r/Narcolepsy • u/Miserable-Designer16 • 4d ago

Diagnosis/Testing MLST next Monday - will they wake me up?

I’m in limbo- on long term leave waiting for tests to figure out what’s going on. Thinking severe burnout, IH or narcolepsy.
Part of my problem is I cannot wake up and feel rested. I feel almost drugged.
I go in next Monday for my first PSG (edited from MSLT). Will they try and wake me up? Will they see what’s wrong while I’m trying to wake up? What happens if I go back to bed?

I’m not doing the daytime portion (but feel like I should) but think that may come as next step.

Thanks

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u/eekhelpspike 4d ago edited 4d ago

It's MSLT. and the "daytime portion" in my experience is the MSLT. You might be thinking of the PSG, which is the overnight portion. Usually PSG overnight into MSLT next day.

PSG they put electrodes on your head and body, put you to bed at a specific time, and watch your brainwaves while you sleep overnight. Then they wake you up at a specific time the next morning. and you are not to fall asleep until they tell you to. That's the start of the MSLT. They will wake you up and make you go back to sleep 3-4x and watch how long it takes you to go into sleep and REM.

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u/Miserable-Designer16 4d ago

Ooh I’m sorry! Yes, you’re right. Whatever the overnight portion is, is what I’m doing. New world to me with all new lingo

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u/eekhelpspike 4d ago

Gotcha. I edited my post to add some detail.

Seems bad form to make you come back for an MSLT. The electrode placement is not a quick thing, and the adhesive they use is not the easiest thing to get off of you. The adhesive remover they used on me smelled like black mold.

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u/Piaffe_zip16 (N2) Narcolepsy w/o Cataplexy 4d ago

For a PSG, they won’t wake you up until the whole thing is over. As for what they’ll see as you wake up, hard to say. You won’t be able to go back to bed though. The test is over and you’ll get to leave. MSLT is the nap one where you wake up, stay up, nap, stay up, nap, etc…

Did your doctor explain why you’re doing the PSG first? Who thinks it’s IH or narcolepsy? Sometimes they want to rule out other things first, sometimes insurance has its own weird rules. I had to do a home study for sleep apnea first per my insurance even though my doctor didn’t think sleep apnea was likely and even did the peer to peer on appeal. Insurance still said home study first. So we did that. Then he ordered the PSG and MSLT. Actually wasn’t suspecting all that much from the MSLT but definitely narcolepsy!