I went for a sleep study on Feb 13 after canceling two previous times before in the last year. ( I didn't think I had a problem.) When I awoke the morning after, laying there with all those wires hooked up to me, I thought to myself that this had to be the craziest idea I'd ever had. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Drove an hour home with my hair sticking out everywhere, looking like a punk rocker from all the goop used to stick the electrodes to my head.
I didn't have daytime sleepiness. I did tire easily but I attributed that to my age (51), menopause, work related stress and extra weight.. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism 3 years ago and blamed most every symptom I had on that even though my thyroid numbers have been back in range for 2 1/2 years..
I went on about my business after my sleepover and a few days later, at work, received a call to come back for another overnight stay asap to be fitted with a cpap. I asked the nurse that called if it was that urgent and she told me that yes, it was severe. I grudgingly headed back that evening after work..
The tech hooked me up with a nasal pillow. When I awoke the next morning, I stretched like a lazy cat from a long afternoon nap. I can't remember the last time I awoke stretching. She remarked "You did good! You had some deep sleep last night." Still puzzled as to what "severe" meant, I asked her about it as she unhooked me from my mess of wires.
She said you were moderately severe.. Your AHI was 46.3 and 62 in REM. I had never heard of AHI and didn't want to appear stupid, so I didn't ask any further questions. I requested a copy of my sleep study, researched my results and was in total shock at what I read.
Here it is:
Latency to sleep onset.....17.5 minutes
Sleep Efficiency .............92 %
patient sleeping 452 minutes
Of that time 3% was spent in stage 1
84% in Stage 2
0% in Stage 3
13% in Stage REM. ( can you really skip a whole stage?)
Patient had severe snoring
2 Obstructive apneas, 3 Central apneas, 0 mixed apneas and 334 hypoapneas resulting in AHI score of 45. These events are associated with Oxygen desaturation, the lowest O2 saturation being 76% in non-Rem and 81% in REM sleep.
The only place I see the numbers 46.3 is totals under sleep stage.
AHI 42.3 in Non Rem stage and 62 in REM. RDI is 43.2 and 65.9 under sleep stage.
RID durations (seconds)
Non REM
Apnea Avg 13.1 Max 17.1
Hypoapnea Avg 14.4 MAx 88.2
RERA Avg 15.8 Max 19.6
REM
Apnea Avg... 15.6 Max...18.7
Hypoapnea Avg.. 15.1 Max....48.5
RERA..... Avg 12.3 Max 13.6
Anyways, I'm a little over 2 weeks on my CPAP with a setting of 11 and took my SD card by DME to check yesterday. In those two weeks I went from a 46.3 to a .07.
The first 2 or 3 days on the cpap though, I felt horrible. More tired than I can ever remember being. After about the 5th day, I started taking my b/p readings more regular. Another shocker. Average b/p now is 120/72.. My b/p for( I don't recall how many years) usually is 150/90 or higher and that was with 2 b/p pills a day and 20 mg lasix daily. I went to my family dr a few days ago and he lowered me to one b/p pill a day. He said I might eventually get off b/p meds all together.. Woohoo!!!
I hope the ankle swelling gets better, too.. Anyone have that issue?
I think this had been the best thing I could have done for my health. I wake up more refreshed and ready to go. No hitting the snooze button 3 times. Stretch every morning.. I can feel my energy returning with each day.. Feels great..
I only wish I had done it sooner...
Thanks for reading... I enjoy all the good advice I get from this forum..