It's a fact. I have Sleep Apnea.

[Enchanter]

Tech confirmed it. I kept on asking about what kind of test we were doing and what that implied with the first test. He candidly told me that if I'm asking if I have sleep apnea, that I do, indeed. He said he got 2 hours of broken sleep out of me, but I never reached REM. He said REM is usually the stage when you are able to establish when one has sleep apnea, but he said that he was able to establish my sleep apnea without REM, so therefore he didn't need me to do anymore testing for the first study.

Tonight was the Tritation. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take Ambien because the post office didn't deliver it to me today. I looked several times, even before I left. USPS has been shaky lately. Tech says he got an hour of sleep out of me (of course I didn't feel it, but whatever). He says that my sleep is crazy, he kinda laughed and said that I was EVERYWHERE. He doesn't know yet if that one hour is ample enough, but it will be under review for the next several days. If I do have to take a 3rd test, he says that is the last test that the insurance will cover me for the year.

The mask felt a little better on my face, but I still cannot get used to the air pressure, even when it was small. I felt tightness in my chest. Just very hard to relax with the mask.

[Morbius]

It's a fact. I have Sleep Apnea.

Tech confirmed it.

That ain't how this works; you still got NO facts; judging how things have gone so far they could easily have overscored SWJ to come up with something to get you into the $$$ circle; and that said, I suppose you could have had an AHI of 5.01 based on apparently nothing oh forget it this whole thing makes no sense...

[Cardsfan]

Glad to hear you made it through the night.

[robysue]

Enchanter,

I think that given the circumstances that once the results of both sleep tests are available and the way your doctor behaves towards you, you should do your best to locate a DME that BOTH is in-network for your insurance AND willing to provide an APAP even if the script calls for straight CPAP. An APAP will allow you to self-titrate (with or without the doc's permission), and home titration sounds like a better bet for figuring out what the correct pressure should be.

While you are waiting for the official test results to come in, you should:

• Call both the sleep center and your doc's office and tell them you want copies of both sleep study reports for your records. The reports should include the summary data and the summary graphs, and they typically run 3-7 pages in length. You may have to pay a small per page fee in order to obtain them; if so paying the fee is worth it.
• When you are on the phone with your doc's office, it wouldn't hurt to say that you would prefer it if the doctor would prescribe an APAP so that additional titration work, if needed, can be done in your own home and bed.
• Call your insurance company and ask about your durable medical equipment coverage. The way insurance companies cover CPAPs can be quite different from the way they cover prescription drugs, lab tests, and doctor visits. Be sure to ask for a list of in-network durable medical equipment providers (DME).
• Start reading up on CPAP/APAP machines. Decide which models are and are not acceptable to you. Once you know the exact make and model of every acceptable CPAP/APAP machine, it's reasonable to start making phone calls to interview the DMEs. Start by telling the person who answers the phone that you've recently been diagnosed with OSA and that you are shopping around for an equipment provider. And the ask straightout:
  
  • If I were to choose you for my DME, would you provide me with a <first choice of machine> or <second choice of machine>?
  If the answer is NO, cross the DME off your list of potential suppliers and call the next one on the list.

Finally when you do see your primary care doctor for your follow-up visit, listen to what the doc says. If he insists on sending you back to the lab one more time, politely, but firmly, tell the doc that unless he is willing to prescribe an Ambien for the sleep test, that you see no point in wasting more of your insurance company's money on a test where you will get very little sleep. And then politely, but firmly, suggest that if he would just prescribe an APAP, fine tuning the pressure settings could be done at home. If need be, you can point out that the Kaiser HMOs routinely use APAPs in the home to titrate all of their newly diagnosed OSA patients.

[Enchanter]

Robysue, the tech actually brought up Ambien, since he knew I was trying to get some. He told me these stories how Ambien not only knocked people out, but made them act crazy. Said he was testing one guy and he started walking out of the room in his sleep, terrorizing another patient without even knowing it. He recommended Benadryl. Said Ambien is scary.

[49er]

Robysue, the tech actually brought up Ambien, since he knew I was trying to get some. He told me these stories how Ambien not only knocked people out, but made them act crazy. Said he was testing one guy and he started walking out of the room in his sleep, terrorizing another patient without even knowing it. He recommended Benadryl. Said Ambien is scary.

