Goodnight
This past week, I participated in a sleep study. Over 6 months ago, I visited my GP to discuss the issues I had with lethargy that had been going on since August of that year. I’ve talked about these issues in past blog posts. The GP did lots of blood tests and gave me a sleep monitor to take home and use when I slept. After sleeping with the monitor, I returned it to the GP’s office. A few days later, the office called and informed me I needed to see a sleep specialist. The specialist would tell me all about what the monitor indicated and I would be provided with next steps.
I visited the sleep specialist in November of 2021. He was very thorough and detailed. He explained that the monitor picked up sensations that looked like I wasn’t breathing during the night. He said it looked like I had stopped breathing about 50 times during the night. What? That’s crazy! I mean how am I alive if I stop breathing so much? He went on to explain that this could be for various reasons: my tongue leaning against the back of my throat and closing up the airwaves, breathing through my mouth and closing airwaves, or even my brain not telling my lungs to breath. He then recommended I do a sleep study. For the sleep study, I would return to the medical facility and sleep there. They would attach sensors to my body to monitor my pulse, my heart rate, my breathing, my eye movements, and even my leg movements. He then explained that, because of the current supply chain issues, they had quite a backlog for getting people into sleep studies. It would probably be around February 2022 before I could get into a study.
I was shocked. First I was shocked that my breathing was interrupted so many times during the night. Then I was shocked that I had to wait so long for a sleep study. If my breathing was interrupted so many times during the night, could I die? Well, we all die. Eventually I will die. But will the breathing interruptions cause me to die? They can cause issues with my health and stress levels. I was hopeful nothing would happen to me before the study in February.
Well, February 2022 came and went. After having that wake-up call (no pun intended) from the sleep doctor about my interrupted breathing, I soon let that concern fall to the back of my mind. I figured maybe they forgot about me. Then one day this past May, the sleep study center called. It was time for my sleep study! Was I still interested? I thought about how this issue had fallen to the back of my mind. Then I thought about the issue itself: not breathing. I decided I would go ahead with the sleep study. So we scheduled it for mid-June.
The night of the study, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and did all the pre-sleep activities I normally do before going to bed. Then I went to the sleep study center, pajamas and book in hand. I was the first patient there. I walked into my temporary bedroom and came face to face with 15 or so wires and tubes. I was quite surprised. Did they really think I could fall asleep with all of those gadgets attached to me? The tech explained all of the details of what would be attached and how. They were going to write on my face and scalp with a red wax pencil to get all of the spots they needed to attach to marked correctly. They were going to use a putty-like glue to stick the nodes to my face and hair. They had other sticky nodes for my skin to monitor my heart and lungs. They even had straps that wrapped around me to measure my chest and stomach rising and falling while I slept.
The tech explained that it would take about an hour to “wire me up.” Once I was sleeping, they would start to monitor me. Based on my sleeping patterns, they might wake me up in the middle of the night and attach a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine to my face to keep me breathing.
Right then and there, I had a judgement. They already think I need a CPAP machine? If you aren’t familiar, CPAP machines are used provide a continuous pressure of air into your body. If you have sleep apnea, and you aren’t getting enough air into your lungs, this machine helps. I know a number of people with CPAP machines, and I think they are fine people. Why would I have issue with a CPAP machine for myself? Apparently Judge Judy thinks I should be a perfect breather.
Before I could get “wired up,” I had to fill out paperwork that gave the details of my health and medications. I also had to answer the questions: “How much do you weigh?" "Are you above your BMI ratio?" "What is the circumference of your neck?" "Are you over 50?” These are questions with no right or wrong answers, yet at that moment, I felt very wrong. Being over 50 and above my BMI ratio, I felt inferior. I didn’t even know the circumference of my neck. What woman knows that stuff? I had to have the technician measure my neck. I realized the “being wrong” thing was of my own doing. No one had passed judgement on these questions. They were just facts being collected.
Then it was time for me to get into my pajamas. I was ready to undress in my temporary bedroom when the technician ushered me into the bathroom. She informed me that there was a video camera in the bedroom, so I probably didn’t want to get undressed in there. The tech was going to get the special opportunity of watching me sleep all night. How boring could that be? Worse than golf I’m sure.
After I was in my pajamas, the wiring started. I felt the pencil on my face, the glue in my hair, and the nodes on my chest. Then the tech wanted to try a CPAP machine on my face so that it would be ready in case they decided I needed it in the night. I am actually a nose breather, so the tech selected a nosepiece for me called a “nose pillow.” That sounded comfortable enough. Yet when the tech put the nosepiece on my face, I jumped. The air was intense. I could not imagine sleeping with such a device on my face. Was I a wimp?
Suddenly, another tech was in the room. She had been watching the statistics of the CPAP machine on a monitor, and she saw that it was set to the highest level. Of course it was intense! They lowered the level, and I was fine. Now the CPAP was ready for me if I needed the machine later in the night.
Once all these details were ironed out, I was off to sleep. Something about sitting in a room talking about sleeping and getting wired to be monitored in sleep got me very sleepy. I fell asleep relatively quickly. The tech came in several times during the night to check the wires. Later, she came in and put the CPAP over my nose. Apparently I had stopped breathing a few times. I fell back to sleep easily. Finally, the study was over, and the tech woke me up for the morning - bright and early at 5 AM. I was not refreshed. I was groggy. I wondered, did the CPAP get me into a deeper sleep, so waking me up was difficult? I don’t know.
The tech unplugged all of my wires and straps and sent me home. I thought about stopping for a coffee or a danish, but I couldn’t. My hair was sticking up with glue all over it, and my face was covered with red lines. I looked like I had fallen asleep at a party, and someone had played a prank and drawn all over me. When I got home, I had to shower to remove all of the glue and ink. It wasn’t easy to get off! I managed though. Now I wait. I don’t get the results for another few weeks. We will see what I learn….
