My doctor has been "recommending" to me for a long time that I do a sleep study. Yesterday I decided to call for some information because I am due for a refill on my Ambien and I always panic that she is going to say no. The lady that answered was very nice and explained to me a bit about the study and said they happened to have a cancellation for tonight if I wanted to get it done with. I was a bit anxious, but she said it really is no big deal and it may be good to get it done instead of thinking about it. I agreed and went to the hospital sleep center at 8:30pm.

A bit of background... I have had sleeping problems since I can remember. When in my parents house I used to yell downstairs if I heard the TV from the living room. I left a hotel room with my dad and sister when I was 17 and got my own room because my sister was snoring. My husband and I have been married for 16 years and have not consistently slept in the same bed. Birds chirping, ceiling fan spinning, the DVR and other people breathing drive me insane. I usually wear earplugs. Oddly, having the TV on to something that I have seen before (or any Will & Grace episode) helps me relax because I concentrate on that. Having 4 kids, a husband and a cat... in addition to all the to-do lists in my head make it impossible for me to turn my brain off. I take Ambien... I have for about 4 years. It is prescribed, I am not buying it off the internet or stealing it from others and I take it as prescribed.... I do not take it when my husband is out of town or when I am on call because it puts me to sleep and I may need to wake up. But I take it almost every night... because it works.

I do not snore regularly or gasp for breath. I do not have high blood pressure, am not more than 30 lbs overweight and I do not twitch or kick at night. (All signs of Apnea or Restless Leg syndrome) I have Insomnia... plain and simple. I also do not drink coffee, tea or pop.

Back to last night.... I get to the hospital and a man comes down to get me and another man who was also doing a sleep study. A large, black man who states he will be the one "observing" me during the night. What happened to the nice nurse on the phone? We walk to the sleep center hallway and no one else is there... OK, I am in a far off hallway, alone with a large man watching me while I am sleeping and another man in the next room. I am a little taken back. The words, "the call is coming from inside the house" kept popping into my head. I go to my room and start filling out the paperwork. The man in the next room turns on the TV in his room and I can hear every word as if the TV was in my room. Go back to above when I said that I yell downstairs to have the TV turned down. OK, now I am in a room with a large man watching me sleep and can hear the TV from the next room. (I won't make this like the 12 days of Christmas song... but feel free to keep adding these scenarios together) I turn my TV on to the same station so it does not drive me insane and he is watching Dateline about JonBenet. Not exactly Will & Grace.
Then I get hooked up. I wish I would have thought to take a picture with my camera phone, but at this point I was half laughing and half crying. In my head cursing my doctor for putting me through this and on the other hand glad that I will be able to prove my point and not have to worry about this again. There were wires coming off my face, behind my ears, attached to my scalp, on my legs. Two straps across my chest and this unbelievably uncomfortable piece of plastic under my nose. I am thinking, "you have got to be kidding me". This picture is not me... I was definitely not smiling. It took about 30 minutes for all these wires and straps and tape and goop to be put on and then another 30 minutes to try to lay down without a wire or strap to be pinching or pulling somewhere. I was allowed to take my Ambien for the night and drifted off about 30 minutes after all that.
I woke up to the man talking to someone in the hallway and to the beep of a machine. Thinking I had made it until morning. Right. I looked at my phone (no clocks) and the time was 2:30am. I laid there quietly for about 15 minutes and the man came in to see if I needed anything (because he was watching me and knew I was not sleeping). I got unplugged and went to the bathroom and then asked how long I needed to be monitored because I did not think I was going to be able to fall back asleep. He said to give him another 45 minutes "for insurance purposes" and if I was not back to sleep he could unhook me. I left at 3:30am and went home.

Results take about a week and IF I have Apnea, I will eat my words. But right now I am thinking that was a complete waste of time and money and just give me my little pills and leave me to my drug induced sleep. Ahhhhh Ambien.