Anyone Else Referred to Sleep Study By Psychiatrist

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:49 am

Laurel,

Your story sounds similar to mine. Great news that you are finally being treated for your OSA. Just the fact alone that you feel good enough to start decreasing some of your meds is very inspiring. And it's fantastic that you are sharing your experiences of OSA, and how it relates to depression, to a wide audience. Maybe someone else will think to themselves - you know, I wonder if my depression, lack of energy and lack of proper executive functioning is an indicator I might have sleep apnea?

Hope things continue to get better for you - they have for me!

Griff

lvehko · Post by **lvehko** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:06 pm

I was referred to a sleep study by my psychiatrist, also after a loooong history of depression and many meds trials.

I have never been really good about going to the doctor, so it's not surprising that my medical doctors never referred me. I have just started cpap therapy, so am not sure what the impact will be on my depression, but I can tell after just one week that I have not slept normally in a very long time.

Minerva

needingu · Post by **needingu** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:02 am

I have been wondering if we all have had some of the same earlier symptoms which could help alert our physicians. For example, when I woke up at night (which was several times) I would get up go the bathroom whether I needed to or not and I would notice my hands tingling and the palms red especially the finger tips.
Also, sometimes I would wake up for no apparent reason and feel tinglingly all over and pressue in the chest. I have taken my BP at such times and found it higher than in the daytime. I told my Dr. about this and he said,"What woke you up" I don't know. He should have thought of the apnea then ..If this is a common complaint.. So..in the search for answers maybe we could complie a list of earliest symptoms and help educate the unaware .
I had had two tests 8-9 years ago but could not sleep.I did suspect that I had it. My husband had told me I was strugglihg in my sleep and had begun to snore. Of those two tests on the last test I slept from 5:30 to 8 and the Dr. was told I did not need O2.I'm sure I did not sleep long enough..However, in Feb. '06 my O2 dropped to 70% 36 times during the night when I was tested with the oximeter. Did not mean to be so long winded! My energy level had always been tremendous which kind of threw me off.

path2others · Post by **path2others** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:53 am

Back in Sept of 2005 my psychiatrist thought I had sleep apnea. She urged me to see my medical doctor but it took 6 months for me to convince him that I needed a sleep study. I have been on the APAP for over a month but doubt if it will replace my medications. I am just happy to breathe better all night and feeling rested in the morning. Don

Jere · Post by **Jere** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:21 pm

Nice to see this thread resurrected. I, too, was referred to a sleep doc by a psychiatrist. It's been almost a year on xPAP now and, while I am definitely sleeping better than I have in years, I don't think xpap has done anything to treat the underlying depression issues.

chdurie2 · Post by **chdurie2** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:36 pm

griff:

i think that there are correlations between sleep disorders and depression, but i join the person who cautioned you about a cpaper's high. i think it's a bit premature for you to conclude that CPAP is THE answer. I hope it is for you, but I would caution you against concluding too much after a week on CPAP -- I'm concerned that you're going to crash if CPAP things start going wrong, or you start to feel it's not working. and for many of us, things do start going wrong after the first week--not that they can't be fixed, but the cpap road is not always smooth, even after a very successful beginning. i also think it is a stretch to mandate an immediate sleep study for anyone with even the smallest amount of depression.

i understand that it is a huge relief to find something that actually works after so much therapy. i feel the same way. i feel less depressed at times on cpap, probably because i have more energy, and cpap working when pills did not also encouraged me to re-try cognitive behavior therapy with new eyes. but sometimes it is real work to convince myself that i am viewing the world with my grey-colored glasses even when i have had a great night's sleep. my lack of sleep is not causing my day-to-day negative thought patterns--my negative thought patterns are a bad habit i've spent years cultivating.

i hope you won't take this the wrong way, but i think it is a trap to think of cpap as the solution for all depression--and maybe even all your depression. it's great to believe that there is a physical cause of your depression that is not your responsibility, that someone should have told you about years ago, and there's nothing you need to do other than stay hooked up to your machine. i'm not sure it's realistic or if it will stand the test of time. i sense you are going to be a very unhappy camper if this bubble bursts. i think cpap is a great aid--i do not think it is a magic wand. i'm saying this because cpap was one of several "magic wands" for me that turned out not to be magic wands, so yes, i am assuming the same thing for you.

yes, a psychiatrist first sent me for a sleep study-- to a sleep lab run by a psychiatrist where that guy mis-diagnosed me. my psychiatrist said most sleep labs were run by "pulmonary guys who don't know anything about sleep unless it's apnea." the psychiatrist at the sleep center diagnosed me with severe pmls and gave me pills, which didn't work. so then i checked out one of the "pulmonary guys" who found mild apnea, moderate snoring, moderate pmls, and severe daytime sleepiness bordering on narcolepsy. how could the other place have missed the snoring, he asked. i could only nod because i have snored loud enough to wake up family members, roommates, boyfriends, ever since i can remember. so he said, cpap might be the key. and it seems to be after four months.

