Sleep Study

This past week I had to attend a 21 hour sleep and nap study at the hospital. It was one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had. Let me tell you about it.

When I first got there, they showed me to my room, told me to get settled and change into my pjs. Then they hooked me up to 21 wires, which didn't include the 2 elastic bands around my torso and chest and a pulse monitor on my finger. I also had to wear a breathing tube across my face and in my nose, which left red marks on my face for 2 days following. They hooked up all the wires on me to the machine by the bed and I settled in for the night. I thought it was for the night, until they starled me over the speaker and begun this series of tests to make sure the monitors were picking up my movements and brain waves?... this included scrunching my toes, swallowing, moving my eyes, and even snorting 5 times in a row. Ya this was all pretty weird.

I tired to get a good night's sleep but inevitably I had to go to the bathroom twice in the night, which meant they had to come unhook me and rehook me up again. I may have had a brief mild 3 am fit of wanting to pull all the wires out so I could move around comfortably. I was then woken up at 6 am and told to get up and get ready for the day. They unhooked 6 wires and left the rest.

The remainder of the day consisted of waiting around for a series of 5 naps, each 2 hours apart - one at 8, 10, 12, 2 and 4. Each nap had the funny series of movement tests before it began, and then I was given 20 minutes to fall asleep or I would be told to get up. I was so exhausted from my condition combined with the horrible night, and yet I was not able to fall asleep during even 1 of the scheduled naps. Maybe the environment was just too weird for me to settle down into.

I'm glad no one was taking pictures of this because I looked a mess. In order to get all the wires hooked up to my face and head, they used some sort of glue? maybe medical glue or something?. Needless to say I had gobs of dried glue all throughout my hair and it took 5 shampoos to get it all out. I have to admit, it was quite an experience; one I am glad is over!