Doctor Livingstone I presume

[hollyking]

Yesterday I went to see a new doctor. I haven’t been to see one in a very long time but we have insurance coverage now so it was time. In some ways I liked this doctor a lot. She took her time and answered my questions. She wanted detailed information about why I had concerns and didn’t hesitate to order some tests that I felt were needed.

On the downside she wouldn’t order other tests that I wanted. The big one being the A1C test. I can check my blood sugar levels but that’s only a spot reading. The A1C value gives a much better indication of how I’m doing at controlling my diabetes. I know the value is going to suck right now but I would like to know the starting point so I can see how I’m improving.

One of the tests the doctor ordered is a sleep study. The doctor asked if I thought I snored and I had to laugh as everyone knows I snore. The people next door and down the block know I snore. The guys in boot camp used to kick my cot to make me roll over and stop snoring. So in late February I’m going to go talk to a specialist and see if I can sleep while strapped to a lot of machines.

The good news is that I’ve lost another 14 pounds somewhere. The last time I checked I was about 295 and yesterday I weighed in at 281. Not where I want to be but at least it’s going in the right direction.

The bad news is that my blood pressure was too high. Of course stress from work and life has a way of doing that. We’re going to keep an eye on it.

Comments

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

Sleep studies aren't too bad -- just did one last weekend. Let me know if you think hearing about my experiences would be useful :)

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

My only concern is my normal sleeping position, on my side, interfering with the wires. I think knowing what's going to happen would be a good thing.

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

The wires all run to a point near your head, so you can roll over, as long as you don't keep rolling over the same direction and get twisted. So sleeping on your side or in any other position isn't an issue, but they do ask that you spend at least a couple of hours on your back for data quality reasons. I spent ~3 hours on my back and the rest on my side with no trouble.

I'll second what's said below -- bring a lot of good shampoo, you'll need to wash your hair three times in the morning, or at least I did. The glue for the scalp electrodes is horrible. There's a bathroom with shower in the room for you to use after you get up in the morning.

I didn't feel any need to get up in the middle of the night, but if you do you have to wait a few minute for the tech to disconnect you and then reconnect you afterwards.

Do bring your own pillow and stuffed animal if it'll make you more comfortable; I brought my bear.

You probably won't sleep well, but they don't really WANT you to sleep well, certainly not better-than-average, or the data isn't as useful. I took the next day off work and I'd advise you to do the same. It's not *necessary*, but it greatly improved my quality of life.

You'll check in at 6:30pm, spend at least an hour to an hour and a half getting wired up and set up (all the wiring goes to a breakout box hanging from a strap around your neck, so you're not tethered at this point), then sit around until you're ready to go to bed. Then they'll spend 5 minutes doing last-minute connections to the sensor box on the bed and some sensor calibrations. They'll be monitoring you via video and intercom the entire night. If you aren't awake yourself at 0630 they will wake you up and want you out of there by 0730 (not 100% sure on these times, could be half an hour off).

There's a full instruction sheet at http://www.uwmedicine.org/PatientCare/MedicalSpecialties/SpecialtyCare/HARBORVIEW/Sleep/SleepCenterPatientInstructions.htm which is useful reading.

Good luck...

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Sounds like I won't have too much trouble.

[intrepid-reason.livejournal.com]

So she says you'll live...that's good. [:o)

*ducks and runs*

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Ditto on sleep studies not being too bad. The one I had, the room was completely dark, and the machines weren't too bright. They work the wires so that it's the least pain in the ass to you; the only sucky part is having to call the nurse to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It's a 5-minute process to get you unhooked, and then 5 more to hook you back in.

The things I did that made it easier for me to sleep was to bring my own pillow, and (because I like snuggles and sleep with 3 cats) a stuffed animal to have at least something of home in the bed with me. If you're a person who normally goes to bed later (I typically shoot for midnight), ask for a later start; they assume everyone is going to bed much earlier. Me, I can't go to sleep earlier, so a 9pm bedtime would mean 3 hours of staring at the ceiling.

Make sure you can wash your hair the next morning before you go into work. The glue is nastier than I anticipated, so I had to go buy some shampoo (I showered at work).

One avenue you might want to check out with the blood pressure is biofeedback training. It really does help; I can actually make my blood pressure and pulse go down if I concentrate and do the things they taught me. It's more being wired up to a machine, but it's only an hour a week.

Good to see you're taking charge of your health and going to a doctor. I wish more people would.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

There's a good idea. I'll be sure to bring in a stuffed animal, my sleep shirt and if I'm lucky something that hollyqueen has worn for a bit. ;)

We have showers here at the office so I'll bring a bag so I can wash up good after the goop.

Thanks!

[hollyqueen.livejournal.com]

No taking my panties to the study!

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Awww....

[pallidbat.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the weight loss!

One of the reasons I adore Chris is that if he starts snoring, I can politely ask him to stop, and he will. Kicking, punching, shaking, and turning won't make him stop...just asking. *grin*

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

You don't *have* to kick me. It's just that the guys in boot camp weren't the most polite people in the world.

[jenk]

I posted a bit when I got the sleep study & cpap - http://jenk.livejournal.com/tag/apnea

[torainfor.livejournal.com]

My blood pressure was a bit high when I went in to get med refills but I figured it was from spending two weeks with the in-laws.

[loree.livejournal.com]

Good news on the sleep study, but what kind of stupidass GP doesn't order an A1C on a diabetic?

[ragnorokt.livejournal.com]

I'll bet your insurance won't cover the tests so she did not want to bother. That is the cool thing about working for a medical testing lab, any test we do in house I can have done for free. I know we do HbA1C in house.

Of course if you lived here, they would do tests for you free too ;-{)>.

The downside is if they feel like testing for recreational stuff, they do all that in house too. "Mr. Jones, uh fill up this cup...NOW!" Not that I have to worry about that.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

If there's an insurance company that won't cover the A1C test for a known diabetic they need to be criminally charged. No, it's just her.

Lab fun, eh?