Enchanter,

As one who is quite leery of drug side effects and who seems to get all the weird reactions, I have had absolutely no problems with ambien. If you are forced to go back to the sleep lab for another titration and I hope to god that your doctor will do what RobySue suggests, I would not let what the tech said scare you about taking ambien.

49er

[postitnote]

Robysue, the tech actually brought up Ambien, since he knew I was trying to get some. He told me these stories how Ambien not only knocked people out, but made them act crazy. Said he was testing one guy and he started walking out of the room in his sleep, terrorizing another patient without even knowing it. He recommended Benadryl. Said Ambien is scary.

Daughter had to work 1st shift this week and has been taking Benadryl so she can go to bed earlier. She usually stay up till 3am but had to sleep by 10pm. It works for her.

[chunkyfrog]

I was easy. Apnea in all stages and all positions.
Not all apnea is in REM, but a lot is, and you may need higher pressure.
Use this to lobby for an auto, FULL DATA machine.

[palerider]

As one who is quite leery of drug side effects and who seems to get all the weird reactions, I have had absolutely no problems with ambien. If you are forced to go back to the sleep lab for another titration and I hope to god that your doctor will do what RobySue suggests, I would not let what the tech said scare you about taking ambien.

it's nice that you don't have weird effects with ambien, but a LOT of people *DO*.

you should not be so quick and blasé to dismiss the concerns.

Somnambulism

Somnambulism is a term used to describe sleepwalking. Somnambulists, or sleepwalkers, engage in sometimes complex physical tasks while remaining in a sleeping state. Ambien side effects like sleep walking can potentially be very dangerous, both to the sleepwalker and others. There are reported cases of people cooking meals, driving cars and even committing thefts following consumption of Ambien.

According to a 2006 estimate, there were more claims of sleepwalking associated with Ambien than with all other sleeping aids combined. Although the scientific explanations connecting Ambien and sleepwalking are not set in stone, many people who sleepwalk while taking Ambien find that the sleepwalking goes away once they discontinue usage.

Ambien seems to sometimes cause a state of partial arousal. In a state of partial arousal, those who take Ambien may be partially awakened by outside stimulus but are unable to fully awaken due to the drug’s sedative effects. As a result, sleepwalking may occur.

easily dismissed videos, but they're out there.

When Ambien was first introduced to the market, its fine print included warnings that sedative hypnotics can cause abnormal thinking, strange behavior, and hallucinations. Sleepwalking was referenced as a rare occurrence, afflicting less than 1 in 1,000 patients. The prescribing information made no mention of hundreds of unsettling reports from users who took Ambien before bed only to later learn that while in a sort of sleep trance, they'd raided their hotel minibars, ordered thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise online, made phone calls, or answered e-mail; that they awoke the next day with no recollection of their conduct, just the evidence in the form of wrappers strewn around their beds, invoices from strange websites, voice mails and texts from perplexed friends.

and more

one of the people that hangs out on the chat channel says of his personal ambien experiences:

I need to wean myself off that shit
it plays havoc with my memory
yeah, I've done weird shit on it
I now tell my wife before I take it, every night, because I will not remember anything that we talk about after I take that pill

It's not like these reports are new...

my own personal experience with ambien was with my ex roommate that I got crucified for mentioning recently, but he'd take ambien as a recreational drug. normally, he wasn't able to sense emotions, he couldn't read faces, he couldn't express, or understand empathy, it's like his emotions were behind walls, he was anxious and constantly analyzing everything, trying to intellectualize emotions, and emulate them.

when he'd take ambien though, it was like it put PART of his brain to sleep, the part that prevented him from understanding emotions, for a few hours, he'd behave totally different. he became a totally different person, happy, able to read and express emotions, just like what most people would call "normal". then he'd eventually go to sleep, and after waking, the effect would be gone.

[49er]

Good points PR although I am lol at the irony of someone telling me I shouldn't be too quickly to dismiss the concerns of drug side effects. I am the one who is usually making that point.

