.

I finally had the sleep study. I didn't entirely know what to expect, though I did a bit of research about it. I was doing a split-night sleep study, which means that they monitor my sleep for the first part of the night, and then if they detect signs of sleep apnea, they put a CPAP machine for the second half of the night and figure out the right pressure. But I went to the center, and I got ushered into what was basically a hotel room. I had a queen-sized bed (covered in a bunch of wires) and my own bathroom.

After I changed into my pajamas, my tech attached all the wires to me. I had wires on my legs, chest, face, and head, as well as two belts. As she attached all of that, I watched a video about sleep apnea, then I was able to watch Castle (they had a lot of channels...it was great). Once I was all hooked up to everything, I was able to just relax and do whatever.

I did try on a nose pillow CPAP machine, to see what it would be like if they did put it on me during the night. I was surprised how well I could breathe through it (as long as I didn't open my mouth). I sometimes struggle to breathe through my nose at night, but there wasn't an issue with the CPAP machine.

When I told my tech I was ready for bed, she added a few more sensors (a finger sensor, as well as a tube that went in my mouth and nose to monitor breathing). And then I went to bed.

I was a little apprehensive about being able to fall asleep with all the wires and things attached to me, but it really wasn't that hard. Unfortunately, I did wake up several times in the night, some because my tech had to come in and adjust things, and other times just on my own. My tech came in and told me around 1:30am that they hadn't seen any major signs of sleep apnea by that point, so they were just going to monitor me the rest of the night and not do the CPAP.

When I woke up the next morning, I was really frustrated and almost started crying. I felt like I slept worse than I normally did, and I still wasn't closer to getting any answers as to why. However,the sleep study did collect about 800 pages of data for the sleep physician to interpret and I would get the results in a few weeks.

Well... I got the results the brief results a few weeks ago, and met with a doctor a few days ago to go over the results. Apparently, I have mild obstructive sleep apnea. I had 9 instances of central sleep apnea and 60 times of hypopnea during the night. One frustrating line from the write-up of my study was that, "Given the mild nature of her sleep apnea it is unclear how much of her current symptoms and daytime sleepiness are a result of the sleep apnea." It is a bit frustrating to have paid a significant amount of money and still not be sure what direction to go. There are a few different ways I could possibly treat it, including getting an oral appliance or a CPAP machine. But they aren't sure what may work and they said it's possible that other issues may be at play (such as mental health issues or stress). I'm going to have to spend more money (which is fine), but I really want to make sure what I spend money on works. So... we'll see what I decide. I just really hope this isn't all in my head.