How many members on CPAP or BiLevel also take sleeping pills

[vic]

Seen on the news this evening that there are concerns with the long term effects of sleeping pills. Do you need sleeping pills to help you get to sleep. Perhaps assist in staying asleep ? If you view and don't use sleeping pills please just state that.

[JohnBFisher]

Depends on what you mean by "sleeping pills". The "PM" type pain medication also includes benadryl, which is NOT recommended at bed time if you have obstructive sleep apnea. (Unless of course you *really* need it to fight congestion symptoms. It does make you sleepy, but also decreases the muscle tone, which worsens the sleep apnea.

Prescription medications, such as Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata all help promote sleep. However, those are - as you would expect - something that you and your doctor should consider for long term use. Most doctors do not like to use them for long term use, but may if the problem it solves is worse.

And there are other pills one might that that have minimal impact with long term use.

Sorry to give the stock answer "It depends!" but, well, it depends.

[Papit]

It's an interesting question that I too was wondering about. Count me as a CPAP/XPAP user who also sometimes needs and uses a prescription sleeping pill when I can't get to sleep. The good news is that such occurrences are greatly reduced since I began using my CPAP three months ago. My need for the pill is down a good 80% or so.

Thanks or starting the survey.

[ems]

I wish I could say that I fall asleep easier since I started on CPAP last July. It hasn't made any difference. I don't wake nearly as often so I'm content with that. I do take .5mg Xanax and occasionally Ambien. I've been working on trying to stop both of these meds. I recently started taking 500 mcg of Melatonin, and I'm happy to say I think it's helping. I read recently that for people who have a difficult time falling asleep, to take the Melatonin early in the evening, not right before you get into bed. Last nite I fell asleep around 11:30 while watching TV (w/mask on). For me, that was delightful and very rare... just drifted off. I woke around half an hour later, turned off the TV and went right back to sleep.

[chunkyfrog]

The only time I have trouble sleeping is during times of extreme stress.
Luckily, that is not often--maybe one or two nights a year.
On those occasions, half an alprazolam does the trick.

[synonymous]

Before being on CPAP I was already on sleeping pills. A benzo and another tranquilizer. Now I'm physically addicted. I've been on a slow taper to quit. The meds I take are
Xanax
Zopiclone

[avi123]

Taking sleep medication while CPAPing.

Taking a 10 mg of Zolpidem ( generic Ambien) helped me a before CPAPing with my fragmented sleep for years. But long before starting CPAP I managed to withdraw from this drug by cutting the doze in half every week.

When I started CPAP, 14 months ago, I started to take half a tablet of 10 mg Zolpidem at 11:30 pm as soon as I mounted the mask on my face. This allowed me to fall asleep within 15 min but the sleep lasted for 3 to 4 hours. Then I got up to pee and took another half a tablet which let me sleep for 3 more hours. For the hangover the next morning I took two tablets of Tylenol and for the ingested air I took Pepto Bismol.

After I sort- of got used to the CPAP I have decided to withdraw from the Zolpidem. So I repeated my previous method. I think that I could do it easily b/c I kept taking a low dose all along. Otherwise, see here what would be involved in withdrawal:


http://www.non-benzodiazepines.org.uk/zolpidem.html

[NateS]

Never before xPAP and never since.

Oddly, I have never in 76 years had trouble falling asleep.

[ohwhatanight]

I've been on Ambien CR 12.5 for about 5 years because of a lifelong problem with sleep. While I could fall asleep easily on it, I was waking up after just a couple of hours, waking up many times a night and having difficulty going back to sleep at all on some nights. I had figured it lost all effectiveness and had been talking with my doctor about trying to wean off of it.

But then I had my sleep studies and my sleep doctor pointed out that I actually had really great deep sleep and REM sleep on the CPAP (titration study night) so she recommended I stay on it a while to see how I sleep with it once my breathing problems are taken care of. The first two weeks of using my CPAP have been rough, but last night I finally got the mask to fit and I slept beautifully! So - although my ultimate goal is to get off Ambien, I will use it for now and see if it helps me catch up on some of my massive sleep debt.

[Papit]

Never before xPAP and never since.

Oddly, I have never in 76 years had trouble falling asleep.

Just goes to show, even Rip Van Winkle could have had sleep apnea! : )

[FarmGirl]

I've had varying degrees of insomnia since my teenage years - take forever to go to sleep; wake up at a gnat's fart and start the cycle over again. I've tried everything as I've been in healthcare (CNA since age 15 and paramedic at 24) for 27 years. Benadryl makes me loopy for a few hours and melatonin doesn't do poop for me. After becoming a nurse and ending up on night shift, I started taking Ambien (2004). I take 10mg when I'm sleeping like a regular human and 12.5mg when I'm trying to sleep during the day.

Since being on CPAP (11/11), I've noticed that I can lay down for the occasional afternoon nap and actually GO TO SLEEP for an hour or so!! Unfortunately, that doesn't happen at night.

[ThirdOutOfFive]

I take pills to help me sleep because I have fibromyalgia. Without pills, PAPpy or no PAPpy, I just nap. With pills, I sleep most of the time. PAPpy doesn't seem to make much difference in actual sleep for me; Hubby loves it 'cause he can sleep.

[RandyJ]

Used Ambien for several months 10 years ago, way before cpap. Not since.

To be honest I find the potential to not wake up with certain drugs or combinations quite scary and won't take anything that would knock me out, depress my respiration, or otherwise inhibit my brain from telling my lungs to breathe... even with cpap. I think I would have to be quite desperate and strung out on not sleeping to get over that fear at this point.

[avi123]

Seen on the news this evening that there are concerns with the long term effects of sleeping pills. Do you need sleeping pills to help you get to sleep. Perhaps assist in staying asleep ? If you view and don't use sleeping pills please just state that.

vic, you should have started this thread with a poll. There is provision for it.

[Antonio]

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