My thinking was that sleep has been such a struggle for Enchanter at these sleep tests that it seems like that outweighed the risk of having side effects of taking it one time. But then again, I have had one time adverse affects with other meds so I may have been in error with my initial position.

It is just too bad that Enchanter doesn't seem to have a doctor that he can objectively discuss this issue with and review his past med history to determine if taking ambien is a reasonable risk or not for a sleep study. Maybe ambien might not be the best choice but perhaps something else would be more appropriate.

Very interesting about your roommate. On a related note, you might be interested in how ambien woke someone in a coma:

https://www.google.com/#q=ambien+used+for+coma

49er

As one who is quite leery of drug side effects and who seems to get all the weird reactions, I have had absolutely no problems with ambien. If you are forced to go back to the sleep lab for another titration and I hope to god that your doctor will do what RobySue suggests, I would not let what the tech said scare you about taking ambien.

it's nice that you don't have weird effects with ambien, but a LOT of people *DO*.

you should not be so quick and blaze' to dismiss the concerns.

Somnambulism

Somnambulism is a term used to describe sleepwalking. Somnambulists, or sleepwalkers, engage in sometimes complex physical tasks while remaining in a sleeping state. Ambien side effects like sleep walking can potentially be very dangerous, both to the sleepwalker and others. There are reported cases of people cooking meals, driving cars and even committing thefts following consumption of Ambien.

According to a 2006 estimate, there were more claims of sleepwalking associated with Ambien than with all other sleeping aids combined. Although the scientific explanations connecting Ambien and sleepwalking are not set in stone, many people who sleepwalk while taking Ambien find that the sleepwalking goes away once they discontinue usage.

Ambien seems to sometimes cause a state of partial arousal. In a state of partial arousal, those who take Ambien may be partially awakened by outside stimulus but are unable to fully awaken due to the drug’s sedative effects. As a result, sleepwalking may occur.

easily dismissed videos, but they're out there.

When Ambien was first introduced to the market, its fine print included warnings that sedative hypnotics can cause abnormal thinking, strange behavior, and hallucinations. Sleepwalking was referenced as a rare occurrence, afflicting less than 1 in 1,000 patients. The prescribing information made no mention of hundreds of unsettling reports from users who took Ambien before bed only to later learn that while in a sort of sleep trance, they'd raided their hotel minibars, ordered thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise online, made phone calls, or answered e-mail; that they awoke the next day with no recollection of their conduct, just the evidence in the form of wrappers strewn around their beds, invoices from strange websites, voice mails and texts from perplexed friends.

and more

one of the people that hangs out on the chat channel says of his personal ambien experiences:

I need to wean myself off that shit
it plays havoc with my memory
yeah, I've done weird shit on it
I now tell my wife before I take it, every night, because I will not remember anything that we talk about after I take that pill

It's not like these reports are new...

my own personal experience with ambien was with my ex roommate that I got crucified for mentioning recently, but he'd take ambien as a recreational drug. normally, he wasn't able to sense emotions, he couldn't read faces, he couldn't express, or understand empathy, it's like his emotions were behind walls, he was anxious and constantly analyzing everything, trying to intellectualize emotions, and emulate them.

when he'd take ambien though, it was like it put PART of his brain to sleep, the part that prevented him from understanding emotions, for a few hours, he'd behave totally different. he became a totally different person, happy, able to read and express emotions, just like what most people would call "normal". then he'd eventually go to sleep, and after waking, the effect would be gone.

[postitnote]

It is just too bad that Enchanter doesn't seem to have a doctor that he can objectively discuss this issue with and review his past med history to determine if taking ambien is a reasonable risk or not for a sleep study. Maybe ambien might not be the best choice but perhaps something else would be more appropriate.

Yep, Enchanter needs to see about a new doctor once he is set-up and running on xpap. The guy and his staff sound like nightmares!

[ems]

When Ambien was first introduced to the market, its fine print included warnings that sedative hypnotics can cause abnormal thinking, strange behavior, and hallucinations. Sleepwalking was referenced as a rare occurrence, afflicting less than 1 in 1,000 patients. The prescribing information made no mention of hundreds of unsettling reports from users who took Ambien before bed only to later learn that while in a sort of sleep trance, they'd raided their hotel minibars, ordered thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise online, made phone calls, or answered e-mail; that they awoke the next day with no recollection of their conduct, just the evidence in the form of wrappers strewn around their beds, invoices from strange websites, voice mails and texts from perplexed friends.

