By James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

I am back from my overnight sleep study and it was pretty easy.

I arrived at 7:30PM and the nurse put me in the sleep room. It looked a lot like a nice motel room. It was large with a comfortable king-size bed, table and chairs, large leather chair, television with cable and a large bathroom with a shower, sink and toiletries. There was also an adjustable climate control and a closet.

I had to fill out a little paperwork and get my sleep clothes on, then the nurse came in to hook me up. This took about 30 minutes. I watched a video on sleep apnea while she was doing this. She scrubbed some spots to get off the body oil so the tape would stick. She taped a few wires to my scalp and forehead (to measure brain waves), to my jaw areas (to measure teeth grinding and gerd), to my temple areas (to measure eye activity) and to my upper chest (to measure heart activity). Then she put a strap around my upper chest and one around my abdomen (to measure breathing effort). These wires (20 of them) were then hooked to an portable apparatus about the size of an iPod. Next I was told to watch tv or read until I was ready for bed.

I called her to my room around 10:00 to tell her I was ready for bed. She hooked up the “iPod” to another machine. She also taped a leather strap to my index fingertip, and taped some nasal biprongs to go inside my nose. She said that this looked liked an oxygen hookup, but was really to monitor my breathing. I was told to call her if I needed to get up to go to the bathroom. The whole room was wired for sound and there was a small infrared camera on the wall to moniter me during the sleep. She turned out the light and left.\

(to be continued)

by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

I am having a sleep study done tonight. I will tell you how in went from a patient perspective.

I have been having feeling sleepy in the daytime after a good night of snoozing, and my wife says I snore very loudly (probably exaggerating). The test will look for signs of sleep apnea.

A lab employee called today to ask if I had any questions. She says I should be there by 7:30 PM to do the paperwork and get hooked up to all of the wires. I should eat dinner beforehand, bring bed-clothes and be in bed around 10:00 or 11:00. Apparently they will kick me out around 6:30 AM.

I asked if people have trouble fallling asleep with all of the wires and she said I could take a sleeping pill, such as Ambien, if I wish.

Will follow up tomorrow.