Sleep study with diabetes tech?

Diabetes Technology
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Thanks to me always being tired for what feels like my whole life, I’m finally getting a sleep study done in a couple of weeks. I’ve never had one - likely it’s not sleep apnea but I’m curious if it’s something else.

I’m a little worried about having my equipment with me and how it could affect my results. I’ll try to eat a non-complex meal a few hours before I go so I’m not spiking overnight. Normally I sleep sans clothing with my pump laying next to me, so I think I’ll have shorts and a tshirt on and still just leave my pump next to me. Normally if I go over 140, my high alert will go off and I’ll bolus. If I’m low, of course I’ll eat something (although that rarely happens overnight with my Tandem setup).

Any knowledge on how this could affect my sleep study?? I’m sure some people here have done them before!

(Reposting from another forum because I haven’t gotten any bites there yet.)

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I feel you.
My pump alarming is only the beginning of sleep disruptions.
I also have some anxiety with my sleep.
I wake up several times a night and look at my pump to see where my sugar is.
It’s not even a real thought, it’s a groggy habit, and a worry that I’m low or high but I often do it and I don’t remember.
On my old Medtronic pump, I would look at history and see that I would bolus at night and have no memory of doing it

My tandem stays virtually stable all night so I’m not doing that now, but I still check.

When I need to travel for business it intensifies and I end up not sleeping well at all.
Add that to having meals ant different times and eating out every meal for a week.

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I have been daytime tired for at least 20 years, which was before my days of CGM… so I’m hoping this provides some insight! I know diabetes affects my sleep in some way. I’m hoping the sleep study gives them an idea of if something else is going on.

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Allison, I am looking forward to reading about your results. I am sleeping well now, but go through periods of insomnia like many older women do. I have thought about a sleep study. The hospital here let’s you take the device home, so you don’t have to try to sleep at their facility, which I know I would have trouble doing.

I follow all of the rules about getting good sleep, but I have had trouble sleeping on and off since I was first dx 62 yrs ago.

I go through most of my life tired. I am now having problems with anemia, so that does not help.

I too am almost positive that I do not have sleep apnea. Although I don’t have a pump, I do check my Dexcom several times a night even though the alarms seldom go off.

I was telling my husband recently that I thought I should see a sleep specialist, although I don’t know what else he could tell me about getting a good night’s sleep, since I do everything faithfully that I have read about. Maybe they would know which meds could help.

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Sounds very similar to me! I will try to remember to report back :smiley:

I saw a PA but really liked and trust her - she said with comorbidities (like type 1) they usually want the study done at a facility. I agree, it would likely be more accurate at home, but we’ll see what happens with insurance etc.

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I find sleep studies to be non-conducive to sleep. I have done 3 studies, before the first I told them that sleep would be impossible due to the strange environment and all the wires and sensor connected to my body. They told me that a lot of people say that but still do manage sleep. I slept zero that night and was forced to repeat the study. During the repeat study I slept a small amount with the help of a sleep medication. This study produced no true apneas and no cpap was prescribed. I was prescribed a sleep aid. These first two test occurred in the early 1990’s.

My last test was in 2017 almost 25 years after the first tests, this time I was diagnosed with moderate to severe apnea and was prescribed a cpap machine.

I had no problems with my diabetes during my last study, I followed my usual routine before bed. One advantage of an in facility sleep test is that you are closely monitored, not just via sensors but also via video cameras. I would hope that they would recognize the sound of a CGM alarm.

Many things are monitored during a sleep study such as brain waves, heart rate and rhythm, muscle movement, eye movement, respiratory airflow and effort, and blood oxygenation. There are a lot of sensors and wires involved as many as 12 sensors and 22 wires or more.

I would suggest that you not allow your pump to float freely, there are a lot of wires to tangle with, attach your pump to your clothing or put it in a pocket, tuck in the tubing. Getting out of bed is also a problem, a trip to the bathroom requires the technician to first disconnect you from the recording device. If you worry you may go low I would take some fast acting carbs that can be kept at your bedside within easy reach.

