Xanax prescribed to new user: Help!

[Guest]

AFter a couple of weeks I am really having problems adjusting to cpap. A lot of the problem is anxiety. My doctor just prescribed Xanax. Drug info makes it look scary.

Any of you have experience with Xanax?

[txtornado]

Hi there. I was prescribed Xanax several years ago for anxiety. I was nervous about taking it, as you are, but did take it for a couple of years. This was 5 years before I was diagnosed with OSA, so I can't comment on any effect the meds may have had on apnea.

But I can tell you that I didn't suffer any (noticeable) negative side effects and did not become addicted. I don't remember what dosage I was on, but I know that I usually cut each pill in half. A whole one made me very drowsy, and a half was always enough to ease my anxiety.

Hope this helps - Good luck!

[kurtchan]

I agree with txtornado. Start with half a pill and see if it helps. You may just need enough to get you settled when you first go to bed and are adjusting to (aka fighting with) the new sensations of the cpap. I took Xanax for anxiety for 3 months following the death of my father. He died of a heart attack and I was having sympathetic symptoms. It worked well for me, especially for anxiety at night and I was able to taper the dosage for the last two weeks until I was down to nothing. If the adjustment to the cpap is as bad as you described, it sounds like a good prescription for you.

Kurtchan

[Guest new to cpap]

Gosh, those are great quick replies. Thanks Kurtchan and txtornado.

Xanax comes in .25 mg, .50 mg and 1.00 mg pills. My sleep doc prescribed .25 mg pills up to three times per day.

My plan is to take one pill upon retiring at 11:00 p.m. My worst anxiety has been between 4:00 a.m and 8:00 a.m. I hope the small pill lasts long enough.

I will be really afraid to take a pill during the day since I don't know how sleepy (or drunk) I will become. Maybe when I have a day off and am staying home I will test one during the day if I feel any anxiety.

Great website. Thanks for your participation.

[sleepless_in_ny]

I was givien the information that any pill that works directly on the Central Nervous Systme as most sleeping pills and sedative do are a no no.
Lunesta and ambien are in a different catagory than valium, xanax to name 2.
I would check out the saftey again. This info came fromt he sleep doc.

[Guest]

sleep docs aren't crazy about benzodiazapans, which xanax is, because supposedly they interfere with real sleep. ambien, lunesta and restorem don't. some benzos will make you sleep; some, like xanax, take the edge off so you can sleep. the only real difference that i can see is that xanax, as long as not too much, is okay during the day; others, even in low doses, such as halcion (triazolam) will make you sleep so that sleep becomes virtually involuntary. except for the daytime/nighttime distinction, i find the difference subtle if there is any.

as for xanax working from bedtime til 4 a.m., i don't think so. xanax, unless it is xr, is short-acting. your doc's thinking probably is that once you get rid of your anxiety at bedtime, you will stay asleep. he may be right, but after about four hours, xanax has worn off.

caroline

[chdurie2]

no login -- that was me as guest above. i have used xanax for sleep and have found it fine. you sound very anxious about cpap to me, so this sounds like a good thing, at least temporarily. i also have found xanax to be non-addictive, unlike some other benzos. but that may be personal chemistry.

caroline (again)

[dllfo]

I had xanax and lexapro at the same time. No negative effects. I was told the xanax was a temporary med. And it was. Good luck with it, the CPAP equip.
has made a HUGE difference in my life. A positive difference.

[New CPAP Patient]

Okay, here is what happened last night, my first night with Xanax. I was worried about taking too much so when I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. I took one-half of a .25 mg tablet. I slept soundly until 3:45 a.m. but when felt some anxiety when I awoke.

Since I had no obligations for this morning (Saturday) I decided to take .25 mg at 3:45 a.m. This kept me sound asleep until 7:00 a.m. when the grandfather clock in the hall starts chiming every 15 minutes. I slept fitfully untill 10:00 a.m. and I don't like to sleep past 7:00 a.m.

So I am up at 10:00 a.m. and feel a little groggy and some anxiety. I will eat breakfast now.

Unless someone gives me better advice today, I will try .25 mg at 11:00 p.m. tonight and hope to sleep until 7:00 a.m Sunday morning. I sure hope not to take any during the day today because I feel like it would make me fall asleep.

Thanks for any advice.

[chdurie2]

i'm no doc, but 11 p.m. and .25 mg and you should be fine. i've also noticed that xanax or another benzo in the middle of the night (3 a.m.) is not a great idea unless you are just going to sleep then. but really, harder than it is to do than say, please relax! i can feel the anxiety coming through my computer. (i only mean that empathetically.) In time, perhaps the mask itself will actually help you fall asleep, my sleep tech told me it has a physically relaxing effect on the body, so she chooses to use cpap even though she doesn't have apnea. i find this to be generally true.

Caroline

[Guest]

bump

[Guest]

I had been taking Xanax for panic attacks. MY DOCTOR TOOK ME OFF OF XANAX IMMEDIATELY, ONCE WE REALIZED THAT I HAD SLEEP APNEA. She said that sleeping pills, some anti-depressants, and any type of sedatives (and anestesia) are dangerous in combination with sleep apnea (even with cpap use). Is the doctor that prescribed Xanax to you aware that you have sleep apnea? My doctor may be overly cautious, but it couldn't hurt to seek a second opinion from another physician, or possibly a respiratory therapist.

[Guest]

I had been taking Xanax for panic attacks. MY DOCTOR TOOK ME OFF OF XANAX IMMEDIATELY, ONCE WE REALIZED THAT I HAD SLEEP APNEA. She said that sleeping pills, some anti-depressants, and any type of sedatives (and anestesia) are dangerous in combination with sleep apnea (even with cpap use). Is the doctor that prescribed Xanax to you aware that you have sleep apnea? My doctor may be overly cautious, but it couldn't hurt to seek a second opinion from another physician, or possibly a respiratory therapist.

Yes, the doctor that prescribed Xanax is my sleep doctor. He is boarded in Neurology and Sleep Medicine. He is a very caring person and has gone extra distance (my opinion) to help me.

I am concerned about your doc's comments, but there seem to be many people on this forum who are supplementing cpap therapy with sedatives, sleeping medications and antidepressants. On the other hand, successful cpap therapy may well solve your panic attacks so you don't need Xanax.

I would like to hear from some more people before I discontinue the Xanax.

[jdacal]

Here's my layman's version of it as I recall reading it somewhere.

Since some apnea's (not sure if all apnea's) are caused by the muscles in the airway relaxing and helping to block the airway... Xanax can worsen the apnea's since it tends to relax the muscles. Supposedly there are some other meds that can reduce anxiety without relaxing the muscles - I have no idea what those meds are.

All that being said, my personal experience has been that my untreated apnea was causing major anxiety attacks due to lack of sleep. So there was a crossover point there where the Xanax was very helpfull while I was getting used to the mask, and eventually the mask provided me with the necessary sleep to not need the anxiety medication. So it was a case of fighting fire with fire I guess.

[DCTom]

There is a reason Xanax is sold by drug-dealers on the streets. It's a powerful drug and for some people, it can become very addictive. It was extremely difficult for me to get off it (after taking it for only 12 weeks). I'd recommend you take it only when you really need it. Do NOT take this daily and do NOT up your dose if the "feeling" wears off. My sleep doctor warned me not to take this drug and prescribed Klonopin instead. It's a safer drug. But I stopped taking all pills entirely.