Choose any med... there will be someone who reacted badly to it; even an asprin! One Ambien, when the tech was right there, could have relaxed him and help him sleep.

[palerider]

It is just too bad that Enchanter doesn't seem to have a doctor that he can objectively discuss this issue with and review his past med history to determine if taking ambien is a reasonable risk or not for a sleep study. Maybe ambien might not be the best choice but perhaps something else would be more appropriate.

the thing that scares me (well, not only me) is that there are a lot of people here that are falling over themselves to be helpful and compassionate, to someone that is demonstrably unstable with a long history of problems. add to that, we've only heard *ONE SIDE OF THINGS*.

what *little* information there is that's here, has all come out, in a very incoherent manner, over time, a few drips here, a few drips there. there's absolutely NO WAY that ANYBODY here has the whole picture, even discounting the self contradictory aspects of this story.

in the rush to be compassionate, people are forgetting one of the big things... DON'T GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE.

"ignore your doctor, take these pills" MAYBE there's a GOOD REASON that his doctor is so opposed to it in this case? maybe we're only hearing PART of the story... we have no way to know.

the people shouting at him to do that is all to hell and gone away from where we normally are with the "well, yes, your doctor isn't smart with their don't touch your cpap, it's pretty much harmless if you're careful, we have a LOT of experience for you to learn by, and if it were me, I'd do this" advice that is prevalent here.

so, what if he HAD taken the well meaning advice of the people here, and what if he HAD been somnambulant, caused damage to something, hurt someone, hurt himself... then the lawyers might have gotten involved, and you can BET that the goodmans would have gotten a summons to find out who's been handing out that advice... and at best there would have been a fuckload of trouble for some people here, at worst, that, and the forum would be shut down too.

that's my fear in this whole enchanter feeding frenzy.

[ems]

in the rush to be compassionate, people are forgetting one of the big things... DON'T GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE.

I don't think suggesting a person take one .5mg ambien to help get to sleep for a sleep study is handing out medical advice. At different times even Pugsy has tactfully mentioned a sleep aid.

[Sonnyboy]

It is just too bad that Enchanter doesn't seem to have a doctor that he can objectively discuss this issue with and review his past med history to determine if taking ambien is a reasonable risk or not for a sleep study. Maybe ambien might not be the best choice but perhaps something else would be more appropriate.

the thing that scares me (well, not only me) is that there are a lot of people here that are falling over themselves to be helpful and compassionate, to someone that is demonstrably unstable with a long history of problems. add to that, we've only heard *ONE SIDE OF THINGS*.

what *little* information there is that's here, has all come out, in a very incoherent manner, over time, a few drips here, a few drips there. there's absolutely NO WAY that ANYBODY here has the whole picture, even discounting the self contradictory aspects of this story.

in the rush to be compassionate, people are forgetting one of the big things... DON'T GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE.

"ignore your doctor, take these pills" MAYBE there's a GOOD REASON that his doctor is so opposed to it in this case? maybe we're only hearing PART of the story... we have no way to know.

the people shouting at him to do that is all to hell and gone away from where we normally are with the "well, yes, your doctor isn't smart with their don't touch your cpap, it's pretty much harmless if you're careful, we have a LOT of experience for you to learn by, and if it were me, I'd do this" advice that is prevalent here.

so, what if he HAD taken the well meaning advice of the people here, and what if he HAD been somnambulant, caused damage to something, hurt someone, hurt himself... then the lawyers might have gotten involved, and you can BET that the goodmans would have gotten a summons to find out who's been handing out that advice... and at best there would have been a fuckload of trouble for some people here, at worst, that, and the forum would be shut down too.

that's my fear in this whole enchanter feeding frenzy.

Thank you for pointing out what I have been thinking for days, but I am embarrassed to admit have been fearful of posting, for fear of being bullied.

I wonder about HIPPA violations also but I am not sure about this?????