That One Time… I Had a Sleep Study

Yes, that’s right. Remember I told you that one time… I had a sleep study? Oh wait.. I didn’t tell you! Gosh it’s been over a year that I had it done. Goodness Candy, you must have a snoring problem. Actually I don’t.. So I’m coming clean with this and you can judge me if you want, but you know what.. No one knows my struggle. That sounds ridiculous but seriously. I decided to share with you all because I know there’s  a lot of stigma to getting a sleep study done.

This is the exact room I spent the night in. Notice the items on the bedside tables.

I’m over-weight. Yes, I am and I’m very aware of it.  I’m 5’0 and almost 200 lbs. Yes, I know it’s unhealthy and I’m a constant work in progress. I do my damnedest but I can’t get under. (I’ll be trying a new program soon, I’ll share once I get started.) So.. Why did I have a sleep study?  I was hoping to be eligible for weight-loss surgery. That is the honest to goodness true reason for going thru with the sleep study. Per my insurance I needed two medical reasons, you know like diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol or issues with my tri-glycerides etc to require the drastic change of life. I’ve got none of those medical issues, thank god. Since I wasn’t eligible via the diseases, the next step was to see if I had sleep apnea. Sleep apnea normally occurs when people are carrying too much weight on their chest and it causes them to stop breathing while they are asleep. Luckily I did not stop breathing during the evening I spent away from my family. In one hand I was kinda sad (I know, I know), because that meant I wasn’t eligible for the surgery but on the other hand I was thankful. I cannot imagine knowing that I stop breathing while I’m asleep. The idea scares the be-geesus out of me. So there it went.. my secret wishes for the “easy out” like most call it, (which I totally know that it would break me mentally, so I was spared my sanity. It’s not an easy way to loose weight folks.) were dashed and here I am still a year later in the same shape. Literally.

So I’m going to share some pictures with you. This is what you can expect if you ever get a sleep study requested by your doctor. Did I sleep well? Yes I did! Did I get the CPAP machine out of the deal? No I didn’t. I only apneaed twice in the time between 9:00pm and 5:30am. I showed up in some comfy clothing and the respiratory tech explained the procedure to me. The only thing that kinda freaked me out was that I would be video taped. What if I got up in my sleep or something or did something crazy while I was asleep? It would be on video and all I needed to do was go to sleep.

I was able to fall asleep pretty quickly. At that time I was staying up late and waking up early, this mama was tired. With all of the wires connected to me, I had to sleep on my back. I’m normally a tummy sleeper, but other than that I couldn’t really move due to all of the wires I was attached to.  All of these wires were attached to various recording devices: a monitor, a microphone, vitals monitor and other stuff.

This is what I looked like after everything was all hooked up and ready to go.

There was even wires in my hair.

So this is what it looks like.  I am thankful for the results and my journey continues.

Question:

Have you ever had a sleep study?

Candy