The Epworth Sleepiness Scale is used as a quantifying the level of daytime sleepiness in specific situations. I would like to ask the sleep professionals on Sleep Guide how they rate this scale. I ask because my answers to the scale delayed my diagnosis of sleep apnea.
My internist was a good diagnostician; he apparently suspected I had sleep apnea because at each visit he presented me with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, asking me to complete it. My answers, all in the negative - I never had the slightest risk of falling asleep, at any place in the daytime. I didn't do much better at night either. Eventually he firmly suggested a sleep study. I didn't comply right away, but completed the Polysomnography in 2000.
The doctor was right when he thought I might have sleep apnea. I was diagnosed with severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome with almost 100 apneas and hypopenas per hour of sleep accompanied by moderate to severe oxygen desaturations. A titration study was ordered. In the Study Summary, the comment was included "Nevertheless, she has a low Epworth scale score, of 1 out of a possible 24, indicating a low degree of daytime somnolence"
Some of my earliest childhood memories including laying awake for a long time at night. By teen age and adulthood I experienced chronic insonmia - perhaps partly because I was a curious and didn't want to miss having a part in anything interesting.
Cpap mask had not reached their current technicological level, and I could not get a mask that didn't blow directly into my eyes. I eventually had UPPP surgery. I have had subsequent sleep studies indicating moderate sleep apnea. I bepan CPAP therapy in January 2009..
I had experienced insonmia, or an unwillingness to go to sleep till starting CPAP, My Epworth Sleepiness Scale also changed after starting CPAP. I fell asleep in plays, at church, in a doctor's office; almost anyplace I sat down. I was sleep deprived at that time, and attributed my daytime sleepiness to lack of sleep. I am not sleep deprived now, but I have frequently have to fight falling asleep in the daytime. I estimate my currnent Epworth Sleepiness Scale would be around 14.
Can a sleep technician tell if a person's body chemistry changes during CPAP - or what could have created such a drastic change? Have others had a change in their daytime sleepiness. I am puzzled, and would like to understand the intricities of sleep, and why they can change later in life.
person and didn't want to miss being a part of anything interesting.
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