Since you do not suspect obstructive sleep apnea an in home test is not the best option for you. These in home test only monitor your breathing and oxygen levels. Not all sleep disorders are caused by breathing trouble. If your symptoms persist, you might not have apnea. Other common sleep issues that don’t affect the airways include movement disorders that cause nighttime restlessness or narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that affects the body’s sleep-wake cycles and causes excessive sleepiness. There are also are types of apnea called central apneas where you stop breathing for reasons other than air flow blockage, these are usually neurological in nature.

A sleep study is a cumbersome yet fascinating experience. It is nothing to be feared. Remember that for you, the patient, your primary responsibility is to sleep.

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I am wondering Allison if you are sleepy during the day or just more tired than those around you. I almost never sleep during the day, and am seldom sleepy, I am just TIRED. Sometimes when going to bed, I am no longer tired, and cannot sleep.

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I’m not sure! I feel tired. The one day I was at my in-laws at 9am and couldn’t stop yawning. I felt so rude!

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Thanks for your thoughts! I’m sure I won’t sleep like I normally do (especially without my husband and my own bed) but I’m bringing my own pillow :slight_smile: Good advice on getting my pump out of the way. I have it on vibrate so I’m not sure if they will be able to hear it, but I hear and feel it in my sleep. I’m excited to know what they find.

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Over 20 years I have had three sleep tests. They all show the same thing, I have sleep apnea, and my diabetes tech has never interfered.

I even blamed @Stemwinder_Gary for being in my dreams So I had to be tested four times that instance. Don’t think of @Stemwinder_Gary while testing. Just saying.

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I’ll do my best :rofl:

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Sure just keep him out of your mind now.

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I’ve had some. Pump is not a problem with sleep study.
May I ask why you have a high alert set at 140? That seems way too low for a high.

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I like to correct my blood sugars before they get too high, so 140 is a good point for me to start keeping an eye on it and taking action to bring it down. It works well for me - my A1c is 5.5.

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Hi, Allison! I had a sleep study over 10 years ago because of my snoring and daytime sleepiness. I expected an apnea diagnosis, but got “restless legs” instead! One technician laughed—“No wonder you’re tired—you’ve been dancing all night!” A very mild muscle relaxant at bedtime relieved the problem. I still snore, but so do my wife and dog…

Good luck!

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I have restless leg syndrome, and red wine makes it really bad.
I only get it when I’m tired and sitting around watching tv.
The only cure for it is to go to bed.
I dont do anything normally.

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Thanks for sharing! My mom has that so I’ve wondered if I do too. I’ll find out I guess!

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My feet really hurt when I get tired but whenever I ask a doctor about it, they say they don’t know. Actually my (former) regular doc assumed it was neuropathy and my endo said it wasn’t :woman_shrugging: maybe it IS restless leg!

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My alerts are set at 85 and 130 for the same reason as Allison1. I want my BG between 85 and 130, so if it is wandering out of that range I want to look at the CGM graph to decide whether or not I want to give the BG a slight push in a good direction. For me the alert isn’t a warning that I’m in trouble, it is a tap on the shoulder so I notice something—otherwise I likely would remain unaware. This way I don’t need to spend any energy thinking about whether I should check the CGM when I’m eating, driving, or exercising. I can ignore my BG until the CGM gives me a tap on the shoulder.

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Great answer, @bkh! Managing glucose with insulin requires two things: the right dose at the right time. When a glucose level is rising, knowing and acting on that at 140 is much more timely than waiting until 180.

Once you get to 180, your correction dose will be much larger due to increased insulin resistance and your ultimate time that you’ll spend high will be much longer than an action at 140. Adopting a lower glucose action threshold will often lead to a lower A1c and and a higher time in range.

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