Saturday, December 27, 2008

And You Expect Me To Sleep?



Can you imagine sleeping with all of those electrodes attached to your body? I sure couldn't! I knew that my doctor had ordered a sleep study, and I kept trying not to think about it because I was worried about sleeping.  Wouldn't you be?

I received a phone call mid-afternoon telling me that they had a cancellation for that night - would I like to take it? I was flustered, but I knew it was necessary, so in I went! Seeing the actual set up didn't do much to calm my nerves - there were wires all over the bed!

Fortunately, the nurse who did the set up was a wonderful lady who was perfect at putting me at ease. Still, as she attached 5 electrodes to my scalp, two to my forehead, two to my chin, two to my shoulders, two to my legs, a mic to my cheek, two bands across my torso, a monitor to my finger, and an oxygen flow tube in my nose, I couldn't help but thinking, "And you expect me to sleep?" Ironically, I slept about as well as I usually do!

Apparently I had a restless night with lots of movement, snoring, and multiple sleep apnea episodes.  None of this really came a surprise, but it was interesting to have in confirmed.  I'll be learning more about what the doctors want to do to treat me in a week or two.

According to webmd, sleep apnea is "when an adult regularly
stops breathing during sleep for 10 seconds or longer. This may be caused by
blocked airflow during sleep, such as from narrowed airways. Or it may be
caused by a problem with how the brain signals the breathing muscles to
work."

Possible treatments include medication, oxygen masks, and even potential surgery.

5 comments:

TiLT said...

awww...don't you look all cute and electrodey! I don't think I could sleep knowing people are watching...kinda creepy...although, there'd be no dog sleeping on my legs, no huby pushing me to the edge of the bed and no kid crying for me through the monitor...so maybe I'd actually sleep better than usual :)

Live, Love, Laugh, Write! said...

So I kinda forgot to mention I took that pic from a web-site :P Click on it and you'll get more info about it all!

But thanks for telling me I'm cute ;)

Paisley The Jackabee said...

OMG I don't think I could have slept with all that on. Hope it helps in getting you the help you need hun.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to hearing your results, and for you getting relief after the verdict is in. DH has same problem but never seems to "get around" to doing anything about it.

uniquecommodities said...

look at ya chica! Still beautiful with all of those jiga ma things! LOL