Sleep Study.

Some people dont understand what this is, or what its for.. So I thought I would do a post about this.

I had a sleep study towards the end of July.. Don't stress too much over it. theres not much to it!

First of all, a sleep study is done for a lot of pepole, not just wls patients.. Its to check for obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrom, parasomnia, insomnia, a few other things like that.

For your sleep study..

If you take any night time medicine, be sure to bring it. and if your nocturnal like i am, try to make sure you stay on a normal pattern.. or.. as normal as you can get, a few days before.. they need at least 6 hours of solid sleep to get their results. I ended up asking for a melatonin (3mg) to help me drift to sleep.. i cant without it, on most cases.

Basically you go in, they check your blood pressure and other vitals and stuff.. you talkwith and meet with a few people.. they check your records, etc.. they'll take your medicine bottles and lock them up, so they can give them to you later. im pretty sure thats just for liability reasons. Then one or two pepole will come in and start to hook you up to wires.

They do not hurt! Trust me. they're just like stickers. If you've ever had an ekg, its sorta like that.. I had two on each of my arms, two on each of my legs. a few on my stomach and chest.. a microphone taped to my neck.. its tiny. then they put two bands around me. one over my chest and noe over my stomach, with little wires attached to them to monitor how you move whenyou breathe.

Some of these are stickers, others are glued on..

Then they started putting them on my head. there were about 10 on there. they have you take your hair down if its long and in a ponytail and they put it on.

Before they put the glue on they scrub with like a qtip and this lemon-y smelling scrub. it just helps so the glue sticks better. then they use like a mini blowdryer to help dry the glue and wire to the glue.

when they're done with all the wires tehres about 30 total i believe.. then they put a cannula under your nose.. it looks like a little elephant nose. its sort of like an oxygen thing like youd see someone getting, in the hospital.. but it doesnt pump oxygen into you. it doesnt go down your throat. just rests at the bottom of your nose and upper lip. to catch how much air you breathe in and how much you breathe out. its kinda annoying.. but you get used to it. oh, and they put one of those little clamps on your finger. it doesnt hurt. it has a little red light. its to check your oxygen level.

You really cant move much after you're hooked up.. i mean.. i guess you could but thenw ires would come undone. I was afraid to aly on my side, so it wask inda uncofortable.. cause i usually lay on my stomach to sleep.. and i was on my back. oh well.

by 10:30 they said lights out and when they say it.. they mean it. i was texting a lot earlier and i had my phone in the bed with me, just cause i'm paranoid about my mom taking it and looking thorugh it.. i always sleep with my phone. but they made me put it up and on a table that i couldnt reach, to make sure. tv off, nothing. so i layed there.. i woke up every couple hours. it really was uncomfortable, im not gonna lie. but it was bearable. i drifted back to sleep shortly after.

They woke me up by turning on the bright lights in the morning and started removing wires. gave me my medicine back, etc.. i felt nasty. the glue and stickers left residue on me and it was just, ew. they offered t olet me shower there but.. i dont liek showering in hospitals soi  said no thanks and they discharged me and told me i talked in mys leep.... interesting. haha.

uhm. yeah. thats really about it. then me and my mom went and got breakfast and went home.

They gave me this special lotion stuff to help remove the leftover glue from my hair.. it works really well. but smells REALLY strong. its insane. make sure when you rub it on your head before you get int he shower, the doors open. cause you wont be able to breathe very well.. if you have the same stuff i did. ifk not.. then just use nail polish remover. that probably works just as well.

So yeah. thats about it. its really not much to it. no needles nothing painful, unless they accidnetally pull a hair when they remove a sticker or anything.. but its not bad at all.

Dont stress about it. (: It'll be fine.

Heres some pictures i took when i had mine. Ive been meaning to post them here for awhile, but never got around to it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justashley1637/sets/72157627032581387/

Well there you go. (:

Hope you're all having a great day, or, night.. depending on where you are. lol. (:

Peace<3.