Good Sleep Lab In United Kingdom:PLMD/Nocturnal Myoclonus
Question:
"Mr Universe" <m…@universe.com> wrote: > Surprisingly there are few sleep labs in the UK, particularly since I don’t > need a sleep apnea test[ got the all clear on that from a basic test] but > neet a fully wired up test for PLMD or Nocturnal Myoclonus, whichever name > is preferred.
The Sleep Disorders Centre at St Thomas’ Hospital in London does full 14-channel polysomnograms. There are two consultants, one is Dr Adrian Williams who is co-founder of the British Sleep Foundation. At St Thomas’ they do sleep studies to determine what is right or wrong with your sleep. The other sleep studies I’ve had in the UK were done only to establish whether or not I had sleep apnea. This is fine if you have sleep apnea, but no use whatsoever when it comes to diagnosing any other problems. Dr Williams made great efforts over a two year period to find out what was wrong with my sleep and why I did not respond fully to CPAP treatment. This included two in-patient stays at St Thomas’. Then I was fired from my job due to prolonged absence on sick leave and moved to Yorkshire, where referral to St Thomas’ was out of the question. Instead I was referred to a hospital in York where I had a permanent tracheostomy done 21 months ago. My health stopped deteriorating after the operation and has improved slightly, but I still suffer from chronic tiredness. In the last couple of weeks my GP has run some detailed blood and urine tests and it appears that I have diabetes. My point is that sleep is a complex subject and sleep patterns and efficiency are affected by many other factors. There is a tendency in British medicine (public or private) to regard people’s state of health as being defined by a series of yes/no answers to a limited number of questions when the true situation is far, far more complex. Both the NHS and UK private health insurers are reluctant to spend money on diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders despite their being implicated in many other medical conditions which cost the NHS and insurers hundreds of millions of pounds. The result is that doctors are trying to find ever-cheaper ways of diagnosing conditions such as sleep apnea without employing expensive highly trained sleep technicians (they use barely trained non-specialist junior nurses instead) without ever getting to grips with identifying (let alone treating) any underlying or related problems that are not sleep apnea. There are over 50 sleep disorders centres in the UK varying from single non-dedicated beds in ENT or respiratory wards to fully equipped sleep disorders centres in major teaching hospitals. It is one of the latter that you should go for. St Thomas’ may not be the only one, but it is a good one. Depending on where you live in the UK, you should be able to get an NHS referral from your GP, and the waiting list for sleep studies is only a few weeks. If you are being referred privately, the St Thomas’ sleep studies are by no means amongst the most expensive in the UK, but their in-patient stays most definitely are – along with the other London teaching hospitals. Good luck. — Tony Polson, North Yorkshire, UK
Response:
Surprisingly there are few sleep labs in the UK, particularly since I don’t need a sleep apnea test[ got the all clear on that from a basic test] but neet a fully wired up test for PLMD or Nocturnal Myoclonus, whichever name is preferred. Distance isnt really an issue Anyone have experience of this? Thanks in advance Dave
Response:
Mr Universe wrote: > Surprisingly there are few sleep labs in the UK, particularly since I don’t > need a sleep apnea test[ got the all clear on that from a basic test] but > neet a fully wired up test for PLMD or Nocturnal Myoclonus, whichever name > is preferred.
Dave a polysomnogram should have shown PLM if they wired your legs at the same time they wired the head. Mine did that, one test should cover both. Did the technicians make any mention of limb movements in the first test? They should have said whether or not you had any. — Magesteff – "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."-Albert Einstein ——————————————————– Pursuant to US Code, Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II,
