Doctor says sleep pill will mess up the test

Why does this article say that Apnea is improved dramatically with Ambien? That means test results would not be accurate.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670330/

It just bothered me that he seems so fixated on Ambien being a potential problem - out of proportion by a lot... never mind, the world's full of strangeness and we all have some of it.

That was a nine week trial, with twenty self selected subjects. It was a case study, was not randomized, was not double blind, etc.

In other words it means almost zero. Only value I could see would be as an idea for some researcher to do an actual study. It was done eleven years ago.

IMNSHO, It has zero application to you, taking a single dose for one night.

Julie wrote:It just bothered me that he seems so fixated on Ambien being a potential problem - out of proportion by a lot... never mind, the world's full of strangeness and we all have some of it.

I guess I'm just worried that the Ambien would all of a sudden make the test say I don't have sleep apnea. Again it is a tritation it's just the whole process has been so confusing and people haven't been upfront.

SleepDisturbed wrote:That was a nine week trial, with twenty self selected subjects. It was a case study, was not randomized, was not double blind, etc.

In other words it means almost zero. Only value I could see would be as an idea for some researcher to do an actual study. It was done eleven years ago.

IMNSHO, It has zero application to you, taking a single dose for one night.

That's true. I'm leaning towards taking it.

That study was talking about people with idiopathic central sleep apnea and it's highly unlikely that you have central sleep apnea plus it was a relatively small study anyway.
The most common form is obstructive sleep apnea and the ambien won't affect the test results.
My sleep doctor is a board certified sleep doctor. He routinely prescribes ambien..7 of them to be exact and routinely tells people to take 1 at home to see how it works...one during the diagnostic sleep study and whenever else might want to take one but make sure to hold one back for the titration sleep study.

I DIDN'T take a sleep aid for my first titration. I did not sleep enough to get a valid one. I did get a sleep aid on my second titration (third overall sleep study, one diagnostic, two titrations) and everything went great. Wish I had had something for the first titration - that one was a waste of time.

Just sayin.

Pugsy wrote:That study was talking about people with idiopathic central sleep apnea and it's highly unlikely that you have central sleep apnea plus it was a relatively small study anyway.
The most common form is obstructive sleep apnea and the ambien won't affect the test results.
My sleep doctor is a board certified sleep doctor. He routinely prescribes ambien..7 of them to be exact and routinely tells people to take 1 at home to see how it works...one during the diagnostic sleep study and whenever else might want to take one but make sure to hold one back for the titration sleep study.

How do u know I don't have CSA? Sure maybe it's less common, but would it prevent the data from showing it?

The thread is getting confusing.
Enchanter said the doctor refused to prescribe a pill.
Many here are telling him to take the pill.
Please explain.
Where is he going to get the pill?

Enchanter wrote: How do u know I don't have CSA? Sure maybe it's less common, but would it prevent the data from showing it?

I don't know what your problem is or isn't.

My main point....if a board certified sleep doctor regularly prescribes ambien even for the diagnostic sleep study and he has no clue about status of centrals at that time...then he must think it is okay to start with it.

The chances of you having central apnea...rare...and the chance of IF (big if) you had central sleep apnea that it would be helped with ambien is even more rare. Usually central sleep apnea is treated with one of those high end ASV type of xpap machines. Treating central sleep apnea with drugs is extremely rare.

Sonnyboy wrote:The thread is getting confusing.
Enchanter said the doctor refused to prescribe a pill.
Many here are telling him to take the pill.
Please explain.
Where is he going to get the pill?

It's from a donator

Enchanter wrote:

Sonnyboy wrote:The thread is getting confusing.
Enchanter said the doctor refused to prescribe a pill.
Many here are telling him to take the pill.
Please explain.
Where is he going to get the pill?

It's from a donator

Got it!
Now you have a pill and you are trying to decided whether or not to take it.
One really good thing you can do for your self is to try to relax.

Never mind.

Enchanter wrote:Why does this article say that Apnea is improved dramatically with Ambien? That means test results would not be accurate.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670330/

Enchanter,

That article is about idiopathic central sleep apnea which is very different from obstructive sleep apnea. It's a different condition and it's much rarer than OSA.

Don't worry that taking an Ambien is going to skew the titration study.

Enchanter wrote:

Pugsy wrote:That study was talking about people with idiopathic central sleep apnea and it's highly unlikely that you have central sleep apnea plus it was a relatively small study anyway.
The most common form is obstructive sleep apnea and the ambien won't affect the test results.
My sleep doctor is a board certified sleep doctor. He routinely prescribes ambien..7 of them to be exact and routinely tells people to take 1 at home to see how it works...one during the diagnostic sleep study and whenever else might want to take one but make sure to hold one back for the titration sleep study.

How do u know I don't have CSA? Sure maybe it's less common, but would it prevent the data from showing it?

Enchanter,

The titration study is NOT to determine if you have OSA or CSA or any other sleep disorder---the diagnostic part of the first sleep study gave the sleep center and the sleep center's doctor(s) enough data to conclude that you have some form of sleep disordered breathing. You haven't seen the official test results, but most likely it was OSA.

The titration study is to find out the pressure needs. They will start you off at 4cm of pressure. If by some chance you fell asleep at 4cm and had no events the whole time you slept, the results will be written up as "CPAP was initiated at 4cm and patient had no events at that pressure. Recommendation: Patient should use CPAP @ 4cm."

You have to understand: While most people do need more than 4cm of pressure, there are a few people whose apnea is well managed at that pressure. Not many, but a few. And if you insist on getting a full efficacy data machine once you have a script for a CPAP, if the titrated pressure is not high enough, that will show up in your nightly data.