I went last night and did the sleep study that my doc recommended, but I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. 😀 Maybe it had something to do with the 30 wires, sensors, and probes that joined me for my slumber…
Sleep Study Plug-N-Play
It took about a half an hour to get connected, then I could do whatever I wanted and go to sleep whenever I wanted. So, I got out my laptop like any good blogger would do and realized there was not an outlet to plug into and also no available wireless connection. Shucks!
So, I got out my web cam and took these photographs before my battery ran out of juice. (Check out my fancy $15 PJs that will never get worn again.)
All Connected For My Sleep Study
All Connected For My Sleep Study (Side View)
My other alternative was watch TV with the other lab rats, read a Readers Digest from 1997, or go to sleep. I opted for a little shut eye. 😀
This room was dark…haunted house dark! Where was the TV and the glow from the street lights that I have grown accustomed to? The only light was from an Infrared Flood light above the door. It was a very faint red glow that I could barely see, but would allow the sleep technicians to watch my every move using an infrared camera. Ever wake up feeling like someone is watching you sleep? Try waking up knowing someone is watching you sleep. 😀
What bad habits do I have at night when I am sleeping? What do I scratch? What bodily functions do I lose control of? (They did have a microphone in the room too. )
Maybe all of these thoughts running through my head, plus the wires, plus the fact that I could not get comfortable, plus the fact that I can not remember the last time I had worn more than my underwear to bed…is why I did not sleep well.
So, morning came after what seemed like 12 hours of lying in a dark room. The technician said that I might have a mild to moderate sleep breathing disorder (I guess I actually did sleep some)…but the doctor will make that call and let me know next week.
Until then I am going to sleep in my own bed, with no wires/sensors/probes, with the TV on, scratching whatever I want whenever I want, and doing it all stark naked if I feel like it. 😀
Ok, that sounds like an incredibly unpleasant situation. How the heck are they supposed to monitor your sleep if you’re too uncomfortable to fall asleep?
THAT is nuts!
So did you pick the red pill or the blue pill?
*Sudden urge to go watch the Matrix*
I don’t understand how they can accurately study sleep when a person is so uncomfortable from all the wiring and from not being naked.
I found myself laughing out loud, I’ve often thought about going to sleep clinic. However I’d never thought about people watching me sleep, what I would do during my slumber.
I feel you brother! I had to do two of those damn things. On the second one the nurse put on all of my sensors then said “oh I don’t like the way I did those” and proceeded to rip all of them off (taking a fair amount of hair with them) and then reapply them.
Sleeping normally with that is impossible for me. I used to only fall asleep on my stomach. Now with the CPAP I don’t have that option.
I know they help you with a host of issues, but sometimes it’s nice to just not use it for a night.
Uh, yeah…I couldn’t sleep with all that taped to my head. And I’d also be embarassed by my sleep “noises”, cuz I know what noises I make at night. They wake ME up!
The wires wouldn’t bother me too much at all, I normally fall asleep with my iPod in my ears, and it only wakes me if I inevitably get choked by the headphones!
I went for my sleep study last night. Had a very similiar experience, however the breathing monitor which is like little crab claws pinching your nostrals kept me up most of the time. I too sleep on my stomach which was another reason I could not get any sleep. Needless to say the REM state never materialized.
I have actuelly done this ywice. The first time I didn´t sleep at all. The second time, I stayed awake for a day and a half before going to the clinic. Obviously, I slept right through that night but one wonders how accurate the measurments would be since I was comatose tired 🙂