so i agree that more psychiatrists should send more people for more sleep studies, but i think success depends on the talent of the psychiatrist, and i agree that many psychiatrists can be unbelievably archaic.

i hope i am wrong about your situation--maybe cpap will be a magic wand for you. i hope you still feel the same way in three months and further down the road.

caroline

Jere · Post by **Jere** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 8:23 pm

Chronic depression - in my experience - is something that is managed rather than cured. xpap may be a part of the management process. I have dealt with depression long enough that - in my experience - I don't ever expect to find a magic cure. I just try to get through each day as best I can. If xpap helps in that effort, then so much the better. If it helps a lot, then great, but watch out: Mr. D has a way of slipping in the back door when you least expect it.

Sorry to sound so .... depressing.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:48 pm

The sleep lab I went to was in the hospital's pychiatric department. Left me wondering......

jrgood27 · Post by **jrgood27** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:17 pm

I dealt with chronic moderate and occasionally severe depression for about 8 years. I would have told you that I have a very significant family history and that I would be managing it for the rest of my life.

Then I found out my thyroid hormone was just a little bit low. And my doctor and I decided to treat it, even though my results were 'borderline' and a few weeks later about 75% of my depression had lifted.

Boy was that a lesson! Depression sometimes has a very real physical cause. I'm hoping that I can successfully treat my SDB and that will take care my remaining issues with depression - which are really more exhaustion and lethargy and lack of motivation.

It just so happened that my sleep difficulties sound like 'textbook' depression (insomnia, early morning awakening). Oh except for one symptom - the one that started it all - the one that the doctors I had seen until recently ignored b/c I didn't fit the profile - my throat closes when I fall asleep on my back.

Jenny

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:22 pm

Bumped up for Ashamed to Register

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:16 pm

Sorry for the delay in posting to this thread. I started to write, could not finish, and had some important happenings in the meantime; here goes now.

I am one of the ~20% of the population with depression.

I have only been a CPAP user since the end of April, just over 2 months. However, I have fought with depression for about 9 years. This has a tendency to occur in my family. The depression started seriously after a year in which I had 5 surgeries. The last two had major, life-threatening complications and were 3 months apart.

I have gone through 4 psychiatrists for the problem, and heartily endorse your decision change to another sleep doc. If only I had seen #4 FIRST (or even second)--but that is another LONG story.

Anyway, #4 is the one who suggested that I have a sleep study. Apparently he figures that the 4 medications (including Provigil) are the best that he can do for me at this time. He is really up on his medical developments, and has helped me immensely.

My mantra was, "I want to sleep. I want to sleep. I want to sleep….etc." I was sleeping 12-14 hours per night/day, which is WAY too much of my life time. The amount of time in my life is limited, and I would like to participate in life, not sleep through it.

Now, slowly, as a result of the CPAP therapy, I have changed my mantra to: "CPAP therapy has made a subtle, but significant, difference." (Times 3--life is too short to over-quote.)

I cannot wait to see if it gets better than this!

I am not all the way yet, but at least it gets more hopeful all the time. One can just keep on keeping on, and always see the hope in every situation. As my psychiatrist said, "If you ever lose that hope, I want to be your first telephone call." With help, one can and will make it.
_________________

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kteague · Post by **kteague** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 7:16 pm

Had a conversation with a young man today who was looking for a psych doc since he's new in town. He was telling me about all the psych docs he's seen, meds he's tried that didn't work, said he doesn't think "normal" - some days clearer than others, diagnosed clinically depressed, then bipolar, says short term memory is shot. Asked him how he sleeps - the floodgates opened. Has horrible dreams that seem real, hard to go to sleep, hard to stay asleep, wakes up repeatedly all night, sometimes feeling like he choking and/or suffocating with his heart racing, legs move over and over all night long...... Was able to encourage him to seek a sleep study, sounds like more than one thing going on at night. His response "I just thought I was sick in the head". Bless his heart.
Kathy

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:11 pm

And bless yours too, Kathy, for listening to him, and refering him to a sleep test!

O.

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:53 am

chdurie/Caroline - What are you currently taking that is effective for your PLMS? I'm using Mirapex and I'm reading good things about Requip. Seems I've read your postings on the subject before, but not sure what you found to work for you. I'm sorry to read of how hard things are at this point in your life.

Guest - Where in the world is the sleep center a part of the psychiatry department? Had to pick up my jaw on that one.

Kathy

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:24 pm

Kathy
Pick up your jaw.
StoneyBrook University Hospital, NY

Anyone Else Referred to Sleep Study By Psychiatrist

re: psychiatrist referral

Am I awful

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