greg hughes - dot net - Doing the sleep study thing tonight

Thursday, May 17, 2007

I snore. A lot. Or so I'm told, quite frequently. Years ago I used to go to the movies with my son and drift off to sleep in the theater, just to wake up to him laughing, usually along with the neighboring moviegoers, because I had started snoring and snorting myself awake.

Fast forward about eight years and I'm still snoring, still tired most of the time, and still being told by anyone who observes me sleeping that I snore. I have to believe them, I guess - I can't imagine there's some vast snoring accusation conspiracy that everyone I know has waged against me for that many years.

Recently I have even woke up suddenly catching my breath at the end of a loud snore. Ahh, proof. I often wake up tired and feeling heavy. I get morning headaches. Something's crappy feeling about all that. So I went to see a sleep specialist doctor after a couple people (my mom and someone I work with) both told me they found out they had a sleep apnea problem and got help via a sleep doc and study.

So here I am, sitting on a bed in the Oregon Sleep Associates sleep center in downtown Portland. They have five private rooms here and it's not like a hospital though. It's more like a hotel room. There's a TV and DVD player and the main unusual stuff is the video camera on the wall and all the boxes and wires and stuff over on one of the nightstands. In a few minutes someone will come in to "hook me up," meaning they'll be sticking EEG and EKG stuff to me, a microphone to record sleeping and breathing sounds, strap around my chest to measure breathing, and other stuff. Then they'll give me one of those Lunestas or something similar, and off to sleep I will go.

Tomorrow morning I will know more. If there's something related to my snoring or other sleep problems that are related to the physical symptoms I have, at least there will be options to maybe do something about it. If not, well then I will know it's time to find more ways to reduce stress I guess. Heh.

Have you ever done the sleep study thing? How did it go for you? I'll write more about my experiences once it's all said and done.

Add/Read: Comments [6]

Personal Stories | Random Stuff

Thursday, May 17, 2007 9:32:32 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:11:44 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

I actually went to a sleep consultation because I was afraid that I had sleep apnea. I don't snore that loud, but my girlfriend at the time was a light sleeper and she got pretty concerned about things. I also realized I was feeling more tired that normal on an on-going basis.

Luckily their assesment was that it was just stress causing my sleepiness, and not sleep apnea. I still snore lightly though :)

Trevin

Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:47:57 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Dude, that is so fricking random. I'm getting a sleep study done, probably at same place (sleep center on 22nd?) next Wednesday and all day Thursday for similar reasons (although as far as I know I don't snore much).

Alexander Scoble

Friday, May 18, 2007 7:34:54 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Trevin - I guess it's good to find out what's up no matter what it is eh? I know stress contributes to my poor sleep and rest. That's at least part of it, for sure.

Alex - Hah! Yes, the same place. The people here are cool. I'll fill ya in when I see ya next.

Greg

Friday, May 18, 2007 12:22:59 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

I got a sleep study done several years ago, because my wife had been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and we saw a lot of the same symptoms in me. Extreme fatigue and headaches. High blood pressure, etc. The sleep study was a little weird, but I'm so glad I did it, because it turns out I have severe sleep apnea - 70-80 apnic events per hour. That meant that more than once a minute at night, my airway would close, and my brain would have to wake me up just enough to get the muscles around my airway to open up. What that means is that you never get down into restful, recharging sleep.

I was prescribed a BiPAP (bi-level positive air pressure) machine - a breathing mask - to wear when I sleep. It took some getting used to, but the difference waking up the first morning after using it was ASTOUNDING. I felt like I had been given some magic drug. I wasn't exhausted. I didn't fall asleep at random times during the day. I had energy. No splitting headache. It was really, really dramatic, and since then, my BiPAP machine is my best friend in the world. I won't go anywhere without it. :-)

Also, I have since discovered that people using CPAP/BiPAP machines for sleep apnea is much more common than I would have guessed. I've met many, many people that use them. In my case, my apnea is related to being overweight, but sometimes it's just how your airway is built.

Good luck on your sleep study, and I hope they can find out and treat what's bothering you! :-)

Josh Bancroft

Friday, May 18, 2007 5:00:51 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

So what was the verdict, Greg? I use a CPAP machine, myself -- and I wrote about it over at Lockergnome a few months ago!

http://tinyurl.com/2pfh8p

Robert Glen Fogarty

Friday, May 18, 2007 9:09:51 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

My wife says I snore, loud, I think she lies =p

Dave

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