The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 55, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1997 Page: 50 of 54
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SPECIAL HEALTH REPORT
Is a sleep
clinic for you?
Increasingly, clinics
are drawing the tired
masses. Here’s one
man’s bedtime story.
Chris Scimeca, a 35-year-old soft-
ware engineer, sits in bed read-
ing Give War a Chance by PJ.
O’Rourke. Minutes later, he shuts
the book, rolls over, then falls asleep.
Scimeca isn’t in bed at home; he’s
in a bedroom at Wellington, D.C.’s
George Washington University Sleep
Technician
Tuyet Nguyen
monitors brain
wares to find the
source of one
man’s insomnia
Clinic. The clock reads
only 1230 p.m. The blinds
are shut, red lights fill
the room with an eerie
glow and more than a
dozen wires of blue,
orange, yellow, white
and red sprawl out from
his head like spaghetti.
In the next room, hos-
pital technician Tuyet
Nguyen monitors Sci-
meca’s brain waves on
an EEG machine.
This is Scimeca’s
third nap of the day,
part of a test to find out
if he, like 40 million
other Americans, has a
sleeping disorder. The
National Commission
sleep troubles in college, and even
bigger problems at work. “I’d lie
down on the floor and take a nap. It’s
not good because I snore a little, and
it’s a cubicle office.” He could hardly
function during the day. He consulted
a psychiatrist, who prescribed several
medications. The drugs knocked him
out, he says, “and I didn’t like the way
I felt after I woke up.” He’s tried
everything from a $650 fleece-lined
waterbed to eating turkey (it contains
L-tryptophan, which has been thought
to induce sleep — though in light of
reports of harmful side effects, experts
caution against taking L-tryptophan
in supplement form). Now Scimeca is
at the clinic for a definitive diagnosis.
Qleep disorder centers differ from
wtraditional doctor’s offices. ASDA-
accredited centers employ board-
certified sleep specialists — usually
psychiatrists, neurologists or pul-
monary specialists. Non-accredited
centers vary: Some excellent centers
simply have chosen not to seek accred-
itation; others are operated by staff
untrained in sleep-disorders medicine.
In one night, a sleep study can
unearth more about your sleeping
habits than a bedmate could learn in
30 years. From this data, doctors can
make a diagnosis and offer treatment.
Consider visiting a sleep disorders
center if you fall asleep behind the
by the American
Association rose
from 164 in 1990
to 321 in 1996.
■ Anes&reted79
million Americans may
| hae difficulty falling
I atseep by 2010.
' s Medical schools
spend less than two
hours on the topic.
■ 95percentof
U.S. cases go
undiagnosea.
wheel of a car despite sleeping at night;
have trouble falling asleep for more
than two weeks; or do bizarre things at
night (sleep-walk, have night terrors,
eat peculiar things like raw bacon).
You should also go if your doctor
immediately prescribes sleep medica-
tion when you complain about sleep
problems. Many sleep disorders are
made worse by sleep medications.
After 24 hours at the sleep center,
at a cost of about $1,500, Scimeca
heads home. (His insurance company
will cover the costs.) In the ensuing
weeks, sleep specialist Samuel J.
Potolicchio wades through pages of
Scimeca’s tests. The final diagnosis:
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), a dis-
order that causes uncomfortable leg
sensations at night The treatment is
clonazepam, a drug that will limit
Scimeca’s nighttime leg movements.
He’ll probably have to take it for life.
“This wasn’t like getting a wart
removed or having a nose job,” he says.
“It really needed to be fixed. If the
insurance didn’t pay, I’d gladly pay.” E3
— David Sharp and Richard Vega
on Sleep Disorders Research esti-
mates that number will almost double
by the year 2010. The American Sleep
Disorders Association says the num-
ber of accredited sleep centers grew
from 164 in 1990 to 321 in 1996; there
are about 1,500 non-accredited sites.
Just 20 years ago, knowledge about
sleep disorders “could fit inside a
thimble,” says Greg Mader, member-
ship coordinator for the ASDA. Now,
“patients are realizing they don't have
to put up with a bad night’s sleep.”
Scimeca, of Burtonsville, Md., hasn’t
had a good rest in years. He sleeps
four hours a night at most. He had
T
24 VS* WEEKEND • Ju 3-S, W
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 55, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1997, newspaper, January 5, 1997; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1176791/m1/50/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.