Suvorexant (Belsomra) - "Sleeping Pill" - Stops Alzheimer's

[ChicagoGranny]

Any member have experience with this drug?

Common Sleeping Pill Could Slow or Stop Alzheimer’s Disease

Suvorexant, a dual orexin receptor antagonist commonly prescribed to help treat insomnia reduced levels of the Alzheimer’s-associated amyloid beta protein in the brain. The findings hint that the sleep medication could slow or stop Alzheimer’s disease, but researchers say more research is needed to confirm the viability of the approach.

https://neurosciencenews.com/alzheimers ... ogy-23066/

I'm skeptical. Very preliminary study.

[Pugsy]

I have some experience with this medication but it has been on a prn basis over the past couple of years.
I usually save it for what I deem "extreme" issues with sleep over a period of a couple to three nights without solid sleep.
Other than the first 30 days worth of the medication where I took it every night for a month it has been used as a prn medication and very sparingly at that.

My own personal opinion in terms of sleep help.....it has its place in the war against insomnia and doesn't seem to have a bucket load of negative side effects to it...at least in my own experience.

Of course no way to know if it helps or will help my brain long term at this time.

After watching my own mom deteriorate fairly rapidly into Alzheimers I sure hope that there is some promise with this medication in Alzheimers patients. Anything is fair game to try IMHO.

[robysue1]

I took Belsomra (brand name for Suvorexant) from the time it first became available almost daily right until I ran out of pills about a month or two after the pandemic closed everything down here in NYS in March 2020. I was unable to see the sleep doc who had prescribed it, and at the time my insurance company was still insisting that the script be from a doc specializing in sleep medicine because it was still an expensive tier 1 drug at the time the pandemic started.

In my experience: Belsomra worked much better as a sleep aid than Ambien, Sonata, and Lunesta did. It allowed me to sleep more quickly and it seemed to minimize the number of middle of night wakes where I had trouble getting back to sleep. And, most importantly, it didn't leave me with a "hangover drugged" feeling the way Ambien, Sonata, and Lunesta did. Also of note, while it helped me get to sleep, it did not induce a drugged drowsy feeling at the beginning of the night the way Ambien and Lunesta often did.

I'll also add: When I was forced to go cold turkey because my script ran out at a time when ordinary doctor appointments were impossible, I was quite pleasantly surprised that I was able to get to sleep without a lot of tossing and turning. The number of night time arousals did increase, but not to the point where I can't get decent enough sleep without the pills. But having said that, I'm currently going through a "bad spell" of sleep and it has crossed my mind that the next time I see the sleep doc it may be worth asking for a Belsomra script to be taken prn.

As for whether Belsomra can or does reduce the levels of Alzheimer’s-associated amyloid beta protein in the brain, I haven't the foggiest idea of how they would measure that in a live human being. If there are preliminary findings that show it might slow or stop the growth of amyloid plaques, then additional research is well warranted: To the best of my knowledge, there's nothing on the current market that does that and Alzheimer's is a terrible disease for both the sufferer and their whole family. And while skepticism is warranted since this is a very preliminary study, it's also reasonable to hope that further research may in fact back up those initial findings in the Neuroscience News article you cited.

[lazarus]

Could be more indicative of the importance of sleep than of anything else.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaw5583

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sle ... 1050322508

[Miss Emerita]

ChicagoGranny, thank you for starting this thread! I just read some studies of Suvorexant and wrote to my doctor asking whether I could try it. Although my apnea is well treated and I'm making progress with night-time pain, I could really use some help with frequent wake-ups that leave me feeling sleepy and stupid during the day. Suvorexant sounds as though it might help.

[ChicagoGranny]

I haven't the foggiest idea of how they would measure that in a live human being

From the article: ---------------->

Researchers withdrew a small amount of cerebrospinal fluid via spinal tap every two hours for 36 hours, starting one hour before the sleeping aid or placebo was administered, to measure how amyloid and tau levels changed over the next day and a half.

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Could be more indicative of the importance of sleep than of anything else.

From the article: ---------------->

“I’m hopeful that we will eventually develop drugs that take advantage of the link between sleep and Alzheimer’s to prevent cognitive decline,” he continued. “We’re not quite there yet. At this point, the best advice I can give is to get a good night’s sleep if you can, and if you can’t, to see a sleep specialist and get your sleep problems treated.”

[ChicagoGranny]

I just read some studies of Suvorexant and wrote to my doctor asking whether I could try it.

