Sleep Disorders – Understanding How Sleep Affects You

Intro: This is Weekly Dose of Wellness, brought to you by MemorialCare Health System. Here's Deborah Howell.

Deborah Howell (Host): Hello and welcome to the show. You're listening to Weekly Dose of Wellness, brought to you by MemorialCare Health System. I'm Deborah Howell, and today our guest is Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT, RST, at Long Beach Memorial, a registered polysomnographic and sleep technologist. Bringing more than 27 years of experience in the medical field and 13 years of experience in sleep disorders, Ms. Godfrey specializes in clinical research, polysomnography, and/or PSG, and narcolepsy studies. Welcome, Tamera.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Oh, thank you, Deborah.

Deborah Howell (Host): As a sleep technologist, I bet you're everybody's best friend.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: I'm very popular at parties.

Deborah Howell (Host): I bet. They're like, "Listen, can I just get you for a moment over here in the corner?"

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Yes.

Deborah Howell (Host): Listen, we're all faced with a unique sleep challenge that impacts the entire body. And listeners, if you can think of your body as a chain, and sleep disorders as a kink interrupting your body's natural rhythm, that would be great. So today, we'll learn the importance of sleep studies and identifying the kink in your own body's chain. Tamera, what role does sleep play on the body?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Well, Deborah, no one would consider letting their smartphone charge for just a few minutes at a time. We tend to realize more fully how important it is to recharge our electronics to keep up performance than we do our own body. So many of us look at sleep as if it were just another activity like running errands or reading, and we'll squeeze it in when we can. But sleep impacts our total health, how we heal, fight, prevent disease, every system of our body. So treating sleep disorders improves overall health. And in the long run, it shortens the time a person will spend in the hospital with other issues. And ultimately, it impacts our length of life.

Deborah Howell (Host): So, so, so very important. What risk factors should people be aware of when living with unidentified chronic sleep disorders and ignoring their lack of sleep?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Oh, there are so many risks involved with not taking care of our sleep health. Poor sleep can challenge each of us in a variety of ways. A silent disease many people don't realize they have is obstructive sleep apnea. Not treating this disorder, it can lead to hypertension, heart disease, stroke, a host of unfavorable consequences, and they're both physical and behavioral. A person with any undiagnosed sleep disorder may guess their own sleep problem and self-treat based on their self-diagnosis. So if a patient believes they have insomnia, when the true issue is something entirely different, they further delay and possibly complicate the treatment that they actually need. So self-diagnosing or ignoring sleep issues can be extremely dangerous.

Deborah Howell (Host): Yeah, you know, a little, what do they say, a little information, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Yes.

Deborah Howell (Host): So therein, we get to the part of the show where we talk about what could help us rather than self-diagnosis, and that's sleep studies. How do sleep studies work?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Sleep studies today are much more advanced than they were 30 years ago, so a lot of audience members, you lost at sleep study. They're certainly more comfortable. You might say they're as different as night and day. In today's sleep center, our patient arrives at 8 p.m. to a hotel-like room, not at all like a sterile hospital room, and we're located off campus where it's quieter and more homelike. Patients wear their own pajamas, they can bring their own pillow from home. Our staff is sensitive and caring and explains each step along the way. We understand it feels weird. A patient having a complete sleep evaluation is monitored in a very thorough way, Deborah. By morning, the technologist has recorded data examining the brain, heart, breathing, movement, body position, snoring, oxygen levels, behavioral issues like sleepwalking, and the sleep stages, meaning we found out normal versus abnormal quality and quantity of sleep. So all of this is achieved by having the patient hooked up to a number of electrodes and monitors. We haven't been able to get rid of that part. And then sleeping for at least six hours. So no part of the process is invasive, nothing hurts, and it's all done in an overnight outpatient procedure.

Deborah Howell (Host): Now, people sleep differently. I mean, do they have different sleep patterns from night to night?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Yes, they can, and that could be their sleep disorder. And so what we tell them to do is sleep like you do at home. So if you wake at home in your bed, and you lay there for three hours watching the ceiling, we need to see that. So people who are worried that they won't sleep, that may be what we want to see. So the thing is, come and do your best, do your normal routine.

Deborah Howell (Host): Can I bring my cat with me?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: I get asked that all the time. I wish. Unfortunately, the guy tomorrow night might be deathly allergic to cats.

Deborah Howell (Host): Exactly, absolutely. You'll have to have little, you know, fake cats that can curl up next to you, I guess.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: We do have some stuffed animals for our pediatrician referred patients, so maybe they could use one of those.

Deborah Howell (Host): There you go. Okay. Now how can someone determine if they might benefit from a sleep study?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Well, they should always discuss any sleep issue or concern with their physician, especially if they're experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness, struggling to stay awake and alert, without nodding off when you don't mean to is a big warning. So if they've been told they snore loudly, or choke, or have pauses in their breathing, they flail around, or act out things, it's time to tell the doctor. A sleep study requires a referral, just like most health evaluations. For example, an MRI. So remember, we're unconscious while experiencing sleep disorders. So listen to those who witness your sleep, and believe them, because they care about you.

