Sleep advice before I go to the doctor?

[Aweets]

Hello everyone!

I'm 22 years old, a pre med/psychology student in Portland, Oregon. My mom can even account for when I was very young, that I slept horrendously. My Fitbit says I am restless about 20x/night and I was waking up 2-3 times. It is set to sensitive, but I do always feel exhausted. I did start taking medicinal marijuana for sleep and that has helped a lot, which means I should also definitely see my doctor.

My main question, I guess, is there anyone who used their Fitbit data as incentive to go to the doctor and did you get any treatment that significantly helped? As a premed student I figured I ought to tackle this before actual med school.

[JohnRi]

Athough some doctors are starting to look at fitness trackers for medical info, (An ER doc saved a patient based on his Heart Rate data on his Fitbit), most doctors do not think much of fitness trackers when it comes to treatment.  I think the devices are too new, and the data's accuracy is unknown.  They'd probably want to send you to a sleep study before looking at your Fitbit data. 

I was able to use my heart rate data, plus blood pressure readings with pulse rate data, to get my doctor to put me a drug to lower my heart rate.  It was always over 100 bpm. 

So it really depends on your doctor, and if they are willing to look at the data.  Once you get your medical license, maybe you can use the data in your practice.

I find the unexpected knowledge my fitbit gives me is interesting.  For example when I had the flu, my Resting heart rate when up about 8 bpm.  Then it came down back to normal, then went back up a week later when I got a bad cold, then back down when I was recovering, and then back up when the cold turned into bronchitis, started to go down, and now my cold seems to be back as I'm getting sick again.  It's been a a rough few weeks for me...

[Aweets]

I don't have hypertension or anything like that. But I do have severe daytime fatigue and need three to four cups of coffee before getting through my day, (about two sixteen ounce containers). 

I forgot to attach this image earlier 🙂 

[Mukluk4]

Do you have someone sleeping in bed/next to you on a regular basis?  If yes, ask them how you sleep?  This is probably the easiest way to avoid a sleep study.

My wife told me to go to the doctor after shaking the bed all night when we first started dating at which point they put me on some RLS medication and it worked wonders.  

[betpchem]

I think doctors are beginning to look at Fitbit data. I was just at the dr's office this week and I was showing him my heartrate data. He said that he'd been seeing it a lot lately from his patients and he has found it to be accurate. So I think that as doctors see it more and become more familiar with the available data, it will be used more.

Hope you feel better soon, @JohnRi.