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Questions About my sleep study
#1
Questions About my sleep study
Hi, I just had a sleep study night before last and have yet to receive any official diagnosis or sleep study results. So, right now I have more questions than answers. I had mentioned in conversation to my PCP that my husband says I snore very loudly. So, off to a sleep specialists. After looking at my airway and speaking to him he thought I had moderate to severe sleep apnea. Here are my risk factors: Narrow airway, large scalloped tongue, high blood pressure, overweight, tired all the time, allergies and 42years old. I also told him I have woke a couple of times choking and have dry throat as well as my heart racing when I wake up. Thats only happened a couple times that I can remember. So, even the sleep specialist said dont be surprised if in a few hours we are testing cpaps. I took an abien and off to sleep. I remember it taking me the full length of the ambien to take effect to fall asleep. I also remember waking up several times. However, I was told this by the specialist I did not have sleep apnea. He did say I had a sleep disorder. He was going to refrain from stating a diagnosis and leave it to the doctors. He did say I was waking up 14 times per hour and did have some hypopneas and maybe he said apneas. My O2 sats went to 88%. He said I had some upper airway resistance. He did not think it was a cause for my high blood pressure however could be making me tired throughout the day. I am right now a bit concerned because while I did not look at my sleep before as a problem I have been paying more attention to it since I saw the sleep specialist. I cant help but feel there is an association. My thyroid is fine and I do wake up frequently. Ironically the night of the sleep study my nose was more open than usual. I have very small nasal passages and it doesnt take much to plug them up. My other concern is without a diagnosis of OSA that insurance will not cover my oral appliance if that is what I need. Or anything else related to my problem without that diagnosis. I have met my deductible this year so it sucks I would not get what I needed this year. So, finally to my questions, does anyone believe the amount of arousals and desat would be normal? I mean I feel like he was just telling me I snore. Which according to my husband I do quite loudly. He use to wake me up to roll me on my side as I do not do it as bad on my side. I am anxiously awaiting to speak to my sleep doctor but right now have no answers. I was not sure where I could get some help and although I do not have apnea I thought I would give this forumn a try. Also, is CPAP helpful to people who have the arousals without the desat? Thanks so much for any input would be much appreciated!
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#2
RE: ?? About my sleep study
The sleep tech was wrong to say "It's not this, it's something else, but I can't tell you." That's adding stress you don't need.

CPAP works by using air pressure to keep the airway open (in obstructive events) or to trick the brain (in central events). Unless the arousals are caused by either one of these, a CPAP won't help.

Did the sleep doc know you were going to take a sleep aid? The use of one can sometimes cause the data to be skewed so they have to take that into account when interpreting it.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#3
RE: ?? About my sleep study
Thanks for the reply. The sleep doc had notified the tech to give it to me because it takes me a long time to go to sleep. I did not want to waste anyones time by lying there awake. I now regret doing that because I feel like it doesnt give a true picture of my sleep. I wonder if I would have had even more arousals. Do you know if that number of arousals is a lot or normal?
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#4
RE: ?? About my sleep study
(11-01-2012, 04:06 PM)Bristol Wrote: I was told this by the specialist I did not have sleep apnea.
who is this specialist?
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#5
RE: ?? About my sleep study
The AHI is the apneas (stopped breathing) plus the hypopneas (shallow breathing) divided by the number of hours. A "normal" person has less than 5 an hour.
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._%28AHI%29

Arousals usually mean the person wakes up beyond a certain point, disturbing sleep.

But since you don't know the cause of the arousals, there's no way of knowing exactly what your 14 means.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#6
RE: ?? About my sleep study
Welcome, Bristol. From the way you told it, it sounds like the sleep tech was saying way more to you than he should have. Both during and after sleep studies I have had at the local hospital's sleep center, the tech running the study has remained mum about any results, per his/her orders to do so. It's really the doc's job to talk with you about results, not the tech's. About snoring, I can report that my sleep doc told me it's thought that snoring is on the same continuum with apnea. In my own case, serious snoring was indeed an indicator of apnea. Hopefully, you will soon have a chance to discuss the findings with your sleep doc.
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#7
RE: ?? About my sleep study
Hi Bristol,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I hope you find out what's going on from your sleep Dr. soon.
Best of luck to you.
trish6hundred
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#8
RE: Questions About my sleep study
I am new here, been on and off my cpap for 6 months. Giving it another go now. I had 92 per minute, so i would wit for your results before worrying too much. Needless to say i had a mask on about 2 hours in to my sleep study....
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#9
RE: Questions About my sleep study
Hi AJLAND,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I would encourage you to stick with CPAP therapy, it can take LOTS of PATIENCE.!
Best of luck to you.
trish6hundred
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#10
RE: Questions About my sleep study
Thanks for the warm welcome! I appreciate the replies too! I guess the tech did tell me more than he should have because its left me more curious than ever whats going on. He did say my snoring as he describe (snorts) were waking me up. 14 times an hour seems like a lot but from what I have read it appears arousing from sleep is normal but I could not find anything about what would be considered normal. I know I always get ticked off because I would be dreaming and thats when I would wake up. I always wake up when I am dreaming. Those are the times at least that I can remember waking up. I am not sure if a certain amount of hypopneas and apneas are normal either. I am still waiting to hear from the doc and I have requested a copy of my report but have not heard back about that either. Call me crazy but while I do not want to have sleep apnea I think I would have been almost relieved to hear this because it would explain so much that is going on with me. I could pinpoint something and fix it.

This is to answer one of the posts. The sleep tech was actually the owner of the sleep clinic and he had been doing that for 10 years. He also has sleep apnea.
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