Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Laura000
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:00 pm

Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

Post by Laura000 » Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:23 am

Good morning,

I was wondering if anyone has successfully paired their CPAP with any sleep aids?

I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea last May. After a lot of trouble with skin reactions to masks, I settled on one and have used it faithfully for months. I had my 3 month CPAP follow up 8/4, and all of my numbers looked really good- minimal leaks, low AHI, etc. The problem is that I am just absolutely not improving my sleep whatsoever. I track my sleep with a fitbit. Prior to my sleep studies, I didn't believe it to be totally accurate just a general gauge, but using it during my sleep study it was within minutes of accurate.

The past months have seen no change in the amount or quality of sleep I am getting. I average less than four hours a night spending at a minimum 8 hours in bed every night, usually more. I wake up upwards of 15 times a night. At my follow up appointment, I saw the APRN and she prescribed me Lunesta in addition to moving my pressure from an 8 to an 8.5. I tried 1 mg and then 2 mg, but it resulted in no more or better sleep, just extreme drug-fog in the morning. After a week of that misery, she prescribed Amitriptyline. I started with 10 mg for a week, and last night moved up to 20 mg. I slept barely 2.5 hours and feel as awful as ever.

I started my troubles with sleeping in college, and my PC doc prescribed Ambien which only served to make me blackout, not sleep, so I stopped it. I tried Cymbalta, no help. I finally went to see my first sleep doctor six years ago, but it was a terrible experience. He never had me in for a sleep study, he just wrote prescription after prescription until I was taking four pills a night, still not sleeping, and having awful morning after headaches. One day I had a massive migraine and was non-functional in front of my students. I quit all of the pills that day.

Fast forward to this year when I decided I need to tackle the insomnia once and for all. I have great confidence in this clinic, but I am still seeing absolutely no results. I'm at the point where I am ready to give up again. I know deep down I need to treat the sleep apnea for my health, but since I am not sleeping either way, I feel I might as well not sleep without the mask on or the drug hangovers.

Has anyone had success with pills?

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Julie
Posts: 19898
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:58 pm

Re: Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

Post by Julie » Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:37 am

Hi, from the sound of it, you've had some trouble, which many of us go through at first - and ongoing if it's not dealt with properly, and I'd like to suggest that you try now (especially as you found this great forum - light years more useful than others out there) to work on your Cpap problems rather than just look for more meds. It may be necessary for you to use 1-2 in the end, but just as likely is that you won't need them if you get your sleep straightened out. One real expert on insomnia and Cpap here is RobySue (send her a PM asking her to look at your post), but others such as Pugsy are extremely knowledgable about OSA and Cpap in general, being very familiar with all the technical issues about the machines and data that can be taken off them each morning to sort out your problems. I'm sure you'll get lots of replies to your note, so see how it goes and get back with any questions you have. Good luck!
Last edited by Julie on Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Nozzelnut
Posts: 188
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:29 pm
Location: Western, NY

Re: Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

Post by Nozzelnut » Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:44 am

I take advil PM almost every night. It might be more mental at this point, but compared to the "sleep" I was getting last year around this time, I'll keep taking it. I have a hard time falling asleep in general; and the FFM I have makes it even worse. I do have an Rx for Ambien and I do use it, but only rarely when my insomnia starts going in full force.

Some folks here use OTC sleep aids; melatonin, advil or Tylenol PM... Some use Rx'd meds.

Find one that works for you, if you need it.

_________________
Mask: Simplus Full Face CPAP Mask with Headgear
Humidifier: S9™ Series H5i™ Heated Humidifier with Climate Control
Additional Comments: PRS1 60 series for back-up; Sleepyhead and Rescan 4.3

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49er
Posts: 5624
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:18 am

Re: Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

Post by 49er » Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:47 am

Hi Laura,

Welcome to the forum.

Personally, my experience with meds has been exactly like yours. But a few suggestions for you.

