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I had a bad experience with a sleep study. I snore and stop breathing in my sleep as per my wife. I went to a dr. to rectify the situation. Was told after the

by tyleo 2y ago

I had a bad experience with a sleep study. I snore and stop breathing in my sleep as per my wife. I went to a dr. to rectify the situation. Was told after the sleep study that I snore and stop breathing “within reasonable limits” but I fell asleep in < 1 min and slept 99% of the time. They said I was “a tired person” and that I need more sleep… I am not a tired person and adding an extra hour of sleep the next 2 weeks didn’t improve anything. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and I’m hesitant now to follow up. I’ve had a few experiences like this at drs for other issues. IDK if it’s something about me but it’s impacted my trust in the medical community and makes me a bit sad even thinking about it and sharing here.

llamaimperative 2y ago
You should continue shopping around for doctors until you solve the problem. The difference between a good MD and an average one is absolutely astounding, and you are ultimately the only person responsible for your health. You should view the medical community like all communities: there are good members, bad members, and a whole lot of people in between.
- tyleo 2y ago
  Agreed, in the sleep case I took matters into my own hands by experimenting with nose strips, temperature, stacking pillows, etc. The main issue for me is that I like my general doctor but I’ve felt like specialists are the real crapshoot. I’m in a city where I feel like the specialists are hard to access and have generally been lower quality than when I lived in suburbs. I’ve wondered if it’s a sort of “pets vs cattle” issue like people talk about servers with. In other words, are there just too many people to give individuals the care they need?
  - llamaimperative 2y ago
    Yes, that's part of it. Demands on doctors (in the US at least) are absolutely insane. Keeping up to date on the relevant literature for a single specialty would require something like 27 hours per day of reading, most doctors cannot afford to see a patient for more than 15 minutes at a time because they need to get through so many consultations per day, and then they have to argue with insurance companies much the same way (but at dramatically higher frequency) that patients do.
nozzlegear 2y ago
As the other person wrote, I'd try to find another doctor and get another study done at a different sleep center. You can also get an at-home sleep study kit, though they're not nearly as accurate as the full study you'll get at a sleep center. I had a bad experience at my own sleep study too. I sleep on my side, and I can't sleep without some kind of white noise like a fan or rain. But with all that tubing hooked up, it was impossible for me to turn onto my side, and there was no white noise available. So I ended up laying there on my back, like a vampire in its casket, for six hours straight while the sleep techs dutifully came in every hour to adjust wires and ask why I wasn't able to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep about an hour before the study ended, and they told me I barely got enough data for the study to conclude. They weren't happy with the data, they wanted to do another one but I refused. What they did have was enough to get me a prescription for a cpap. I'm not a doctor, it's possible that the unique environment just made you sleep differently that night. But despite all my trouble with my own sleep study, I swear by my CPAP. I don't even take so much as a 20 minute nap without it.
bitshiftfaced 2y ago
Ask to review your sleep data, preferably with a different sleep doctor. Actually sit down with them and look at the data in the software they use. What you're looking for is to see how often you had a "respiratory effort related event," and how many of these you had per hour of actual sleep. These are events that momentarily wake you up, but you won't be aware of it during the night. They cause you to be sleep deprived, but many sleep doctors pay them no mind since they don't result in reduced oxygen levels (since you wake up before your oxygen suffers).
fsckboy 2y ago
because your wife said you snore and stop breathing sometimes, you got a standard sleep study. that test showed you were normal, but should get more sleep. you tried (and succeeded) getting more sleep, but complain it didn't improve anything. But you didn't express any initial deficits to begin with, just that your wife said you snore and sometimes stop breathing which doctors have said that in your case was not a problem. You even state that you are not a tired person. I don't understand what you are so disappointed and mistrustful of? What's your complaint? Did you think the hour extra sleep would stop you from snoring? Getting enough sleep is very important, I recommend you stick with the extra hours.
- tyleo 2y ago
  I felt that more sleep led to a worse life. I was less happy and had less time in my day. I wasn't tired so I didn't understand the benefit of the sleep. I came with a real and specific problem that I wanted to resolve and I felt like I was getting, "that problem isn't important, here is what I think is important."
  - fsckboy 2y ago
    snoring by itself is not a problem; it can be indicative of dangerous sleep interruption with oxygen starvation. you don't have that problem. that's a good thing. some of the suspected problems with lack of sleep emerge over a long period of time and are not "felt" on a day to day basis. You should worry if you are getting less than 7 hrs on the daily. But otherwise you are in good shape and should be happy with the reassurance that your sleep study provided. potential link between too little sleep and dementia: "Sleep well — and reduce your risk of dementia and death "Two studies show that sleeping six hours or less in midlife can increase dementia risk by 30% or more. Learn how sleep flushes beta amyloid and other substances that accumulate in Alzheimer's disease, and how to improve your sleep quality." https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-well-and-reduce-your-risk-of-dementia-and-death-2021050322508 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-well-and-reduce-yo...
    - tyleo 2y ago

by tyleo 2y ago

llamaimperative 2y ago

You should continue shopping around for doctors until you solve the problem. The difference between a good MD and an average one is absolutely astounding, and you are ultimately the only person responsible for your health. You should view the medical community like all communities: there are good members, bad members, and a whole lot of people in between.

