Wow! Percocet really DOES affect sleep!

[BusyLyn]

I had minor foot surgery yesterday (a small 'indeterminate' mass needed to be removed), and my podiatrist prescribed Percocet 5 for the pain. I took a nap yesterday when I got home and slept well in 2 parts last night. Opiates supposedly affect sleep, so I was curious to see if anything would show in Encore Viewer. The answer is a definite YES.

On a bad night my central apnea number may be as high as 0.4 although it usually is 0.2 or less. My 30 day AHI is down to 1.1 - mostly hypopneas, and my highest AHI has been 2.4 (second night of cpap). I felt that I slept well- probably due to the Percocet - but last night's AHI was 2.6. I had no OAs, but CA was 1.7! My VS was 24.3 - also very high. I can't imagine what my numbers would have been without my trusty cpap machine, but I'm very grateful that I had it last night.

[DonkeyBoy]

I'm on Percoccet for cronic nerve damage pain from an accident and my central readings line up with yours. It is much better now then it was several months ago while i was on Methadone instead..........for some reason the Methadone took my centrals up to the 8-10 range.

[NightMonkey]

I had minor foot surgery yesterday (a small 'indeterminate' mass needed to be removed), and my podiatrist prescribed Percocet 5 for the pain. I took a nap yesterday when I got home and slept well in 2 parts last night. Opiates supposedly affect sleep, so I was curious to see if anything would show in Encore Viewer. The answer is a definite YES.

On a bad night my central apnea number may be as high as 0.4 although it usually is 0.2 or less. My 30 day AHI is down to 1.1 - mostly hypopneas, and my highest AHI has been 2.4 (second night of cpap). I felt that I slept well- probably due to the Percocet - but last night's AHI was 2.6. I had no OAs, but CA was 1.7! My VS was 24.3 - also very high. I can't imagine what my numbers would have been without my trusty cpap machine, but I'm very grateful that I had it last night.

Lyn, At what hours did you take Percocet 5 and how many tablets each time?

[BusyLyn]

One tablet each time. The Rx was written as 1 tablet every 4 hours as needed for pain. I probably took the first one about 90 minutes before the nap (about 3 hours long) and there was 1 CA tick and a much heavier H tick. The second tablet I took about 2 hours before bed, I slept about 4-3/4 hours and woke up due to the foot (about 4:45 AM). There were several CA ticks and a couple of OAs as well during this sleep interval. I took another Percocet at that time and stayed up about 45 minutes before crashing for another 5-1/2 hours, waking up feeling refreshed. This last interval had many more CA ticks (a couple with heavy groupings), the only 2 OA ticks of the night, most of the H ticks and the biggest clumpings of the VSs. I have to correct the VS number - 6.6, not 24.3 - but it is still higher than usual, even if not the highest I've ever gotten (I have nasal/sinus congestion issues). The OA for last night was normal - 0.2 - the CA at 1.7 was definitely an outlier.

I wanted to see last night's numbers for curiosity and because almost 4 years ago - long before I was diagnosed - I had a severe and unusual allergic reaction for which for 2 long and painful months I was on steriods and Percocet 7.5 @ 1 every 3 hours (to dampen the peaks and valleys of the pain wave rather than 2 tabs every 6 hours) before finally being able to drop down to Vicodin. I can only imagine what damage my body took at that time because I wasn't treated for my sleep apnea, but at least I'm still alive with both legs attached.