Spending the night in a sleep center may seem like a scary proposition. Provided you can even fall asleep in what is most likely a sterile white room with a cardboard box spring, you then have to stay still in your slumber so the dozens of wires clamped to your skin can accurately read your vital signs.
Jennifer Meyers / The Citizen
Sleep Technician Audrey Krull, of the Auburn Sleep Center, finishes hooking up John Powers, of Elbridge, to multiple sensors that can help determine if a patient has sleep apnea.
Sleep Technician Audrey Krull, of the Auburn Sleep Center, finishes hooking up John Powers, of Elbridge, to multiple sensors that can help determine if a patient has sleep apnea.
Sleep treatment in Auburn is much more simple.
The Auburn Sleep Center, located on the third floor of Auburn Memorial Hospital, offers anyone with sleep apnea, narcolepsy or even just daytime drowsiness an accessible source of support in setting their sleep cycles straight.
Sleep and Wellness Centers of Western New York owns the center, which has been headed by Dr. Rajesh S.K. Rao for two years. He believes it provides a valuable service by sparing sleep patients a trip to Syracuse for treatment.
“We thought it was good for the community,” Rao said.
The steady booking of the center's three treatment bedrooms suggests that it fulfilled an existing demand. At any given time, appointments are already set for the next two weeks.
The center's lush bedrooms are likely causes of its popularity. Each is arranged with warm Earth tones, a comfortable double bed and a private bathroom.
“We want it to be as comfortable as possible,” Rao said.
As John Powers of Elbridge acquainted himself with his room for his first visit to the sleep center, he felt it would present him no problems as he retired for the night.
“It's a nice room. I work out of town, so it's like being in a hotel,” he said.
Patients like Powers are hooked to an EKG monitor and other sensors, but they are otherwise free to toss and turn as they please. Rao has only one rule for sleepers: Don't take a shower or apply any skin or hair products prior to arriving at the center.
“It changes the conductivity of the skin,” Rao said.
Sleep Technician Audrey Krull helps patients into their beds by attaching as many as 30 wires - all adhesive, so no pinching - to their head and other extremities.
“Most everyone asks the same question: ‘How am I supposed to go to sleep with all this stuff on me?'” Krull said. “But 90 percent fall asleep within 15 to 20 minutes.”
Although the sensors don't restrict movement, they sometimes detach during the night. When Krull sees one that will have to be reconnected, she enters the room to place it back on the patient's body with the aid of a tiny flashlight.
“Some wake up when you open the door, others never knew you were there,” she said.
Mary Campbell, of Weedsport, was bothered by the sensors' detachment during her first night of sleep at the center, although she otherwise slept comfortably in her bed.
“I was surprised they were able to diagnose me,” Campbell said.
Other patients are a bit less forgiving of any inconveniences in the observation process. On occasion Krull has treated patients who wake up in the middle of the night and leave due to their discomfort or inability to sleep. When she wakes them in the morning for debriefing, she finds patients in any number of moods.
“Some say it's the best night of sleep they've gotten in years, but some have said it's torture,” Krull recalls.
While their reactions to the process vary, most occupants of the beds at the Auburn Sleep Center share the same problem: obstructive sleep apnea, which affects roughly 4 percent of the U.S. male population and 2 percent of its female population.
Apnea occurs when the muscles in the upper airway collapse in a lying position or the tongue settles in the back of the mouth to occlude the airway. Both events restrict the flow of oxygen into the lungs.
During a second visit to the sleep center, patients with apnea wear a mask feeding them humidified air pumped by a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. The machine provides them with the oxygen they need to sleep soundly.
“The lungs are happy and the heart is happy, that's what I tell patients,” Rao said.
Krull often witnesses a sign of the machine's success when patients who slept with it tell her they dreamt that night for the first time in weeks, months or even years. The dreams are a sign that they slept well enough to enter the REM stage during which they take place.
As Campbell prepared for her second night in the sleep center, she was optimistic about starting her treatment with the CPAP machine.
