sleep study tomorrow. worried, anxious, the works

Hi all

I'll try to keep things short and share my story. Hopefully someone can relate

As of lately, Ive been getting woken out of my sleep every night, multiple times per night, right as I start to doze off or while I am sleeping. my body sends this huge "wake up! signal" that forces me out of my sleep. Imagine the feeling you get when someone sneaks up behind you and scares you, but without any nightmares. That's been my life for a month or so at least. As long as I can remember, I've always had some trouble sleeping and waking up multiple times at night, but not to this degree to where my body goes into this state.

I've been more tired than usual, and have the typical brain fog/ not fully being "there" feeling. I was told I have anxiety at first, and given meds for that, but of course those didnt really fix me waking up involuntarily. It more-so dulled the experience if anything. If I dont take those meds (I dont like them out of fear of becoming dependent, I'll take a zzz-quil and get the same result usually) However, a pulmonologist saw me and looked at my throat for about 3 seconds, determined I had a tighter than normal airway, and then ordered a sleep study for me that study is tomorrow (8/10/2017).

Being new, I was seeking advice on machines I should check out, advice for my sleep study or questions I should ask, if I can/should take meds to actually help me get to sleep, etc. They say the goal is to monitor me in REM-2 sleep but idk if I can, do, or will get there without a sleep aid.

Ive also noticed a lack in appetite (and therefore loss of weight) since this all started. Is it possible that these things are all related to my apnea? At this point, any help would be awesome.

Ask all the questions you can think of at your sleep study - answering question is part of their job. Also, the more you know about what's going on the more you will feel in control of the situation. Be very cautious about using sleeping meds. If you have OSA many of them will make it worse (by relaxing you they make your airway more likely to collapse). Also, they can be very habit forming, you can develop tolerance over time (they stop working) and when you stop taking there can be a rebound effect where you cant sleep at all for several days. Always be very cautious about sleep meds and talk to you doctor at length about them.

Thanks sleeptech. They already said they'd give me an ambien to help me sleep, since my problem usually occusr before I can even get to REM2(which is where they want me for the study. I am aware of the habit forming of such drugs and want to get off them ASAP but with the time that has passed since my issues started bothering me and tomorrow, Im certain I'd be more of a wreck without the sleep aids as I would likely not be sleepingmuch at all.

Sleeptech ,to you, do these symptoms sound like sleepapnea??

Being a technician, and not a doctor (just to be clear), it could be sleep apnoea, but it could also be something else. What you describe could be what are sometimes called hypnogogic jerks and may not be indicative of there being a problem with your sleep while you are sleeping. In other words, while you are sleeping everything works fine, it's just that something disturbs you sometimes. A sleep study should provide some answers, like do you breathe OK while sleeping. If the study doesn't turn up any sign of OSA, then your problem is more likely mental than physical and medication may be the best option.

had the sleep study. seems i have upper airway respiratory syndrome. but that seems to be impacting me more once I am asleep. actually falling asleep was and still is my issue. it seems something like how people describe exploding head syndrome, but It doesnt "sound" like anything. Its more of a sensation/feeling in my head.

Hi there I have the similar complaints and guess what diagnosis is same UARS.Later I did a drug induced sleep endoscopy which revealed 2 site of obstructions....Static obstruction at nose and dynamic palatal obstruction.My doctor advise for sx to correct both. But I am opting for nasal correction followed by CPAP ...If I can tolerate this hopefully...I don't have to undergo any palatal procedure. Please keep updated.I will do mine.