02-25-2025, 03:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-25-2025, 03:50 PM by Penn Dickery.
Edit Reason: forgot to fully redact info
)
Could Use Help Interpreting Sleep Study
Hello all,
First time poster here. I (28M) have been suffering for a number of years from UARS-like symptoms (unrefreshing sleep, chronic headaches, erectile dysfunction, severely "tired-but-wired," cognitive issues, digestive trouble, etc.), which have gotten much worse over the past year or so, to the point where my fatigue is starting to noticeably impair my performance at work, my ability to drive, and the like. I've long hypothesized UARS to be the cause, since my symptoms match it to a tee, and my anatomy--malocclusion, small jaws and a severe pectus excavatum--would certainly predispose me to SDB. Doctor visits over the years have proved unfruitful; my sleep problems, which have plagued me since I was a teenager and followed me through different life circumstances, living situations and sleep schedules, have often been written off as attributable to "anxiety" or bad sleep hygiene.
I've tried a number of OTC-type interventions (nasal sprays, mouth taping, bed elevation, side-sleeping, nasal strips/dilators, Buteyko breathing, meditation, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting), as well as keeping a regular sleep schedule with plenty of down-time before bed. I exercise as much as I can, but my symptoms are severe enough that any kind of strenuous exercise is pretty brutal for me, usually worsening my fatigue. I actually tried CPAP for a couple weeks at one point (on loan from a relative), but without a sleep study to give me a starting point, I floundered trying to self-titrate it and ultimately gave up, since trying to sleep with it was making me even more tired.
I pressed my current doc for a sleep study last year, and now I finally have the results back, but they're less than encouraging, in that the measures seem to fall within normal limits. Having expected to read a significant number of RERAs and hypopneas, I was surprised to see I had exactly zero RERAs and relatively few hypopneas, with a very low AHI (2.8). Needless to say, I'm A-OK in the eyes of the insurance companies and will not be qualifying to try CPAP.
However, when I dug into my report, I found data seeming to confirm my suspicion that my REM sleep is compromised: it appears the vast majority of my ~15 obstructive hypopneas occurred during my <50mins of REM. If this is happening every night, as it must be, I assume it explains my headaches, cognitive issues and so on. It would also explain why my somatic symptoms (if not my fatigue) are less severe when I get less sleep, and why I tend to feel a bit better in the morning if I ingested cannabis (which is known to suppress REM sleep) the previous night.
If anyone could lend an eye to my report (attached here) to confirm what I'm seeing here, I'd really appreciate it. I'd also appreciate any advice on what to do/try, because I'm getting desperate, and I haven't found any help through the medical system so far.
First time poster here. I (28M) have been suffering for a number of years from UARS-like symptoms (unrefreshing sleep, chronic headaches, erectile dysfunction, severely "tired-but-wired," cognitive issues, digestive trouble, etc.), which have gotten much worse over the past year or so, to the point where my fatigue is starting to noticeably impair my performance at work, my ability to drive, and the like. I've long hypothesized UARS to be the cause, since my symptoms match it to a tee, and my anatomy--malocclusion, small jaws and a severe pectus excavatum--would certainly predispose me to SDB. Doctor visits over the years have proved unfruitful; my sleep problems, which have plagued me since I was a teenager and followed me through different life circumstances, living situations and sleep schedules, have often been written off as attributable to "anxiety" or bad sleep hygiene.
I've tried a number of OTC-type interventions (nasal sprays, mouth taping, bed elevation, side-sleeping, nasal strips/dilators, Buteyko breathing, meditation, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting), as well as keeping a regular sleep schedule with plenty of down-time before bed. I exercise as much as I can, but my symptoms are severe enough that any kind of strenuous exercise is pretty brutal for me, usually worsening my fatigue. I actually tried CPAP for a couple weeks at one point (on loan from a relative), but without a sleep study to give me a starting point, I floundered trying to self-titrate it and ultimately gave up, since trying to sleep with it was making me even more tired.
I pressed my current doc for a sleep study last year, and now I finally have the results back, but they're less than encouraging, in that the measures seem to fall within normal limits. Having expected to read a significant number of RERAs and hypopneas, I was surprised to see I had exactly zero RERAs and relatively few hypopneas, with a very low AHI (2.8). Needless to say, I'm A-OK in the eyes of the insurance companies and will not be qualifying to try CPAP.
However, when I dug into my report, I found data seeming to confirm my suspicion that my REM sleep is compromised: it appears the vast majority of my ~15 obstructive hypopneas occurred during my <50mins of REM. If this is happening every night, as it must be, I assume it explains my headaches, cognitive issues and so on. It would also explain why my somatic symptoms (if not my fatigue) are less severe when I get less sleep, and why I tend to feel a bit better in the morning if I ingested cannabis (which is known to suppress REM sleep) the previous night.
If anyone could lend an eye to my report (attached here) to confirm what I'm seeing here, I'd really appreciate it. I'd also appreciate any advice on what to do/try, because I'm getting desperate, and I haven't found any help through the medical system so far.
