My First Sleep Study
6:00:00 PM
When I arrived at the location the nurse introduced himself and showed me to my room. I knew nothing coming into this, so I thought I'd be staying in a hospital bed with a bunch of machines around me. But to my surprise I walked into my own room with a large comfy bed, a nightstand, and a fan.
After filling out all the paperwork, the nurse began explaining how everything was going to work. He could tell I was nervous and he helped walk me through everything.
Once I was comfortable he began getting all the wires ready. Those weren't really a big deal, but I wasn't pleased with the tubes up my nose.
At first it was a little weird trying to get to sleep. I'm not used to having wires all around me, and I was missing things from back home. Especially my husband and our fur babies!
I definitely wasn't ready to wake up when the nurse said my name, but I knew I had to. On the plus side, it also meant all of the wires were coming off! I just wish it hadn't been 4:45 am when it happened.
The nurse let me wake up a little bit before moving onto the wires. Then he had me fill out a questionnaire regarding how I slept and how it compared to a normal night at home. Once I had completed that and a satisfaction survey, I was good to go!
What I learned from this experience:
- A sleep study is not scary! I got myself all worked up and full of anxiety for nothing.
- Do not use hair or skin care products the day of! Especially no make up!
- Wear comfy and loose fitting clothing! Obviously you want to be comfortable but there will be wires running up and down your legs and all over. I wore yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt and it was fine.
- It's ok to bring things from home! They recommend not bringing personal items with you but that's just so you don't bring an entire suitcase. Had I known this, I would have brought my super fuzzy blanket!
- Don't be afraid to call the nurse! Yes the wires are annoying, but if you really need to get up and go to the bathroom, call them! They're there to help you, and you won't get accurate results if you're busy thinking about how badly you need to go to the bathroom.
- Be kind to your nurse! Yes they are there for you, but that does not make them your servant. I had an awesome nurse and we actually had a really good conversation about our lives. Get to know them, it will make it way less awkward.
- Forget that you're being recorded! You're definitely not going to be able to sleep if you think someone's watching you, so don't think about it. Just get comfy, or as comfy as you can be, and go to bed.
Have you ever had a sleep study?
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