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"24 hr" sleep study - ZZOMA belt?
Have anybody ever had one of these? It's not actually 24 hours, but it is an overnight study combined with a daytime sleepiness study. I went in at 8 pm, they wired me up and I did the miserable overnight test, like I'd had 5 times before. The "new" part was that they woke me up at 6 am, then had me take naps every 2 hours - 8 am, 10 am, noon, 2 pm & 4 pm. They measure how long it takes you to fall asleep (if you do) and then they wake you up after 20 minutes. My daytime sleepiness has been horrible. I fell asleep for each one of the naps. I took me anywhere from 1.5 minutes to 7.5 minutes to fall asleep. This isn't counting the multiple times I dozed off in between "official" naps. That is scary for me.
I went in for my follow up yesterday. The night study actually showed that I was "asleep" 70% of the time, so they say. I was very frustrated because I feel like hell all of the time and I'm obviously too tired during the day to function well.
Get this... the doc has decided to take me OFF CPAP. He brought out this belt thing that was called a ZZOMA. It looks like a weight belt with a big hard foam block attached to it. Supposedly you wear this thing around your torso. The foam pad is supposed to keep you from being able to roll onto your back, where I have the most trouble breathing... the hope is I will stay on my side, where I don't have the same problems.
Has anyone else tried one of these ZZOMA things? The doc didn't give me one. He recommended that I go online to get one. They are 70 bucks. There's something similar called a Rem A Tee (sp?) that is over 80 bucks. I think I could make one for a fraction of that cost.
Any thoughts on the ramblings of a mad man?
Views: 1723
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Judy on
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Well, it sounds like your day time sleep test immediately following your night time sleep test was an MSLT (multiple sleep latency test) which is a test usually used to determine if one has narcolepsy.
The ZZoma Belt thingie sounds like an appliance for PSA (positional sleep apnea), i.e. you only experience apneas when sleeping on your back.
Just guesses on my part.
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Permalink Reply by Crabby Appleton on
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Yes, that is what it was all about. They did determine that I don't have narcolepsy. They wanted to put me on some medication (something like provigil) to help keep me awake during the day. I hate the idea of taking medication to make me sleepy, then getting up to take something to keep me awake. I have very slow motility and almost "backwards" reactions to meds. Stuff that knocks most people out wires me. I'm already a wreck. I can't imagine what I'll be like if the meds start getting crossed in my system.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Z on
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Yeah, Crabby, you could make one of the belts for a fraction of the cost. Some people sew tennis balls into the back of their shirt to keep them off their backs, some use a backpack (sounds kind of uncomfortable). Anything you can figure out to keep you of your back should work. You could give the provigil a try. I know Nuvigil (a longer lasting formulation) comes in a starter sample pack of 150 or 250 mg for a week. Might be worth a try one day when you have nothing pressing to do in case you do react opposite of the intended result. I find Nuvigil helps me stay awake all day without intereferring with my sleep.
My daytime sleep study was the same as yours- just showed I'm a very sleepy person. LOL.
Keep us posted.
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Are you talking about the MSLT, Rock? I would just have slept through until time for the last nap. LOL. Seriously, do they ever vary that portocol of five naps, two hours in between?
I was impressed they could tell the difference between narcolepsy and hypersomnia.
Crabby, did you figure out something for last night to keep you off your back?
Mary Z.
Rock Hinkle said:They should have let you wake up on your own.
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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I was talking about ending the PSG. The person should be allowed to wake upon there own to maintain the integrity of the MSLT. Cutting a person's sleep short could result in a REM periods during the naps. This could give a fals Dx of narcolepsy. Everything turned out though.
Mary Z said:Are you talking about the MSLT, Rock? I would just have slept through until time for the last nap. LOL. Seriously, do they ever vary that portocol of five naps, two hours in between?
I was impressed they could tell the difference between narcolepsy and hypersomnia.
Crabby, did you figure out something for last night to keep you off your back?
Mary Z.
Rock Hinkle said:They should have let you wake up on your own.
