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I did my sleep study when I was 24. There were no drugs involved. It's just a bunch of sensors taped to you while you sleep with a camera watching you. Bit odd

by mabbo 8y ago

I did my sleep study when I was 24. There were no drugs involved. It's just a bunch of sensors taped to you while you sleep with a camera watching you. Bit odd of an experience, but nothing that should concern you much.

tptacek 8y ago
My understanding is that if you're not going to fall asleep in the setting of the sleep study, they'll Ambien you out.
- oostevo 8y ago
  That does not match my experience (but n=1 and all). In my case, the result of the sleep study where I didn't really sleep was, "hmm ... it looks like you might have insomnia." (No kidding). No drugs were offered -- or forced -- during the study.
- JoshTriplett 8y ago
  You're ultimately in control of the situation. If you explicitly tell them that under no circumstances do you want to take a drug to induce sleep, they're not going to force you to. You could just call it off if you can't sleep. I've taken a sleep study before; they're not that weird, just a pile of sensors and a bed. And I also know from multiple people that if you do have any form of apnea, addressing it can have a life-changing impact.
- tomcam 8y ago
  Have gone through 3 sleep studies. No drugs were offered and I never got to sleep. You would be fully within your rights to decline any such offer and they wouldn’t give a shit anyway. Given your sleep routine I promise the study would be pure hell. They are for me. But I need that APAP.
  - tptacek 8y ago
    See! You get it! If I felt I had an urgent problem I'd just deal with the study, but "feeling tired during the day" is very, very low on my list of complaints. I sort of feel like I get away with murder, biologically; I go to sleep at 1AM and get up at 7AM and do just fine. On the other hand, my wife tells me I snore and randomly stop breathing, so I have reason to believe there's something going on.
    - daeken 8y ago
      Have you thought about an at-home sleep study? My wife and I both did that to get our CPAPs prescribed. Just had to wear a band around the chest (with a little unit that read the force of expansion, I presume), a pulse-ox sensor (IIRC), and something else I can't recall. I'm sure it's not perfect, but my doctor recommended it and was happy enough with it.
    - tomcam 8y ago
      > my wife tells me I snore and randomly stop breathing This is bad for her and worse for you. You have an apnea for sure. You’re losing brain cells unnecessarily. Luckily I know your posting history and you can obviously afford them. I can’t! But for your wife’s sake get a home sleep study.
      - tptacek 8y ago
        I probably will sometime in 2019 (for totally unrelated reasons having to do with insomniaphobia, I have a pretty odd sleeping arrangement that involves me sleeping mostly upright these days which I'm told has mitigated this problem). I'm just saying: if I could just buy the damned APAP and try it out, I would do that first. Friends who've gotten sleep studies have uniformly described it as simply a hurdle to getting the actual RX for the machine, and that all the learning and diagnostics happened after they started with the machine.
        auntienomen 8y ago
        You can just buy the damned APAP. The gear I use can be had off Amazon for about $700. A Respironics Dreamstation, and a Resmed Swift FX nasal pillow with headgear and quick connect hose. Probably cheaper if insurance covers it, but you don't actually need it. If you think you can breathe through your nose with your mouth closed, the nasal pillows are nicer. If not, get a mask. They're nice to have anyways, if colds clog your nose.
- gojomo 8y ago
  Nowadays I believe an at-home "study" is more common, cheap, easy, and non-disruptive. They give you a little case of sensors to take home & show you how you should attach them before bed. Chiefly it's a finger pulse oximeter & something worn on the chest to measure sleep orientation, chest motion, and record snoring sounds. You sleep as normal, at home, and return the devices the next day for its readings to be interpreted. So: your concern about being in an unfamiliar setting, or being offered drugs to sleep, may be outdated. OTOH, if you're not in general risk groups nor experiencing daytime tiredness, there may not be not much reason to dig further (unless your wife has noticed something else worrisome).
- ridgeguy 8y ago
  This might be a function of the particular lab. Yours is the first suggestion I've heard of that possibility. I've had two overnight lab sleep studies. During the first I registered less than 5 minutes of sleep. Nobody suggested giving me any drugs.
- wbkang 8y ago
  This does not reflect my experience. Besides, taking Ambien would show different brain waves than actual sleeps so it would make it less useful as well.
- jachee 8y ago
  Echoing others' encouragement. My study was an easy at-home test which confirmed how bad my hypopnia was, mostly from the blood/oxygen ratio. Mine was going down into the 70s. It was so bad that immediately after that, they scheduled an inpatient test with the PAP machine. I was super skeptical of being able to sleep a) in a strange bed, b) with all those sensors on my head/chest, c) 4 hours earlier than usual, and d) on my back/side. (I was a hardcore stomach sleeper before.) At the second study, they strapped me into the sensor harness, put on the mask, and turned out the lights. It took what felt like about 5 minutes to get used to the sensation, but then I was out. Like someone flipped a switch to "Sleep now." Eight hours went by like a flash. I woke up the next morning super refreshed and feeling amazing. When they said it would be three days until I could get my machine, I was kind of sad. Eight years later, I've still got the same machine, and it's still like hitting an off switch when I put it on. I only average about 4.5 hours' sleep during the week, but it's turbocharged. My AHI seldom crosses 2.0 and I can see exactly what I'm doing via SleepyHead. Best decision I've made health-wise, except maybe kicking sugared soda. Edit: it also let me drop my hypertension prescription to the minimum dose.
- URSpider94 8y ago
  They don’t really need all that much data. An hour or so of solid sleep will give them what they need. The full Monty study is pretty bad, with ECG wires all over your body and EEG electrodes all over your scalp. Nobody gets much sleep, but again, they only need a little data, and most people manage to fall asleep eventually,

by mabbo 8y ago

tptacek 8y ago

My understanding is that if you're not going to fall asleep in the setting of the sleep study, they'll Ambien you out.