First, use the signature in my signature to register your equipment so members can better tailor their responses to your situation. You might want to post screen shots of your data so the more experienced members can analyze it to see if there are any problem areas that you perhaps may have missed.

How is your nasal breathing as that can impact sleep?

Other issues that could be impacting it are mask comfort?

Anyway, the more details you can post about your problems with therapy, the better position people are in to help you.

And I assume you are practicing good sleep hygiene? I say that as someone who just drank some very weak coffee:) so I can stay awake at an event I am going to tonight.

At some point, since you have moderate apnea, you might also want to look into a dental device. I posted a study on this site that adjustable rate appliance therapy has about a 60% success rate for the moderate range of getting the AHI below 5. The downside is insurance might not cover the cost and it can be expensive. But if you continue to struggle and hopefully you won't, this might be worth looking into.

Best of luck to you.

49er







Laura000 wrote:Good morning,

I was wondering if anyone has successfully paired their CPAP with any sleep aids?

I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea last May. After a lot of trouble with skin reactions to masks, I settled on one and have used it faithfully for months. I had my 3 month CPAP follow up 8/4, and all of my numbers looked really good- minimal leaks, low AHI, etc. The problem is that I am just absolutely not improving my sleep whatsoever. I track my sleep with a fitbit. Prior to my sleep studies, I didn't believe it to be totally accurate just a general gauge, but using it during my sleep study it was within minutes of accurate.

The past months have seen no change in the amount or quality of sleep I am getting. I average less than four hours a night spending at a minimum 8 hours in bed every night, usually more. I wake up upwards of 15 times a night. At my follow up appointment, I saw the APRN and she prescribed me Lunesta in addition to moving my pressure from an 8 to an 8.5. I tried 1 mg and then 2 mg, but it resulted in no more or better sleep, just extreme drug-fog in the morning. After a week of that misery, she prescribed Amitriptyline. I started with 10 mg for a week, and last night moved up to 20 mg. I slept barely 2.5 hours and feel as awful as ever.

I started my troubles with sleeping in college, and my PC doc prescribed Ambien which only served to make me blackout, not sleep, so I stopped it. I tried Cymbalta, no help. I finally went to see my first sleep doctor six years ago, but it was a terrible experience. He never had me in for a sleep study, he just wrote prescription after prescription until I was taking four pills a night, still not sleeping, and having awful morning after headaches. One day I had a massive migraine and was non-functional in front of my students. I quit all of the pills that day.

Fast forward to this year when I decided I need to tackle the insomnia once and for all. I have great confidence in this clinic, but I am still seeing absolutely no results. I'm at the point where I am ready to give up again. I know deep down I need to treat the sleep apnea for my health, but since I am not sleeping either way, I feel I might as well not sleep without the mask on or the drug hangovers.

Has anyone had success with pills?

jaycee2
Posts: 147
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:22 pm
Location: Everett WA

Re: Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

Post by jaycee2 » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:00 pm

Laura, I am so glad you brought this up. After using sleep aids for six months I weaned myself off at the advice of my primary care physician. Without the sleep aids I get about 2.5 hours sleep per night, with insomnia all through the night. To make a long story short, the lack of sleep made my blood pressure shoot up. I am back on sleep aids every other night until I can see the sleep medicine doctor. I am hoping that if I need a cpap that the insomnia will go away. Hang in there!

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MaxDarkside
Posts: 1199
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:21 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Re: Sleep Aids with Sleep Apnea?

Post by MaxDarkside » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:40 pm

I take 50 mg of store brand Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) each night. It seems to help. My wife takes more, but she has screwed up sleep due to other medical conditions.

_________________
Mask: Quattro™ FX Full Face CPAP Mask with Headgear
Humidifier: S9™ Series H5i™ Heated Humidifier with Climate Control
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Do or Die... Sleep Apnea killed me, but I came back. Click for my story
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54 yrs, 6' 1", 160->172 lbs