My Sleep Study

Last night I had my sleep study. I was scheduled to arrive at 8 pm and was on my way to work when I realized I was supposed to bring some paperwork. I forgot it. So I had to go back to the house then rush to the hospital. I got there about 8:20, so not too bad.

At 11 pm they started hooking me up, but first they wanted to do an Arterial Blood Gas to measure the oxygen and CO2 and whatever in my blood stream. The tech came in with a little needle and told me what he was going to do. He broke the skin, which was fine and I figured the little bit of pain was over.

Dude.

When he found the artery, it hurt. A lot. It hurt more than those huge needles they use to take plasma. It hurt worse than those little needles they use to take blood from your finger tips. In fact, it still hurts.

Other than that, it wasn't too bad. The best description I can give was that it was like a stay at a bad hotel: you have an uncomfortable bed and they keep waking you up.

First, though, came the electrodes. They weren't so bad. They just parted my hair, popped the gadgets on my head, and taped them down. Only in the morning when the tech took them off, he told me there was more than tape. They also use a kind of paste to keep them on. While not painful, I can still feel the points where the electrodes were because I can feel where the paste had stuck my hair to my head.

The end result is that I have obstructive sleep apnea. Let me explain what this means. At night when I sleep, all the weird fitting parts of my throat and whatever, including the tongue, uvula (funny ball thing in the throat), tonsils, and adinoids (the tonsils BFF) all rest and close up my airway. For normal people this doesn't happen, but for me, it does. So when I sleep I don't get enough oxygen.

Now, let me take a break to tell you a little about sleep. When you fall asleep, you are in a low level of dreamless sleep. After about 90 minutes you switch to REM sleep where you dream and get your more restfull sleep. Then after another 90 minutes you go back to the lower level sleep, back to REM, and maybe back to the low level sleep again.

For me, when I go into REM, my brain realizes I'm not getting enough air. When it realizes this, it has two options. It can either pop me back into the low level sleep, or wake me up completely. For me, I think it takes turns. I do realize I wake option. Usually I blame this on needing to use the restroom. The tech said, though, that I don't really need to go, I'm just waking up because of the oxygen thing.

Halfway through the study the tech woke me up and put on a kind of CPAP that's called nasil pillows. Instead of a full mask, it straps on and holds an air hose with two openings right on the edge of my nostrils. The openings don't jam up there, it just rests on the openings, forcing air into my nose. After I got used to it, it wasn't bad. It wasn't uncomfortable, my body eventually stopped fighting the airflow, and I could sleep on my side.

At the end of the study the tech said that I do have the obstructive sleep apnea and that they were able to determine the airflow I need to sleep well. In a couple weeks I'll talk to my doctor and I'll be able to get on a mask. Woo-hoo (said mildly sarcastically).

But you know, my life I've felt guilt for not being able to get up early (both for Seminary in high school and on my mission) and for not exercising the way I should. If you know me, you know I'm really good at holding onto guilt. Now I'm realizing it wasn't really my fault. All this useless guilt I've held onto just because my body is a little different.

The tech told me that people with my condition are more likely to gain weight too because you simply don't have the energy to exercise. So maybe I'll finally get into a better shape. I'm a little excited to wear the Darth Vader mask.