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Correct me if I'm wrong Rock, but I thought the timing of the REM sleep during the naps determined narcolepsy. If a person enters REM sleep immediately upon napping rather than further into the nap- say towards the end, that differentiated narcolepsy from hypersomnia. I entered REM during every nap, but not at onset leading to a diagnosis of hypersomnia, rather than narcolepsy.
Having said that, Crabby, how are you doing?
Mary Z.
Rock Hinkle said:I was talking about ending the PSG. The person should be allowed to wake upon there own to maintain the integrity of the MSLT. Cutting a person's sleep short could result in a REM periods during the naps. This could give a fals Dx of narcolepsy. Everything turned out though.
Mary Z said:
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Permalink Reply by Rooster on
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Crabby, What was your AHI and RDI when sleeping on your sides or tummy? Surely they told you!
The Zzoma is a good product. I use a small modified backpack to keep myself off my back all night.
How comfortable are you when sleeping on your sides or tummy?
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I can't sleep on my stomach at all. I've always been a right side sleeper until a few years ago and I started mixing in the left side due to the back pain.
They told me that I "do better" on my side and don't have as many issues as when I get on my back. I was shocked when the doc suggested NOT using the CPAP and just using a ZZOMA to try and keep me on my side. I have not had a chance to make one yet. The past 3 nights I've used a body pillow behind me to try and keep me on my side. I still feel awful when I wake up.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when I get some scrawny ass doctor who immediately wants to start down the "weight loss" trail. This irritates me to no end. The doc looks at the chart that supposedly has everyone's "ideal" weight on it and if you're not in that range they start telling you you need to lose weight.
I am built like a linebacker. I always have been. I have a big neck, shoulders and chest. When I was in grade school I didn't fit on their damn chart either. I am far from obese. Could I stand to drop 10 lbs? Probably, but I don't have a huge belly or several chins (no offense to those that do intended). I'm a big guy. Period. When I work out hard, I actually put weight on (muscle), so for the doc to sit there and say, "You should think about losing some weight", I want to slap him.
They did determine that I don't have narcolepsy, but this daytime sleepiness is crazy bad. I get up in the morning, have a light breakfast, then try to read the paper. Within a few minutes, I will be face first asleep in the front page. Today I started looking at the paper at 7 am. At 8:30 am, I had not made it through the front page because I kept dozing off.
This situation is maddening. I told the doc that I was positive this is killing me... and I'm a couple weeks shy of 49 years old.
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Permalink Reply by Banyon on
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Crabby said, "I told the doc that I was positive this is killing me"
It may well be.
Does the damn doctor not read any of the recent medical studies that show how difficult it is to lose weight if you can't breathe while sleeping????
The SOB needs to get you breathing at night before he talks about losing weight.
But Crabby, back to Rooster's earlier question, what did the sleep study show your AHI and/or RDI to be while sleeping on your sides? This information is on your PSG. I would not want to abandon CPAP for a side sleeping strategy before I knew these numbers.
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I do not have those numbers handy. The doc told me that the test shows I am breathing "about 65-70% of the time". I said, "Since when is not breathing 30% of the time considered OK?" He asked me if I was in a lot of pain at night. I told him that since I've had a failed double lumbar laminectomy, 3 knee surgeries, a pending neck surgery, and an intrathecal pain pump implant, that I am pretty much in pain all of the time, but I was dealing with it. He asked me if I had more trouble with the pain or with the problems the CPAP mask has caused. I said, "the mask." He said, "OK, quit wearing the mask."... just like that. Then he brought in the ZZOMA belt. I was kinda shocked since I had been on the CPAP for a good 10 years. He said since I do do feel any different without the mask, than I do with the mask, that he suggested the belt. I've been without the mask for over a week now. I feel awful... to the point that it is ruining my life and really changing who I am. Now they want to put me on a medication to help keep me awake during the day. My old body feels like it's on a roller coaster. I feel like we're just grasping at straws and it is maddening.
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Sorry, but I am confused about exactly how you have been sleeping since discontinuing CPAP. With all those medical problems are you able to entirely avoid backsleeping and then sleep on your sides all night? In what position have you been sleeping during the last days when you were not using CPAP?
Why not get a copy of your sleep study????
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