tyleo 2y ago
Agreed, in the sleep case I took matters into my own hands by experimenting with nose strips, temperature, stacking pillows, etc. The main issue for me is that I like my general doctor but I’ve felt like specialists are the real crapshoot. I’m in a city where I feel like the specialists are hard to access and have generally been lower quality than when I lived in suburbs. I’ve wondered if it’s a sort of “pets vs cattle” issue like people talk about servers with. In other words, are there just too many people to give individuals the care they need?
- llamaimperative 2y ago
  Yes, that's part of it. Demands on doctors (in the US at least) are absolutely insane. Keeping up to date on the relevant literature for a single specialty would require something like 27 hours per day of reading, most doctors cannot afford to see a patient for more than 15 minutes at a time because they need to get through so many consultations per day, and then they have to argue with insurance companies much the same way (but at dramatically higher frequency) that patients do.

nozzlegear 2y ago

As the other person wrote, I'd try to find another doctor and get another study done at a different sleep center. You can also get an at-home sleep study kit, though they're not nearly as accurate as the full study you'll get at a sleep center. I had a bad experience at my own sleep study too. I sleep on my side, and I can't sleep without some kind of white noise like a fan or rain. But with all that tubing hooked up, it was impossible for me to turn onto my side, and there was no white noise available. So I ended up laying there on my back, like a vampire in its casket, for six hours straight while the sleep techs dutifully came in every hour to adjust wires and ask why I wasn't able to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep about an hour before the study ended, and they told me I barely got enough data for the study to conclude. They weren't happy with the data, they wanted to do another one but I refused. What they did have was enough to get me a prescription for a cpap. I'm not a doctor, it's possible that the unique environment just made you sleep differently that night. But despite all my trouble with my own sleep study, I swear by my CPAP. I don't even take so much as a 20 minute nap without it.

bitshiftfaced 2y ago

Ask to review your sleep data, preferably with a different sleep doctor. Actually sit down with them and look at the data in the software they use. What you're looking for is to see how often you had a "respiratory effort related event," and how many of these you had per hour of actual sleep. These are events that momentarily wake you up, but you won't be aware of it during the night. They cause you to be sleep deprived, but many sleep doctors pay them no mind since they don't result in reduced oxygen levels (since you wake up before your oxygen suffers).

fsckboy 2y ago

because your wife said you snore and stop breathing sometimes, you got a standard sleep study. that test showed you were normal, but should get more sleep. you tried (and succeeded) getting more sleep, but complain it didn't improve anything. But you didn't express any initial deficits to begin with, just that your wife said you snore and sometimes stop breathing which doctors have said that in your case was not a problem. You even state that you are not a tired person. I don't understand what you are so disappointed and mistrustful of? What's your complaint? Did you think the hour extra sleep would stop you from snoring? Getting enough sleep is very important, I recommend you stick with the extra hours.

tyleo 2y ago
I felt that more sleep led to a worse life. I was less happy and had less time in my day. I wasn't tired so I didn't understand the benefit of the sleep. I came with a real and specific problem that I wanted to resolve and I felt like I was getting, "that problem isn't important, here is what I think is important."
- fsckboy 2y ago
  snoring by itself is not a problem; it can be indicative of dangerous sleep interruption with oxygen starvation. you don't have that problem. that's a good thing. some of the suspected problems with lack of sleep emerge over a long period of time and are not "felt" on a day to day basis. You should worry if you are getting less than 7 hrs on the daily. But otherwise you are in good shape and should be happy with the reassurance that your sleep study provided. potential link between too little sleep and dementia: "Sleep well — and reduce your risk of dementia and death "Two studies show that sleeping six hours or less in midlife can increase dementia risk by 30% or more. Learn how sleep flushes beta amyloid and other substances that accumulate in Alzheimer's disease, and how to improve your sleep quality." https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-well-and-reduce-your-risk-of-dementia-and-death-2021050322508 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-well-and-reduce-yo...
  - tyleo 2y ago