Meds or not for sleep study

[49er]

On a facebook group I belong to that isn't about apnea, several members were incredulous when I told them that many people have had sleep studies with meds per their doctors' permission. Apparently, their doctors told them not to take any sleep meds for their study and they are in complete agreement.

Does anyone know of any links that might provide a definite answer on this? I just checked on google scholar to no avail. But perhaps I used the wrong search terms.

Thanks!

49er

[Julie]

Forum search for Ambien should bring up lots (and lots) of answers.

[sptrout]

Ask your sleep study lab. In my case I was told to take all my normal medications including sleep meds. If you can not sleep due to the lack of your normal medications the sleep study will fail.

[Pugsy]

I have never looked for "official" discussions about sleep meds for sleep studies so I don't have anything handy.
I can share what I was told by my sleep doctor prior to my sleep study many years ago.
They routinely prescribe a small number of Ambien because it can be difficult to sleep in the lab setting and people gotta get the sleep first to be able to have any idea whether sleep apnea is a problem or not.
I was given a RX for 7 pills. Told to take one at home just to see how it worked and did I have any problems with it or not.
Then make sure that I saved enough for the sleep study night and the titration night if they ended up not doing a split night study for some reason.

Even with the Ambien I had trouble going to sleep and staying asleep. If I hadn't had the meds I wouldn't have slept and it would have been a total waste of time and money.

I think there is or has been some discussion about Ambien messing with sleep cycles but I guess the doctors that offer it think that it is a minor thing compared to someone not getting any sleep at all in the lab setting. Nothing is ever perfect and taking the meds is the lessor of two evils sometimes....at least that's the way some doctors feel.
And of course there are some doctors who are so anti sleeping pills that they don't care if you sleep or not during the sleep study.

I don't have any official documentation handy though as to how Ambien might impact sleep or mess with the results if it messes with the results.

[Okie bipap]

I took Ambien during both of my last two sleep studies at the doctor's suggestion. I did not take anything during the first two and had a hard time sleeping enough to get reliable data.

[angelc]

The doctor was going to prescribe me a low dose sleep med, I don't remember which. I said, "no, I'll be fine I can sleep anywhere."

BIG MISTAKE! It took me over an hour and a half to fall asleep at the sleep study center and the whole time I was figuratively kicking myself in the butt for not taking his advice. What drove me nuts was the stupid oxygen finger monitor that I wanted to throw across the room and yell obscenities to. If I have another study done...I am taking the pills.

[49er]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Just to clarify, I am not having a sleep study but was curious after running into this med opposition on the facebook group. Also, I realize there were plenty of anecdotal responses in this forum but I was wondering if there were any scientific studies and I am sensing the answer is no.

In this group, I kept asking what would happen if they didn't sleep? There didn't seem to be any worry and one person insisted that you always sleep more than you think you do.

Thank god, most of us seem to have sensible sleep doctors at least in the area of meds and sleep studies.

49er

[zoocrewphoto]

Before cpap, I was a terrible sleeper when staying in a hotel. Up at least once an hour, aware of the clock at least twice an hour. Really bad. Add that I am a severe night owl who usually goes to bed between 4 and 6am, the idea of sleeping during a sleep study was looking pretty bad. My insurance did not cover ambien, so I paid for one pill (not sure how many I was actually prescribed). The sleep lab had me take it just before bed. Best night of sleep in years. And very good data. They did a split night study and their prescribed settings have worked great.

I was told before the study that insurance would not cover it if I did not sleep at least 5 hours. I also knew that my sleep apnea was a sure thing. Major snoring and gasping. So, I was not worried about a false positive.

[49er]

Interesting zoocrew that you were told you had to sleep 5 hours for your insurance to cover the sleep study. Under that rule, I never would have gotten a diagnosis since even with taking ambien, I only slept 3 hours for both sleep studies.

I did ask my sleep doc about taking Temazepam as I was getting more sleep when I took it on a PRN basis. But she didn't want me to taking it without being on a machine.

[deedees5462]

I don't know about sleep study, but in my diagnosis and recomendations the sleep doctor advised that I only take sleep meds if I am using my cpap. I was allowed to take all my meds which included ambien and I did not sleep until like 4:00am and had to have another done.

[SewTired]

49er, I think you just run into people that freak out over nothing. If the doc doesn't have data, you get no diagnosis. If you don't sleep, you don't get data. Complete waste of an expensive study. Unless you are taking large dosages, it really isn't going to affect your data all that much compared to say coming in drunk (CNS depressant).

[49er]

49er, I think you just run into people that freak out over nothing. If the doc doesn't have data, you get no diagnosis. If you don't sleep, you don't get data. Complete waste of an expensive study. Unless you are taking large dosages, it really isn't going to affect your data all that much compared to say coming in drunk (CNS depressant).

ST,

I am not sure it is a case of freaking out over nothing but being leery of "evil meds". I definitely reiterated your points but they weren't listening.

It will be interesting to see if anyone posts what happened during their sleep study. Maybe I will ask in about a month.

[zoocrewphoto]

49er, I think you just run into people that freak out over nothing. If the doc doesn't have data, you get no diagnosis. If you don't sleep, you don't get data. Complete waste of an expensive study. Unless you are taking large dosages, it really isn't going to affect your data all that much compared to say coming in drunk (CNS depressant).

ST,

I am not sure it is a case of freaking out over nothing but being leery of "evil meds". I definitely reiterated your points but they weren't listening.

It will be interesting to see if anyone posts what happened during their sleep study. Maybe I will ask in about a month.

What do you mean by "evil mind" or what happened during their sleep study? Do they worry that the medication is going to make us incapable of protecting ourselves? If that is the case, any evil person could find a way to do that, even with a drink of water before bed.

I would also think that cameras being standard procedure would be a good way to keep everything accountable. And having at least 2 people working the shift.

[Julie]

Read it again... "evil MEDS", not "mind"!

[FishLips]

My doctor gave me the option.

But since I tend to avoid medication of any sort and said no thank you. I wish I had said yes. It was one of my roughest sleeping nights ever, and I had a full schedule of work to attend to the next day. It was a brutal 24 hours.