Deborah Howell (Host): Right. Let's talk a little bit about testing options. What are some of the testing options offered by the sleep center?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Depending on a suspected diagnosis, we offer day testing for daytime sleep issues, like narcolepsy, which is where people have sleep attacks. We have day testing to determine the ability of drivers or pilots to stay awake, and other situations needed to determine if a patient's able to stay awake when they're supposed to. And these tests are usually required by their employers. For sleep issues that occur at night, we offer in-lab testing for any sleep diagnosis out there. We also offer home testing, and that's for obstructive sleep apnea for any patients who meet the criteria and the standards. So basically, to take a device home for the night, a patient cannot have a history of certain illnesses like heart disease or stroke, so that they can properly be monitored in the sleep center if they need to be.

Deborah Howell (Host): Okay, so if you've had a stroke, you'd have to do it in-house, as they say?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Yes, it's a requirement of insurance, because it's for the patient's safety, and it's a requirement of us. So if you are a generally healthy person, then we think you have sleep apnea, likelihood is high that we can send you home with your device.

Deborah Howell (Host): Fantastic news. Now you've mentioned that sleep challenges everyone, does that include children?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Oh certainly. It does. Children can have a number of sleep-related issues, especially children with other health issues that can be impacted greatly by their sleep. And our center has a reputation of helping the most severely affected children. You know, Deborah, kids require a lot more planning, practicing, and patience to comfort a sleep procedure.

Deborah Howell (Host): Sure.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: They actually practice before they come. We have specialists who work with them and their families, and we have specialty staffing in the sleep center for them, and that will ease the process for them and their parents. We also have pediatric sleep specialist, Dr. Gary Feldman, and all of his incredible knowledge and insight handling every one of our unique pediatric cases.

Deborah Howell (Host): Sounds like you got things covered. How can listeners schedule a sleep study?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Well, we try to have convenient choices. We do have two locations for patient testing, Long Beach and Los Alamitos. A physician referral is required to schedule. So once it's received, then our staff will call the patient directly, and they can select a time and location preference.

Deborah Howell (Host): Okay, so you go to your doctor, you say, "Listen, my husband is waking up, he's choking, he's, you know, having some, you know, I think it might be sleep apnea." You go to your doctor, that doctor then refers them to you, to the sleep center.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: That is exactly the process.

Deborah Howell (Host): Okay.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: And don't forget the part where you have to talk your husband into the fact that he does these things.

Deborah Howell (Host): That's where video cameras come in.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: That's right.

Deborah Howell (Host): Where could people go to get more information about Long Beach Adult and Pediatric Sleep Center at Long Beach Memorial?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: The website is the best way to get information. And anyone interested in more information should visit our website about sleep disorders, and that's memorialcare.org/lbsleep.

Deborah Howell (Host): LB as in Long Beach.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Long Beach.

Deborah Howell (Host): Okay. How many nights do these sleep studies usually last, Tamera?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Well, we try to do a sleep study in one night, if possible. Now, a sleep study does take two nights if a patient lays there awake all night the first time. That's very rare. I've been doing this since 1999 and I have seen three patients not sleep through the night.

Deborah Howell (Host): Wow.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: So people just know they're gonna come and be awake. If a patient has not enough sleep and has apnea, they will have to come for a second night because a sleep apnea test is two parts. It's with and without treatment. But we try our best to do it all in one night.

Deborah Howell (Host): Now for me, I take a little something.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Uh-huh.

Deborah Howell (Host): I take an over-the-counter like a Walgreens, you know, sleep aid, and then I take a little melatonin. When you go for the sleep study, you can't take any of that, correct?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: You know, I'm glad you brought that up, Deborah, because you actually can.

Deborah Howell (Host): Oh.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: What we want you to do in our sleep center is do what you do at your house. So we want to see you what your, what you're experiencing at home, we want to experience there. In fact, sometimes when a patient really, really believes they're not going to sleep in the sleep center, our medical director, Dr. Stephen Brown, he will advise their referring doctor to give them one night of a sleep aid so that they are able to sleep and not have that monkey on their back of sleep, sleep, sleep. I mean, it's hard to sleep when you're just telling yourself to sleep.

Deborah Howell (Host): Yeah, yeah. And that doesn't skew the results?

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: It does not. Not for sleep apnea. Now sleep apnea is one thing. If we're going to test you specifically on insomnia, that doctor's going to refer you without a sleep aid.

Deborah Howell (Host): I see. Okay. So, well it just gives me cause to say I'm going to give that number out again because there are so many questions. 562-933-8645 for the Sleep Center at Long Beach. And thank you so much, Tamera, for spending some time with us today. It's been so great to have you on the program.

Tamera Godfrey, RPSGT: Deborah, thanks for having me. I really enjoyed talking with you.

Deborah Howell (Host): And everybody, to listen to the podcast or for more info, please visit memorialcare.org. That's memorialcare.org. I'm Deborah Howell. Join us again next time as we explore another Weekly Dose of Wellness brought to you by MemorialCare Health System. Have a fantastic day and sleep well tonight.