“I'm hoping I'll finally not be tired all the time,” she said.
Despite the complaints some patients have about wearing a mask to receive the machine's oxygen, Campbell believes correcting one's sleep habits is worth one or two nights of minor discomfort.
“I can't believe anyone who's not ready for a good night's sleep,” she said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
The Auburn Sleep Center, located on the third floor of Auburn Memorial Hospital, offers anyone with sleep apnea, narcolepsy or even just daytime drowsiness an accessible source of support in setting their sleep cycles straight.
Sleep and Wellness Centers of Western New York owns the center, which has been headed by Dr. Rajesh S.K. Rao for two years. He believes it provides a valuable service by sparing sleep patients a trip to Syracuse for treatment.
“We thought it was good for the community,” Rao said.
The steady booking of the center's three treatment bedrooms suggests that it fulfilled an existing demand. At any given time, appointments are already set for the next two weeks.
The center's lush bedrooms are likely causes of its popularity. Each is arranged with warm Earth tones, a comfortable double bed and a private bathroom.
“We want it to be as comfortable as possible,” Rao said.
As John Powers of Elbridge acquainted himself with his room for his first visit to the sleep center, he felt it would present him no problems as he retired for the night.
“It's a nice room. I work out of town, so it's like being in a hotel,” he said.
Patients like Powers are hooked to an EKG monitor and other sensors, but they are otherwise free to toss and turn as they please. Rao has only one rule for sleepers: Don't take a shower or apply any skin or hair products prior to arriving at the center.
“It changes the conductivity of the skin,” Rao said.
Sleep Technician Audrey Krull helps patients into their beds by attaching as many as 30 wires - all adhesive, so no pinching - to their head and other extremities.
“Most everyone asks the same question: ‘How am I supposed to go to sleep with all this stuff on me?'” Krull said. “But 90 percent fall asleep within 15 to 20 minutes.”
Although the sensors don't restrict movement, they sometimes detach during the night. When Krull sees one that will have to be reconnected, she enters the room to place it back on the patient's body with the aid of a tiny flashlight.
“Some wake up when you open the door, others never knew you were there,” she said.
Mary Campbell, of Weedsport, was bothered by the sensors' detachment during her first night of sleep at the center, although she otherwise slept comfortably in her bed.
“I was surprised they were able to diagnose me,” Campbell said.
Other patients are a bit less forgiving of any inconveniences in the observation process. On occasion Krull has treated patients who wake up in the middle of the night and leave due to their discomfort or inability to sleep. When she wakes them in the morning for debriefing, she finds patients in any number of moods.
“Some say it's the best night of sleep they've gotten in years, but some have said it's torture,” Krull recalls.
While their reactions to the process vary, most occupants of the beds at the Auburn Sleep Center share the same problem: obstructive sleep apnea, which affects roughly 4 percent of the U.S. male population and 2 percent of its female population.
Apnea occurs when the muscles in the upper airway collapse in a lying position or the tongue settles in the back of the mouth to occlude the airway. Both events restrict the flow of oxygen into the lungs.
During a second visit to the sleep center, patients with apnea wear a mask feeding them humidified air pumped by a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. The machine provides them with the oxygen they need to sleep soundly.
“The lungs are happy and the heart is happy, that's what I tell patients,” Rao said.
Krull often witnesses a sign of the machine's success when patients who slept with it tell her they dreamt that night for the first time in weeks, months or even years. The dreams are a sign that they slept well enough to enter the REM stage during which they take place.
As Campbell prepared for her second night in the sleep center, she was optimistic about starting her treatment with the CPAP machine.
“I'm hoping I'll finally not be tired all the time,” she said.
Despite the complaints some patients have about wearing a mask to receive the machine's oxygen, Campbell believes correcting one's sleep habits is worth one or two nights of minor discomfort.
“I can't believe anyone who's not ready for a good night's sleep,” she said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
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Recent patient wrote on May 30, 2007 7:20 AM:
night owl wrote on May 29, 2007 10:44 PM: