Bipolar was totally under control prior to the start of apnea.kteague wrote:Just curious as this subject comes up from time to time. Did getting therapeutic treatment for your sleep apnea in any way affect your bipolar symptoms or medication needs?Dogjudge wrote:Lamictal is the fourth drug I've used for bipolar. So far the only one that's been successful. Although the doctor has felt that I'm doing so well, he has me cutting that back.
While I had used klonopin from time to time for anxiety, 0.25 mg maybe once every month or three weeks, it wasn't until I truly got into apnea treatment that my three docs all jumped on the klonopin bandwagon.
Even with my cpap machine, I was waking up 3-4 times per night. Many nights I was getting less than 3-4 hours of sleep for the entire night.
They were all ranting about how safe it was and how it would solve the problem. I started at 0.50 mg per night, but things didn't kick in successfully until I got up to 2.0 mg.
With everything I've been reading about doctors over prescribing the drug, the side effects, etc. I decided I need to look at things a bit closer.
My feeling is that our bodies get into certain behavioral patterns when it comes to various things. Obviously, bipolar doesn't fit into that category.
Given that I am sleeping fairly well, on a fairly consistent basis, I started to question whether the klonopin was truly necessary. Easy enough to go back to 2 mg (I've been at that level for maybe 9 months.
Since I fired my sleep doc, I have to rely on my GP and psych docs. Next appointment with one of them is in three months.
I realize I'm taking a chance, but . . .
Sleep doc essentially had zero bedside manners, but more importantly had next to no respect for his patients. This blew up when I had to wait for over 1-1/2 hours and still hadn't seen him. Nothing from his staff, etc. Even when I walked out, I never got any type of response from him, or his office.