Sleep clinic

So the wife is worried because I stop breathing when I'm asleep.

(This is mainly because she doesn't know I'm worth more dead than alive.)

Anyway, I gotta go to a sleep clinic tomorrow night.

I'm supposed to arrive at 8:30 p.m., when I'm usually just getting warmed up good, and depart around 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

Anybody been through this? I assume they'll hook me up to some electronic equipment. Later in the night, they may try the CPAP mask on me.

Thoughts?

 

My younger brother had to do this because he was doing the same thing. He slept the entire night without ever waking up. I think they did put some kind of wires or censors or something on him. The result of the trip was he had to have his tonsils taken out to increase the size of his air passage.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to sleep at all. But there are some people, like my brother apparently, who are capable of sleeping no matter where they are. Good luck, man.

 

I used to never go a night without waking up at least three or four times. Here lately I'm sleeping the entire night, though...

 

No caffeine tomorrow. At all.
No naps.
Make sure when it's bedtime, you're sleepy.
No reading after 6 p.m.
If they let you watch TV, put on the nature stuff. Don't watch anything thought-provoking. You want your brain to begin shutting down, not getting its second wind.
If there's any chance you think you'll have trouble sleeping even after following my advice, take a good long walk in the afternoon.
No naps.
And no caffeine.

You might have trouble sleeping with wires attached, and with a tech waking you up every so often and saying, "Please lay on your back," but otherwise try and relax. You don't know it, but you're saving your life.

Five apneas (10 seconds or longer without breathing) per hour is enough to qualify for insurance coverage for the C-PAP on most plans. I'm betting you'll run laps around that average, based on what you said your wife has told you.

Good luck, and PM if you have specific questions before or after.

Not during. ;D

 

I never have had those out. Hmmm.

 

All good advice, which pretty much tracks with what they told me. I've got to make a six-hour round trip to check on my mom before checking in tomorrow, so no worries about the nap thing. I'll cut out the diet sodas, too.

 

It's painful (and not just briefly) for adults to have their tonsils removed. Chances are your doctors will opt for other treatment before doing that, but ... they might let you choose the pain if you insist.

If your neck size is greater than, say, 18 or so, they'll probably consider the tonsils a moot point. Especially if your neck is even bigger than that.

I'd be interested to hear what they say after it's all said and done, especially about the tonsils.

 

Get some exercise of some sort beforehand...just don't forget to shower

 

My doctor in college thought I had sleep apnea. He looked at the size of my throat, said he was surprised I could even swallow a pill without gagging (I rarely can) and then measured my neck.

Said my neck was too small for normal sleep apnea patients but my throat was so closed. He was pretty confuzzled and never did anything about it. As I result, I rarely sleep through the night. The slightest thing wakes me up because I can never get enough oxygen to sleep deep enough.

Good for you getting it checked out henry...I know a lot of people who think their spouse is crazy and never get it checked out.

 

I had a sleep study done about 20 years ago, when I had really bad apnea. They ended up doing a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (aka UPPP), which was more or less carving out some extra space in the back of the throat. At the same time, I had my tonsils removed and a deviated septum corrected. It was not a fun time. ... Haven't had any trouble since, but apparently the UPPP has fallen far out of favor because when I mention it to current doctors, they're always surprised that it worked and tell me that the success rate was terrible. One of the new options is to have something similar done with a laser, which is much less painful. But the CPAP seems to be the first option.

Good luck!

 

Best of luck to you tomorrow (today). My doctor and wife keep telling me to go the clinic and get the study done. I'm pretty sure I have apnea, and I know I stop breathing in my sleep. I've even had a couple of moments when I'm awaken by my inability to breath. It scares the shit out of me and my wife, but I'm a stubborn SOB. Plus, my company is shady about whether the apnea tests are covered by insurance.

If I do get the study done later, I may PM you for some information.

 

I highly recommend surgery if you do have sleep apnea, which it sounds like you do. I had a sleep study a couple years ago, and they found I had 70-something interruptions an hour (very bad).

Then they hooked me up to that godforsaken CPAP. It took about 20 minutes on that thing to decide I'd rather die young than spend the rest of my life suffering through that contraption. The doctor wasn't hearing me though, so I gave up and did nothing.

Finally, a couple years went by and my quality of life was so low, what with being constantly exhausted, that I found another doctor who preferred surgery to CPAP. They took out my tonsils, tightened up the palate and messed with my nose - pretty much what they did with ARP.

The two weeks after surgery were pretty much hell, but shit, it's easily the best decision I ever made. You can't put a price on actually, you know, being awake. (Plus I lost 20 pounds, what with not being able to eat for a couple weeks).

Feel free to PM if you've got any more questions, I just had it done last winter.