Overnight Oximetry

I finally have a new update for you guys testing wise. Yesterday my meter for overnight oximetry was finally delivered. This was not without much effort to get it here. I think this was the "third time's a charm rule" or maybe even the fourth. I kind of lost count. One of those times he even scheduled a delivery on the day they're closed. *facepalm*

So, here I was last night all hooked up to the machine saying hi to you guys.

Not my most flattering angle, but you get the picture.

The "meter", as I like to call it, was fairly simple to use. 

Step 1. Wrap the sensor around your middle finger. 

     This was the hardest part. There are two little sensors on the strip. One goes on the top of your fingernail, and the other on the bottom of your finger. Trying to wrap it around tightly enough to stay in place was difficult with one hand. Luckily, I had a handy-dandy husband to help me out. 

Step 2. Apply Wristband.

     The husband also helped me out putting on the wrist band so I didn't pull the cords (isn't he awesome). I wish I had one of my own to use because this one smelled of cigarettes, but alas, I did not. 

Step 3. Turn On The Meter.

     Okay, now everything was all hooked up, and it was time to see if I did it right. Simply by pressing the button on the right, the meter burst into life. The numbers were actually showing, so we did a good job putting the sensors in place. Before I went to bed I watched the meter a little. The number on the top in the picture shows the percentage of oxygen saturation present in my blood stream; 95-100 is considered to be normal. My number stayed at 97 for most of the time I was looking, with a small jump to 98 when the picture was taken. The second number is my heart rate in beats per minute. It ranged form 65 to in the 80s before I went to sleep. 

Step 4. Sleep.

     This is the easy part right? Apparently not. Last night was not a good night for sleeping. I can't even count how many times I woke up and tossed and turned before I could get back to sleep; if you want an estimate, I would say 7 or 8.. You might think this had something to do with the machine, but you would be incorrect. The machine itself was fairly unobtrusive. For some reason, I just couldn't stay asleep. My husband (who went to bed way after me last night) told me that for a little while I was snoring and making noises in my sleep (which I don't usually do). I also got kind of freaked out when one of times I woke up and looked at the meter, my heart rate was around 108. It just seemed odd to see it jump to around 30 BPM higher than the highest I saw it while I was resting before. Futhermore, I woke up this morning with a strong headache. I cannot explain how much I loathe waking up with headaches; Its like someone punching you in the face before you even get out of bed. On another note, I am exhausted writing this blog. I received around 9 hours of sleep last night, but I feel as if I didn't sleep at all. Hmm, I wonder why.

All in all, I suppose having the test on one of my more difficult nights was not such a bad thing.

I don't know when I'm going to get the results. My next test isn't until April (sleep study), but as always, I'll keep you informed on everything I know as it comes in.