Be sure to check your insurance policy. Mine requires preapproval.

And for self-pay, the GoodRx coupons are high cost. The cheapest price I see is $376 for 30 x 10 mg.

[robysue1]

I just read some studies of Suvorexant and wrote to my doctor asking whether I could try it.

Be sure to check your insurance policy. Mine requires preapproval.

And for self-pay, the GoodRx coupons are high cost. The cheapest price I see is $376 for 30 x 10 mg.

Yep. Insurance companies can put restrictions on expensive meds. My insurance company insists that Belsomra be prescribed by a sleep doctor rather than a PCP.

That said, at a certain point in my CPAP journey, Belsomra was a really important tool for improving my sleep: It works by turning off WAKE instead of attempting to turn up SLEEP through sedation.

[robysue1]

I haven't the foggiest idea of how they would measure that in a live human being

From the article: ---------------->

Researchers withdrew a small amount of cerebrospinal fluid via spinal tap every two hours for 36 hours, starting one hour before the sleeping aid or placebo was administered, to measure how amyloid and tau levels changed over the next day and a half.

That is very intriguing, but it's also a pretty invasive way of getting at the amyloid and tau levels. And as far as I know they still have not found an easy, reliable way to measure amyloid and tau accumulations in the brain of people who are suspected of having Alzheimher's. And accurate diagnosis remains a problem.

[Pugsy]

It is very pricey for self pay people. My insurance has it as their highest tier (all the expensive meds are at this tier) which ends up being $47 for a month's supply. If it wasn't covered I couldn't be taking it. For my insurance though it didn't require pre-approval.

Do check with any insurance though...for some it might not be covered at any level.

Although my apnea is well treated and I'm making progress with night-time pain, I could really use some help with frequent wake-ups that leave me feeling sleepy and stupid during the day. Suvorexant sounds as though it might help.

The pain causing multiple wake ups was the reason my doctor suggested it. Read up on it extensively...it does help me sleep through the pain to some extent and I have only had it sort of fail from life stressor insomnia a small number of times.
I find it gives me about an hour more of sleep before I just have to get up out of bed and it does seem that I get a better quality sleep up until I simply give up and get out of bed BUT the hours of sleep I do get seem to be better quality and that is reflected in how I feel during the day.
No unwanted side effects is a big plus. Is it a knock out pill? No, but it doesn't work that way. It's supposed to help a person sleep a little longer and it does do that but it's not going to change a 4 to 5 hour sleep session to an 8 hour sleep session. All the literature that I read pointed to maybe an hour more of sleep but for me the overall hours of sleep were of better quality so I was happy with it.

Worth trying for sure though if someone can try it.

As for how those clinical trial patients and how the spinal fluid gets checked.....I bow down in front of them.
I can't imagine a lumbar puncture every 2 hours to get the spinal fluid needed to check for those known Alzheimer's markers and I don't know if some sort of port system was used.
That's a big ask for someone doing a clinical trial of anything. Probably would have been a deal breaker for me. I am such a wimp.

[Miss Emerita]

Thanks to all for the cautions about insurance. And Pugsy, thanks for mentioning the way it can help people sleep through pain more. That just increases my curiosity to try it!

[Pugsy]

Thanks to all for the cautions about insurance. And Pugsy, thanks for mentioning the way it can help people sleep through pain more. That just increases my curiosity to try it!

With Belsomra on board I might remember 3 or 4 wake ups and tossing and turning from the pain.
Without it...I might remember 20 plus awakenings. It's the known awakenings that seem to be my biggest issue in terms of sleep quality. I might still have some arousals (looking at the flow rate graphs up close) but I don't remember them which means shorter duration and better overall sleep quality. Belsomra has its limitations though and one has to know what they are and deal with it.

In your situation....definitely worth trying if you can.

Since last Sept I have been trying something else....send me a PM if you want to know more.
This isn't the place for that discussion.

[lazarus]

The DEA can see your PMs.

[Pugsy]

The DEA can see your PMs.

I am NOT doing anything illegal so I don't care......but I didn't think that I wanted to hijack this thread since we both know how I feel about hijacking of threads.
This isn't the time or place to go down that road. Now if someone wants to start a new topic about alternatives....that's fair game.

[chunkyfrog]

I was all ready to ask my doc for a Rx.
But, it's not on my formulary--AT ALL.
And the cost STARTS at over 400 bucks a month.
Phooey!