Next Stop: Sleep Study
Add in a couple rest stops for phone calls and a spreadsheet
As I waited for the sleep study script to come through from my doctor after that October appointment, I began wondering if maybe I went about this first stop on my journey all wrong.
Should I have started with my GP, for whom I had only assumed would have up-to-date knowledge on women’s health as it pertains to ADHD diagnoses in perimenopause? (Forgot to say in my last post, I mentioned perimenopause to her as well, which was simultaneously brushed off as a “maybe so, maybe not” type of excuse.)
Therefore, I started to research other possibilities. Yes, I would continue with my doctor’s path forward, but maybe I could find another professional who specialized in ADHD. Perhaps this person then might be able to guide me, at best, in understanding my presenting symptoms, and at least, in processing the results of the tests my GP prescribed.
Before I knew the depth of my rabbit hole, a spreadsheet was born!
As I added to these rows and columns in October and November, I was pulling up websites, submitting general inquiries, on the phone, making calls, leaving messages, and generally just clamoring for someone to listen to me. One of the nicest, and perhaps most revealing, messages I received in response to my outreach was from Dr. Russell Ramsay:
Even though I couldn’t get in touch with who I saw as one of my top “wish list” providers, I was thankful for the additional recommendations to narrow my blind Google search. Dr. Ramsay’s referral list and an additional quick email helped me add some promising leads to my spreadsheet.
Another thing that you might notice from this spreadsheet is that it is EXPENSIVE. I was quickly learning that most of the additional testing I was seeking out on my own wouldn’t be covered by insurance, or if it was, then it would double my wait time.
Time was another cost of this process. Not only do the research, phone calls, messages, tracking, scheduling and actual appointments take time, but I underestimated how draining this process would feel at times. Thus, part of my days would go toward making zero progress in getting someone to listen to me, but I would still feel exhausted. How fun.
And all the while, as I prepared to spend my money and time on this trip, I kept thinking, “But what about those individuals who simply don’t have the money and time that I do?” Would they be leaving this journey at a different exit than me, or just taking the extended route filled with additional construction zones and traffic jams? Of course I knew this was happening for some, and it made me so angry.
Add anger to the hyperfocus fuel I already had in my gas tank to keep going.
The sleep script eventually popped up in my health portal, so I knew I could go ahead and schedule it. Or so I thought. Suddenly, I was being told that insurance wouldn’t be covering this sleep study because I didn’t seem like a patient with a pressing need for it- or whatever their dumb language is for that type of response.
This led to a few more messages with my doctor, her embellishing on my “snoring” while sleeping as well as the narrow airway for the insurance company, and then two scripts sitting in the system. After being unsure which one was the correct one, I finally got back in touch with the hospital sleep clinic and got on their schedule.
I’d be doing my overnight study in January 2025 or about three months from my phone call. Thankfully, it would be an in-home study just like the one my husband did a few months prior. After stumbling around a parking garage I’d never used before, I picked it up on a Sunday evening- had to be 8PM or after- and locked into my directions:
Get at least 6 hours of sleep preferably 7-8
Put it on this way and tape it here and here
Do not touch this button but look at it for the green light
Return it before 8AM tomorrow or you will be charged $350
I quickly realized my night owl self needed to become an early bird, so I panicked into sleep mode once I got home. I got to bed a couple of hours sooner than usual, and had a lovely night’s sleep. To the point that my husband even remarked, “Did you just outwit the sleep study?! Why did you sleep so well with that thing on!” Yes, it was a little annoying to wear, but I had directions to follow and places to be!!!
Give me directions, expectations, a mild threat of anxiety for consequences or getting in trouble in any form, and I will force myself to comply. Story of my life.
I raced to the hospital again the following morning, parking at 7:50 and stuffing the apparatus in the return slot outside of the office door by 7:55. I then stood there panicking that I had done it wrong, or was actually running too late, but eventually said, “Whatever, time to leave- and hopefully get a nap.”
A week or so later, I got the results of the sleep study in my portal app.
"Perfectly normal sleep study, no concerns.”
Wow, shocker. Yet, three months into the journey toward an ADHD diagnosis, and one of the tour stops officially checked off the list.
At this point my to-do list was starting to remind me of a tour I went on a few years ago with a friend, where to get to the prize at the end, we had to check off different stops along the way. At the time we were touring our favorite local ice cream brand and all of its shops, but now I guess I was touring rooms of red tape.
Instead of being rewarded with a cute t-shirt and free sundae, I was marking off my stops in the hopes of a diagnosis I didn’t even want in the first place, but realized I probably needed. And so, I would keep traveling this exhausting path, with my eyes and burnt out body on the prize.
Thank you for being here, and thank you for reading! If you’re new or found me from other ADHD-related content, I’d love to hear how. Please leave a comment and say hi!