2nd Sleep test...not able to sleep again - Sleep Disorders Message Board

linedoz · 10-11-2003, 08:38 AM

I did a 2nd sleep test yesterday, this time at home but if I slept 3 hours is was good. The hospital told me they would look at the data and will call me if I need to do it again.

If I need to do the test again should I take some sleeping pills. They told me that after I passed the test...dah!

I am very discouraged because it is so long that I do not feel good I hope something will come out of this test.

Line

[This message has been edited by linedoz (edited 10-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by linedoz (edited 10-11-2003).]

Corinna_H · 10-11-2003, 12:30 PM

I knew how it would be and requested a home study but with all that junk attached I knew I would still find it hard to sleep so i took a (secret!) Vallium and it was truly brilliant, I slept like a log.
But when I went in to the sleep lab for my titration, I took the valium I had smuggled in and still hardly slept.
If like me, you find it particularly hard to sleep in strange places, you could need something pretty strong for the titration, though maybe something less strong for the home study.

I am going to need some sort of home titration maybe with a smart CPAP or whatever it's called, that uses some sort of feedback that raises the pressure until you are having no desaturations. I don't know if I will get it though, this is the UK and the National
Health Service, LOL!
Anyway, good luck!

ControlFreak · 10-17-2003, 11:33 PM

I have a lot of trouble sleeping in studies (I've had 4 and probably totalled under 6 hours of sleep between them). I asked my sleep doctor about taking something and he said that I can take NOTHING .. not even Nyquil .. to get to sleep at night. Any sort of depressant will make the apnea worse.

That could be just me, but I'll trust him on that (good thing I wasn't much of a drinker).

ControlFreak

ken1967 · 10-18-2003, 12:59 AM

well im going for my 2nd sleep study in a month i had my first in 6/00 and was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, i had a bipap machine and it worked great for a long time but i had put on some weight and not having health insurance until now ive suffered long enough i dont recommend u taking a sleeping pill or any meds sleep apnea is a serious health issue which if undetected can kill you, or give u a stroke,heart attack etc, whats the point of going for a sleep study if your going to cheat, i had a good friend die because he didnt take his apnea serious

Corinna_H · 10-18-2003, 04:29 PM

Ken1967 I really can't see how taking a Vallium is cheating, it may possibly exaggerate apneas in a sensitive person but wouldn't suppress them. I can't see it as taking a risk. At the very worst it could lead to overtreatment, but never to under treatment!

I can assure you I take it VERY seriously, I know darn well I have apneas as i wake panting for breath and with all the other symptoms of apnea. if I don't sleep I run the very real chance of getting no treatment for this serious condition. People who have been assessed by automatic titration over a week have found their apnea varies anyway. If a med causes you a bit more apnea than you might otherwise have had that night, it could well cover you for more relaxed nights when you aren't trussed up with all that testing equipment?

My husband didn't sleep at his third sleep study (after a years wait from his previous study as there was such a long waiting list) and he just got no more sleep studies, no treatment and he is being made to suffer the ultimate risk, and all because he didn't sleep. Now that IS serious!

Here in the UK you don't keep getting sleep studies if you don't sleep, so it is a pretty sensible thing to try to get some, and since you still get to sleep lighter than if you were taking the med without all that stuff attached to you, you may not actually have worse apnea with meds, and you certainly won't get LESS apnea!!! So where is the risk? Maybe your doc said no meds, but some others posting on these boards have been told it is OK to take meds if you can't sleep.

[This message has been edited by Corinna_H (edited 10-18-2003).]