I just don't sleep well. I need a lot of it. Probably because I don't get quality sleep. I toss and turn. I have to buy extra fitted sheets because i wear through them because I move around so much. It's ridiculous. Back when I was young and I was late for something the joke was that it was because I had fallen asleep, which actually wasn't that funny, because it was usually true.
Recently, I talked to my nurse practitioner about it, and she said she was going to work on getting me a sleep study to get in to. I was a bit nervous because I thought I had to be gone for a few days and sleep in a strange place with wires attached and sleep on my back, which I don't do. Turns out, science and sleep studies have come a long way, and that's just not the case. I was approved for the sleep study, with my insurance paying all but $38 of it (yes!) and it was going to be delivered to my house, in a box. A sweet gal called me from the company that works for the company and walked me through any questions I might have, she was pretty amazing, and I felt pretty good about the whole things.
The box came yesterday. It was pretty small, a little bigger than a bread box or a box of shoes, I was surprised. Last night my 13 year old son helped me put everything on.
1)First there was a small plastic piece that I put under my nose and it was long enough to go over my top lip. Little tubes went out each side and I wrapped them over my ears and behind my head and attached, and then they attached to a black box.
2) Then there was a little tube that went around my upper waist, attached in the back, and also attached to the black box.
3) I then put a pointer finger on this...I don't know what to call it, strip. The top part folded up and over the top of my finger, and the sides were sticky and folded in to the sides of my finger, kinda wrapping around it. It too was attached to the black box.
That was about it. Then the black box was to be turned on and velcro'd around one of my wrists, turned it on. The box checked and made sure every piece was working and then it was time to go to sleep. At first I thought there was NO WAY I was going to be able to go to sleep with that thing under my nose and on my lip, but I was wrong. A couple of times the box woke me up and told me that I needed to re-adjust the tube around my upper waist. The voice was a very soothing female voice. A little after 5am the box told me it was time to plug the box in to charge it. So I took everything off, and plugged it in to the wall. Apparently, that's when it transmits all the information back to the company, who will then send it to my doctor! Today I put the return return address sticker on the box with everything in it and return the equipment! So, hopefully they will figure out if I have sleep apnea, or what the heck goes on when I sleep Finally I might be on the road to a good night's rest.
I thought I'd share my experience with you, since I always wondered what happened in a sleep study, now I finally know.Wish me luck!
Dawn Marcel