My First Sleep Study

I was living in Safford Eastern Arizona when I noticed I was chronically fatigued and very sleepy in the afternoons after lunch. I experimented with my lunch to see if it would make a difference if I ate a small meal or a medium size meal. I experimented with drinking Pepsi and coffee to see if I would stay awake but to no avail, I was still suffering from lack of energy and very tired around 2:00 p.m. every afternoon.

A few months later I fell asleep at the wheel driving back to Mesa Arizona for the weekend and that episode scared me to death to say the least as I had stopped for a red light on a four lane highway and sat there at the intersection for an unknown amount of time as I was rudely awaken but appropriately so by a passing motorist who realized I was asleep at the wheel. Give me any more energy and suspected a sleep disorder. 

I knew there was something wrong with me besides being sleepy. I could tell I was not sleeping well but I never had any trouble before getting by through the day with four hours or less sleep. Now it seemed that even six or eight didn’t help me either.

I went to my doctor and he told me he suspected sleep apnea but we needed to do some tests so he set me up for a sleep study. I had never ever done a sleep study before and I had no idea what is was but I was so desperate I wanted to find out whatever it was that kept from staying awake at work, at home and behind the wheel. 

A mystery to me, I went all in on the study and scheduled it for the following week. I didn’t want to wait any longer to find out what was wrong with me. I was told not to drink any coffee, tea, cola or chocolate. I was advised no alcohol but that was never a problem since 1978. The doctor told me to not nap or do anything else which may affect my sleep.

I packed an overnight bag to take with me to the sleep center. The receptionist checked me in, checked my insurance card and introduced me to a specialist who asked me to change into some hospital gowns so he could have access to my body for the electronic hookup devices used during the study. 

It was all simple and quick and before I knew it I was hooked up with about two dozen electrodes on my chest, my head, my arms, my legs and my heart area. I was ready to be plugged in so he told me to try to go to sleep. 

Before closing my eyes he wanted to do a test so I laid there for him as he double checked all the connections to the sensors and did his test. He asked me to move my eyes, my legs, clench my teeth and make a fist. I don’t know why but I guessed he knew what he was doing.

There I was hooked up with wires long enough to let me move around and connected to a computer that would record everything that happened while I was sleeping. I was ready to fall asleep as they turned out the light and left me alone. 

I woke up the next morning feeling no different than the night before. I got used to all the wires quickly and they never interfered with my sleep but I have to confess the strange bedroom I was sleeping in was a little bit strange for me as I knew before I closed my eyes, they would be watching me. While I slept the computer recorded all kinds of information the specialist would share with me when he came in to unhook me from the computer.

There were several important revelations that morning that explained a lot about my fatigue and sleepiness. It was revealed I had a breathing problem during sleep and I also had details about my sleep telling me I never reached the REM stage of sleep and often had difficulties maintaining a regular heartbeat as it stopped more times than is acceptable under such conditions. 

In addition my oxygen levels were way below the normal range so it was all contributing to having a bad sleep night where the body never got any rest as it was designed by natural means and measurements. 

I ended up wearing a mask and tube hooked up to a CPAP machine. Simply described this was a machine that provided a positive airway pressure (PAP). While there are three kinds of PAP, the most common uses a level of pressure that remains continuous (CPAP).

It was the solution to my sleep problems and ever since I started using this machine and mask, I have been revitalized and energized like I used to be with the exception of my age and lifestyles now much more sedentary than ever before.