Anxiety Meds and OSA

[wiguy]

Hi folks...

I was just wondering if there is any connection between AMD meds and OSA. I have both. I am on 150mg of Effexor XR. I know it does not cure it.

I am thinking about comign down off of my Effexor...with my doctors help. I was wondering though if there was any effects taking the meds or anyone has had experience.


Thanks.

[kaiasgram]

Hi wiguy, are you asking if the meds affect OSA?

[wiguy]

yes I am

[Captain_Midnight]

Wiguy, according to this pubmed abstract, xpap is, or can be, a treatment for depression and anxiety. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17978925

One possibility is that the anxiety is caused by the osa, and can be treated by optimized xpap therapy.

I'm not a doc, so I won't suggest going off meds; however it could be an approach that you might want to discuss with your doc.

Good luck with this -- Capt Midnight


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[kaiasgram]

wiguy, from what I've seen there's more known about the effects of other psych meds on OSA than there is about some of the antidepressants. I did a little bit of searching specifically on venlafaxine (Effexor), and I didn't find much. What I did come across were some references to how this med affects sleep architecture, but not OSA. Here's a link to a review article, with the relevant exerpt pasted in below the link. Hopefully someone with more knowledge of psychopharmacology will be able to speak to the question of OSA. What I do know is that AD meds affect people differently, including how it affects their sleep.

http://www.chestnet.org/accp/pccsu/medi ... p?page=0,3

Venlafaxine is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that has a weak effect on dopamine reuptake inhibition. It reduces sleep continuity, slow-wave sleep, and REM sleep. It does not induce insomnia and has no effect on sleep latency.11,14

11. Schweitzer PK. Drugs that disturb sleep and wakefulness. In: Kryger MH, Roth T, Dement WC, eds. Principles and practice of sleep medicine. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders, 2005; 499-518

14. Salin-Pascual RJ, Galicia-Polo L, Drucker-Colin R. Sleep changes after four consecutive days of venlafaxine administration in normal volunteers. J Clin Psychiatry 1997; 58:348-350

[49er]

Hi folks...

I was just wondering if there is any connection between AMD meds and OSA. I have both. I am on 150mg of Effexor XR. I know it does not cure it.

I am thinking about comign down off of my Effexor...with my doctors help. I was wondering though if there was any effects taking the meds or anyone has had experience.


Thanks.

Hi Wiguy,

I can't answer your question but if you decide to come off of Effexor, please do it very slowly. In my opinion, many doctors taper people way too quickly.

This site, http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/index, is a great source of support and is not affiliated with any commercial as it totally depends on donations.

49er

[wiguy]

Thank you for the info folks!

[signal20gsxr]

Good luck! Effexor withdrawals for me were a nightmare even with 3 month of slowly lowering my dosage. While I was on it, it cause sleep paralysis for me. However I did have undiagnosed UARS for years. XPAP has been more effect for treating my anxiety and panic attacks than any medication I have taken. I have been on over 10 different anxiety meds in the course of 13 years.

[Sir NoddinOff]

I was lucky to get off Xanax in about three weeks, achieved by simply cutting the pills smaller and smaller. However, I wasn't an every day user, so that's likely to have an impact. This is as fast as I think possible for most people, at least from what I heard on this site. There are other folks on this forum who say one, two or even three months (rare), like the earlier post. I think it has a lot to do with your stress levels, your brain chemistry, diet, exercise and ultimately your will power. To be on the safe side, talk to your doctor and find out what he/she recommends. Good luck,

[stillo]

Ive only been on Venlafaxine a week but it so far seems to be a miracle drug for me,i have slept all through the night and i haven't done that for 5 years, i don't care if it alters my sleep architecture to be honest it could have never got any worse

Stillo

[Todzo]

Hi folks...

I was just wondering if there is any connection between AMD meds and OSA. I have both. I am on 150mg of Effexor XR. I know it does not cure it.

I am thinking about comign down off of my Effexor...with my doctors help. I was wondering though if there was any effects taking the meds or anyone has had experience.


Thanks.

Hi,

I was on antidepressants (mostly SSRIs) for many years. I found that I developed a resistance to each one. The symptom was that I would begin to get symptoms of withdrawal sometime into the day after taking the usual dose. On some that meant loosing balance, others kind of a swoosh swoosh feeling in my head, others a change in my tinnitus.

They did put me on your SNRI. Looking at the history I decided to simply stop. Yes, I knew there would be side effects. For me that was not so much of a problem.

I do not use these drugs any more and have not for over a year. I am glad I decided to stop.

If you use these I think you should think in terms of being off of them within three years.

HTH

Todzo

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

Hi ! I'm an anxiety sufferer. I'm on Lexapro. Since I started the meds in November? My sleep has gotten even worse. I'm hoping that diagnosis and treatment of OSA may help me no longer need my meds