oostevo 8y ago
That does not match my experience (but n=1 and all). In my case, the result of the sleep study where I didn't really sleep was, "hmm ... it looks like you might have insomnia." (No kidding). No drugs were offered -- or forced -- during the study.
JoshTriplett 8y ago
You're ultimately in control of the situation. If you explicitly tell them that under no circumstances do you want to take a drug to induce sleep, they're not going to force you to. You could just call it off if you can't sleep. I've taken a sleep study before; they're not that weird, just a pile of sensors and a bed. And I also know from multiple people that if you do have any form of apnea, addressing it can have a life-changing impact.
tomcam 8y ago
Have gone through 3 sleep studies. No drugs were offered and I never got to sleep. You would be fully within your rights to decline any such offer and they wouldn’t give a shit anyway. Given your sleep routine I promise the study would be pure hell. They are for me. But I need that APAP.
- tptacek 8y ago
  See! You get it! If I felt I had an urgent problem I'd just deal with the study, but "feeling tired during the day" is very, very low on my list of complaints. I sort of feel like I get away with murder, biologically; I go to sleep at 1AM and get up at 7AM and do just fine. On the other hand, my wife tells me I snore and randomly stop breathing, so I have reason to believe there's something going on.
  - daeken 8y ago
    Have you thought about an at-home sleep study? My wife and I both did that to get our CPAPs prescribed. Just had to wear a band around the chest (with a little unit that read the force of expansion, I presume), a pulse-ox sensor (IIRC), and something else I can't recall. I'm sure it's not perfect, but my doctor recommended it and was happy enough with it.
  - tomcam 8y ago
    > my wife tells me I snore and randomly stop breathing This is bad for her and worse for you. You have an apnea for sure. You’re losing brain cells unnecessarily. Luckily I know your posting history and you can obviously afford them. I can’t! But for your wife’s sake get a home sleep study.
    - tptacek 8y ago
      I probably will sometime in 2019 (for totally unrelated reasons having to do with insomniaphobia, I have a pretty odd sleeping arrangement that involves me sleeping mostly upright these days which I'm told has mitigated this problem). I'm just saying: if I could just buy the damned APAP and try it out, I would do that first. Friends who've gotten sleep studies have uniformly described it as simply a hurdle to getting the actual RX for the machine, and that all the learning and diagnostics happened after they started with the machine.
      - auntienomen 8y ago
        You can just buy the damned APAP. The gear I use can be had off Amazon for about $700. A Respironics Dreamstation, and a Resmed Swift FX nasal pillow with headgear and quick connect hose. Probably cheaper if insurance covers it, but you don't actually need it. If you think you can breathe through your nose with your mouth closed, the nasal pillows are nicer. If not, get a mask. They're nice to have anyways, if colds clog your nose.
gojomo 8y ago
Nowadays I believe an at-home "study" is more common, cheap, easy, and non-disruptive. They give you a little case of sensors to take home & show you how you should attach them before bed. Chiefly it's a finger pulse oximeter & something worn on the chest to measure sleep orientation, chest motion, and record snoring sounds. You sleep as normal, at home, and return the devices the next day for its readings to be interpreted. So: your concern about being in an unfamiliar setting, or being offered drugs to sleep, may be outdated. OTOH, if you're not in general risk groups nor experiencing daytime tiredness, there may not be not much reason to dig further (unless your wife has noticed something else worrisome).
ridgeguy 8y ago
This might be a function of the particular lab. Yours is the first suggestion I've heard of that possibility. I've had two overnight lab sleep studies. During the first I registered less than 5 minutes of sleep. Nobody suggested giving me any drugs.
wbkang 8y ago
This does not reflect my experience. Besides, taking Ambien would show different brain waves than actual sleeps so it would make it less useful as well.
jachee 8y ago
Echoing others' encouragement. My study was an easy at-home test which confirmed how bad my hypopnia was, mostly from the blood/oxygen ratio. Mine was going down into the 70s. It was so bad that immediately after that, they scheduled an inpatient test with the PAP machine. I was super skeptical of being able to sleep a) in a strange bed, b) with all those sensors on my head/chest, c) 4 hours earlier than usual, and d) on my back/side. (I was a hardcore stomach sleeper before.) At the second study, they strapped me into the sensor harness, put on the mask, and turned out the lights. It took what felt like about 5 minutes to get used to the sensation, but then I was out. Like someone flipped a switch to "Sleep now." Eight hours went by like a flash. I woke up the next morning super refreshed and feeling amazing. When they said it would be three days until I could get my machine, I was kind of sad. Eight years later, I've still got the same machine, and it's still like hitting an off switch when I put it on. I only average about 4.5 hours' sleep during the week, but it's turbocharged. My AHI seldom crosses 2.0 and I can see exactly what I'm doing via SleepyHead. Best decision I've made health-wise, except maybe kicking sugared soda. Edit: it also let me drop my hypertension prescription to the minimum dose.
URSpider94 8y ago
They don’t really need all that much data. An hour or so of solid sleep will give them what they need. The full Monty study is pretty bad, with ECG wires all over your body and EEG electrodes all over your scalp. Nobody gets much sleep, but again, they only need a little data, and most people manage to fall asleep eventually,