Restless Night? Consider A Sleep Study

 

Butler County Health Care Center began exploring the idea of an in-house sleep study program about one year ago. With the increased number of sleep study patients, it became evident that this service was needed in our community on a more routine basis than what was previously provided by Bryan LGH.  

 

Jamie Ptacek, a Registered Respiratory Therapist at Butler County Health Care Center, became a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist in November of 2009. This certification, which allows Jamie to conduct sleep studies and score the results, is the highest standard in the field in sleep technology. Jamie conducted the first in-house sleep study at Butler County Health Care Center in December of 2009.

 

A sleep study (also known as a polysomnogram) is a noninvasive, painless test which measures bodily functions during sleep. Each test generates about one thousand pages of data, and each page has to be scored separately. Some of the measurements taken from this test include: brain waves, heart beats, eye movements, muscle tension, leg movements, breathing and oxygen level. The results of these measurements are used to diagnose or rule out many types of sleep disorders, such as Narcolepsy, Restless Leg Syndrome, Rapid Eye Movement Disorder and Sleep Apnea. 

 

The most common of these sleep disorders is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. Some symptoms of sleep apnea include: excessive daytime sleepiness, loud snoring, episodes of breathing cessation, abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath, awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat, morning headache and difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)

 

The Sleep Studies at Butler County Health Care Center are performed in one of the two private sleep study rooms in the hospital. These newly renovated rooms are separated from the patient wings. For more information about sleep studies at Butler County Health Care Center, please call Jamie Ptacek at 367-1249 or consult with your family practice physician.