Hi Francis!

I post under DoesThisCPAPMakeMeLookFat on the forums so I do believe it's me. NIce to see you post about the issues you have been having. I am so glad to see you post. I think a lot more people have issues than admit. The more we talk about it, the more we can get help for it and the more they can adjust how things are done so that real people like us can benefit from them.

I remember that I wanted to be able to watch TV until I got sleepy when I was getting my sleep study. That's my practice at home. No way. Lights out when the tech said so. There I was in a pitch black room knowing that someone was watching me on camera and the monitor was clicking away. I was just lying there willing my bladder not to fill ...hoping against hope I would fall asleep. I had called my son and pleaded with him to bring me the pillow I had forgotten. He didn't, he wasn't at home and didn't feel like he could go home and get it in time for me. I know that I just laid there for hours wide awake..I pictured my EEG tracing all over the place. I decided to pretend I was asleep and maybe my body would somehow believe it. Next thing I knew the tech was turning on the light and calling me by my mom's name (hardly anyone calls me 'Mrs' anybody lol) and before I had a chance to orient myself here comes the CPAP over my face. I asked her what time it was..she said she didn't know. My eyes must have gotten wide because she kept saying 'just calm down and breathe'. And so I tried to..and again I am wide awake.. for what must have been hours. I finally fell asleep and there she is again. The object of my sleep deprivation telling me that she hopes I am not late for work but that since I didn't fall asleep until about 6am, she let me sleep in so we could complete the study. It was now 8am.

I just wanted out, please show me to the showers so I can get this cement out of my hair. Oh, ma'am we don't have showers here. We do have one bathroom that everyone shares. Nice...I will drive myself home and hope I don't get a ticket on the way home. I looked like Phyliss Diller lol...Oh how I wanted Starbucks but I didn't dare stop in looking as I did.

The good news was that I made it through. I knew that if I got through it, that it was only one night and I would have help for the rest of my life. I know I am strong and that even if she couldn't support me, I could try to support myself through it. It took so many tools though. I totally could see why so many people couldn't make it through the night. I almost bailed so many times. I seriously doubted she got enough info for a full study since I didn't think I had slept. They found I had moderate sleep apnea. I got my CPAP and am resting pretty well these days.

I also wanted to tell you, Francis..there are home studies you can do if the study at the Sleep Center doesn't work. I have read about some where they wire ya up and send you home to sleep and the you come back and get all the gadgets taken off the next day. Maybe you can ask them about that if this doesn't work out for you.

I know your doctor is working with you to prepare. Kudos to you for being willing to try it again and I know you will do your best to make this one successful.


All my good energry and sleep faerie dust to you on your next sleep study try!

Pam
DoesThisCPAPMakeMeLookFat

It's Monday evening and I'm somewhere between excited and panic stricken. I did a fairly good job of ignoring the study until today but this morning I started to panic. I took a lorazepam which helped a lot until now and I think I'll need to take another one when I go to bed.

I really want this to go well and to sleep long enough to show what's going on. I have the strongest feeling that my sleep is at its worst late in the night. I think I can get to sleep okay but I'm a bit worried about how long I can stay asleep and whether I can go back to sleep after the inevitable trip to the bathroom. I'll try to limit my intake tomorrow evening but if I need to take a drink, I need to take a drink. Of water, that is.

Anyway, I got out the list from the last time and checked it over and, aside from everything else, I will be taking my 2 pillows.

So, thank you for your support and I will certainly report how it went as soon as I can.