I had a sleep study and MSLT a few days ago and couldn't fall asleep that night so at 12:15am, the tech gave me Ambien.  Then I slept the rest of the night until awakened at 5:15am.
I've hardly ever taken sleeping pills in the past so I'm wondering what affect that could have on my study results.  
Last yr. my study (no pill taken) showed 104 arousals/fragmented sleep and mild OSA.  
I've been on a cpap for 1 1/2 yrs and am still so sleepy during the day.  I even nap 3hrs after taking 400mg of Provigil!
The Dr. ordered the MSLT to r/o Narcolepsy.  
I'm just wondering if taking that sleeping pill could affect my sleep study findings?

  ***Update:
I got my MLST sleep study results today and do not have Narcolepsy.  I did sleep each time but had no REM.  The Dr says I have idiopathic hypersomnia.
The good news is that my apnea was very mild, in fact I wouldn't even qualify for a CPAP anymore.  So I don't need it anymore, at least not until I f/u in a month.  My night study showed only 15 arousals and 4 apnea events.  I don't know the exact details of the findings but he said it was fine and will give me a copy at my f/u visit.  I want to be happy but I feel I still don't have a "fix".  He increased my Provigil from 400mg to 800mg a day!  Also suggested Melatonin 3mg at bedtime.  
 I do need to lose 60 lbs but it's hard to when you don't have the energy.  I do work part time and do lots of other tasks around the house  and workout at Curves 3x/wk.  I've changed my way of eating to low carbs.  I'm just frustrated that I'm in this vicious cycle and have a spouse who's doesn't "understand" how !@#! I feel everyday.  
So, in my case, No news is good news! :)



Last edited by tootired on Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:58 pm; edited 3 times in total

The older meds often used for sleep, the low-dose anti-depressants, anti-anxiotics, anti-convulsants; either did or were very likely to affect a sleep study. However, these new meds developed specifically for sleep are much less likely to do so - and they can't evaluate your sleep OR titrate you IF you DON'T sleep so better to take an Ambien than to NOT sleep during an in-lab study.

W/that many arousals and disruptions of sleep as you displayed during your sleep evaluation at couple of years ago and little to no relief in the 1 1/2 years on CPAP you've done the right thing by having the new study and the MLST.

I hope this time they are able to find the source of your sleep disorder and exhaustion and a way to effectively treat it/them!! Good luck and God bless.


_________________
Some people are like Slinkies... Not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Resmed VPAP Auto. Humidaire 3i, Simplicity & Micro masks, ResScan 3.4, S8 ResLink, Embla oximeter.

tootired wrote:

I had a sleep study and MSLT a few days ago and couldn't fall asleep that night so at 12:15am, the tech gave me Ambien.  Then I slept the rest of the night until awakened at 5:15am.
I've hardly ever taken sleeping pills in the past so I'm wondering what affect that could have on my study results.  
Last yr. my study (no pill taken) showed 104 arousals/fragmented sleep and mild OSA.  
I've been on a cpap for 1 1/2 yrs and am still so sleepy during the day.  I even nap 3hrs after taking 400mg of Provigil!
The Dr. ordered the MSLT to r/o Narcolepsy.  
I'm just wondering if taking that sleeping pill could affect my sleep study findings?

Certainly, however its not likely to have such an impact that you get misdiagnosed.

Thanks for the comments.  I just wanted to have a "true" study and wouldn't want the sleeping pill to change the findings.  
I felt that I slept so well after taking it that they may scratch their heads and think that I have no difficulty with fragmented sleep and was wsting their time! lol.  I just hope I don't need to take sleepig pills to "fix" me.  But if that's what works for me, I'll take their advice!  I'm just tired of being tired...[/b]

tootired wrote:

Thanks for the comments.  I just wanted to have a "true" study and wouldn't want the sleeping pill to change the findings.  
I felt that I slept so well after taking it that they may scratch their heads and think that I have no difficulty with fragmented sleep and was wsting their time! lol.  I just hope I don't need to take sleepig pills to "fix" me.  But if that's what works for me, I'll take their advice!  I'm just tired of being tired...[/b]

Do you have your results yet?

I hav a f/u visit and will get my results next Tuesday.  Hopefully, then  I can get some answers/help.

So, TooTired, do you have your results yet? What's the verdict?


_________________
Some people are like Slinkies... Not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Resmed VPAP Auto. Humidaire 3i, Simplicity & Micro masks, ResScan 3.4, S8 ResLink, Embla oximeter.

Thanks for checking in on me but I don't get my results until next Tuesday.  So, I'll post them when I find out because I'm sure I'll have questions even after talking to the Dr.  
It'll be interesting to compare last year's study with this one since last year, I had no REM.
 Now that I've been on the cpap I can see if that's changed.  I didn't have a MSLT last year so this one on Friday was a new experience for me.
Until then, I'm back on my Provigil 400mg and still sleepy...

(See update in original post)  I found out my dx is Idiopathic Hyperinsomnia.  Everything else has been ruled out.  Hmmmm.