Rock-a-bye Baby

I did the sleep study last night and I would put it in the category of something you don’t want to do unless you really have to. The facility is very nice and I was in a private room with a nice bed and reasonable ambiance. I got there at 7:30 pm and about 8:30 they started wiring me up. I pretty much ended up with wires all over my body. They didn’t hurt or anything but you sure are aware that they are there. Around 10 they came in and I went to bed at which point they connected all of the wires to the computer. I then was supposed to go to sleep. With all of the wires and the unfamiliar surroundings it took me quite a while to get to sleep, but I did sleep some according to the technician. The first part of the test was diagnostic in nature. Sometime during the night the technician woke me up and at that point we were supposed to try this mask that blows air. The idea is that the pressure of the incoming air will keep the air passages open and thus allow you to sleep better. Well I first tried a mask that just forced air into the nose. That didn’t work at all. I couldn’t breathe through my mouth and I felt as if I was going to suffocate. Since I already have some shortness of breath the mask and the incoming air just exacerbated that problem. We then tried a mask that covered the nose and mouth so that I could breathe either through my nose or mouth. That was some better but I still had these breathless and suffocating feelings. I stuck it out as long as I could, thinking I might get used to it, but I finally had to call the technician and abandon that as well. So, I spent the rest of the night in diagnostic mode and slept pretty well. I have an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday and will find out then what the tests revealed. However, if wearing the mask is the solution to sleep apnea then I’m pretty sure I won’t be using that remedy