FINALLY got a referral for a sleep study!! What to expect?

Make sure the place you are going to is covered by your insurance. Call them yourself to verify I have a friend that ended up going for two and then found out his insurance didn't cover this place. It was a big hassle for him.

Everything vanc wrote is pretty much spot on for sleep studies. I am a sleep tech so I do them every night. At our facility we ask patients to bring in whatever they need to make them feel comfortable. If you sleep with a certain pillow, blanket, or even a stuffed animal bring it! Our philosophy is the more comfortable you are, you will fall asleep faster. Yes, you will be on camera but honestly, the person who is doing your sleep study will be busy watching what is going across the computer screen and won't be focusing on how you look on camera.

It will be easier if you wear 2 piece pajamas or shorts and a t-shirt. There will be leads on your legs so if my patient is wearing pants we usually run the leads under the pants so loose fitting ones work best.

The question I get asked every night is "how am I supposed to sleep with all of these wires?" You will be surprised. It's not as difficult as you think. You are able to lay on your back, sides, and even stomach. I know someone posted that they weren't able to sleep on their stomach but I haven't had anyone who wasn't able to that so ymmv.

Feel free to ask if you have more questions.

The only bad part was having to get up so darn early after only 3 hours sleep (sadly they don't let you sleep in after the study).

van c described it well. it's like sleeping in a hotel room with medical staff there to monitor you.you are connected to wires for measuring your oxygen level, heartrate, breathing, etc. i had this done a number of years ago when i had young children - and it was a mini-vacation just to get away for the night ! lol!

Dh did the home study the first time. They sent him the machine calibrated to the setting they determined he needed. He used it about a year. It wasn't the proper setting he needed, the mask wasn't a good fit. After a year I insisted he do an sleep study at a center. He now has the perfect machine, perfect mask at the perfect settings. Much happier!!

I have had three sleep studies. So things to think of - wear comfy pjs. Cotton is preferred because of possible static from polyester. You will have a lot of wires and electrode pads (more than you can imagine) attached to you. Head, neck, face, chest, legs etc. They use this goopy stuff to attach some.

Mine was at a hotel. The hospital has a wing of the hotel they use as their sleep study center. The rooms are like little suites and have full bathroom and tv. The first two times my tech was female. The third time was a male, so I was glad a packed a sleep bra to wear under my pjs. When you first get there, you change into your pjs and then they hook you all up. My instructions were to shower before I went and no lotion, perfume, deodorant etc. I did bring chapstick. It is hard to sleep with this stuff all attached to you, especially if you move a lot in your sleep. When the study is over, you do have to get up super early in the am. At mine, I could shower and they gave me some special soap to wash the goop/sticky stuff out of my hair. I looked horrible but still took advantage of the free buffet the hotel offered with coffee and breakfast food before I drove home.

Oh yeah like someone said the questionnaire.  I had no idea how much sleep I actually got.

The report - ask for a copy because if they call you on the phone and rattle off the results, it might be hard to remember. If you do have sleep apnea, they do a follow up sleep study to figure out what settings your machine should be (well at least they did this for me). Then you have to get your machine and figure out what mask is good for you. I still can't get used to the mask (I have tried a few) and now am using a mouth piece for sleep apnea I had fitted by my dentist. I still wish I could use my machine and will try again.

Good Luck!