Is there a home test for sleep apnea? Testing in a clinic?

Melatonin is both a hormone and a very powerful antioxidant. It's truly amazing, but our brains are supposed to make melatonin to help us to use our internal clocks so that we get sleepy regularly at the right time and want to go to bed. Obviously, as in all things dealing with bodies, individuals vary greatly.

I want to try that. I did a sleep study but I couldn't relax with all the wires hooked on me. I'll do better at home. So you can get a doctor's order for a home study,

Myself & 2 family members had to stop melatonin!!! Horrible weird scarry dreams!
Like all meds you are greatful if they work for you . For us no.

Last night I had dreams that actually was a change!! Melatonin mystery be my friend 🧡

In answer to both previous posters, sleep is not a simple process. It has successive stages that normally follow each other in a pattern. The brain needs this to regulate itself and to 'recover' its cognitive functions from the efforts of the previous 24 hours. REM, or 'rapid eye movement' is an early stage associated with dreaming, which itself is exceedingly important to clearing out the 'cobwebs'. When we interrupt our sleep, whether from crying infants, to sirens, to having to void one's bladder, to simply tossing and turning, or due to the actions of drugs on our brains, as just a few examples, we have an interruption. This is to be avoided to the extent possible. That is why apnea must be controlled. That is why some sleep aid use might be necessary, even if just one night in every five or seven. This is what works for me. Most nights, using my CPAP machine effectively, but with no other aids, I get 6+/- hours per night, often with three to five sleep cycles (including REM cycles). This gets at least a good score, sometimes excellent if I happen to get another bonus 30 minutes. But, when I get less, or when my sleep cycles number only three per night, I begin to lose ground, make more mistakes, get grumpy, fall asleep after supper....the usual old man syndrome. Melatonin, the one or two times I take a single 3mg tablet, the sleep is almost always extended, and I get at least one more dream cycle. This is very good for the brain. It isn't nice when we have horrible dreams..........................but............................they're DREAMS!!! If they don't awaken you fully, and you can fall back asleep, they still provide the function that the brain needs. The other thing is that the brain might be flooding itself with dreams because of the poor quality sleep it has had for months/years. Having nightmares and highly vivid dreams is widely reported in the literature anecdotally by patients when their sleep improves. This is true only for new users of CPAP machines for apnea, but also for those who have no apnea but do have anxiety or other conditions that interfere with sleep and who try one or more sleep aids. Melatonin is no different that way.

I have MS and sleep apnea. Last night I had 66/hrs. I really don't understand what this means. Any help here??

Thanks Msflygirl

I just did the home study. I wore a very large bletooth ring on a finger for two nights. Much easier than all the wires. Not sure how the results compare between the two approaches but so much easier.

I was diagnosed by a at home sleep study test, but the doctor just told me to go get a CPAP machine! Not what I wanted to hear, especially as an ostomate, as I did not want one more appliance to disrupt my life! Now I am told there are oral appliances made by an ENT doctors or an implanted device call INSURE. I would love to learn more about these alternative devices.

Hi Chuck, There are a couple of other discussions you might find helpful on CPAP alternatives.

--- Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/inspire-upper-airway-stimulation/
--- Alternatives to CPAP for sleep apnea: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/alternatives-to-cpap-for-sleep-apnea/

I'm not particularly fond of using a CPAP but have been for about 5 years or so. I did kind of look at the Inspire device but I don't think I meet the criteria for having one. I think I'm with you on not wanting to hear a doctor just tell me to go get a CPAP machine. The doctors diagnosing sleep apnea normally specialize in the condition and provide specific settings that need to be configured for the setup of the CPAP. I haven't had a home sleep study but did do the overnight sleep study at Mayo and they actually figure out which type of CPAP mask generally works the best for you also.

It might be worth getting a second opinion.

The number you have is an indication of 'severe' apnea. The number is how many events that can/will disrupt your sleep (and can affect organ function and heart function, not to mention induce brain fog and cognitive deficits during the day). My own is only 31/hr untreated, but that is just at the threshold of the rating 'severe'. Below 30 is moderate, and I forget what the low range is, I think below ten, but I'd have to go look.

The formal statistic is called 'AHI', or 'apnea/hypopnea index'. It is based on the number of events per hour of use of the machine. Remember, though, that this is just the average hourly rate, and does not reflect the total number of events (nor the arousals they may have caused, disrupting your normal stages-of-sleep progression) over the total number of hours slept, or when you used the machine.

This is just my personal feeling, and I don't have MS, but it's a disease which seems to progress, and so will whatever your sleep apnea (it's severe, after all...) generates in the way of subsequent disorders, and they'll range from auto-immune to heart rhythm problems and even to the suppression of your immune system. Really, as much as it's a pain where the sun don't shine, you MUST deal constructively with whatever you have the gumption to deal with, and then to stick to it....for your own sake. In this case, CPAP machine use is something that will help, and it can be adapted to and adapted for....whatever changes to usage or how you wear the mask, which mask, which machine, which settings, etc.

It's mind over matter. How much does your health mean to you? And the answer to this is what will help you to undertake all CPAP success entails.