CPAPtalk.com

GoofyUT wrote:I say this only as one man, not as a psychologist, but I am NOT concerned about adversities or addictive potential at the rate of 0.5mg at hour of sleep, ONLY. Now, I am NOT a physician or an osteopath, so this is only ONE MAN'S OPINION, but MAN, does 0.5 mg alprazolam HS work for me!!!

Take this for what it's worth.

Chuck

When I first started CPAP therapy, I took 0.5 alprazolam also.
My MD told me that it was commonly prescribed for new CPAP users to get over the anxiety of wearing a mask for the first time. She freely wrote me a prescription for it, but cautioned me to use the lowest possible dose, and that it was indeed an addictive drug. It helped quite a bit, but I quickly weaned myself off it for fear of creating a new problem.
It is in the same class of drugs as Valium, but I don't suppose there would be a problem with occasional use. Hang in there, and Good luck!

Chuck,

I hope whatever it was that caused you to be so overly stressed a week ago has subsided by now. And I'm so happy for you that you are sleeping through the night nightly. I wouldn't know what that feels like. Can you give me more detail, please??? Must be a wonderful experience. I've forgotten totally what it felt like.

Sleepless-I've been on cpap since May 25, 2006 and I have slept though the night once (6 straight hours) and I can tell you, it's like finding the Arch of the Covenant and losing it again.

[quote="Anonymous"]Sleepless-I've been on cpap since May 25, 2006 and I have slept though the night once (6 straight hours) and I can tell you, it's like finding the Arch of the Covenant and losing it again.

[quote="DreamStalker"]Thanks Steve (ufo13). I read the very good info in your discussion. I have searched for this topic but I get a great many hits that are irrelevant to the specific info I am after. I am aware of the fact that EPR is not available in auto mode and that EPR follows your breathing closer than C-Flex from reading various posts including yours.

However, I want to know more about what Chuck has already alluded to in a previous post regarding the difference between the algorithm portion of the “auto”. For example he has said that the ResMed is more aggressive at responding to snoring (I think that is how I interpreted his comments). However, at this point, I don’t know if that is an important feature for me to consider or not.

Basically, I want to be able to track my own progress or lack there of while using xPAP and from what little I understand, an “auto” is prerequisite for this kind of tracking and also for titrating (perhaps I’m confused?). Anyway, I would think that the type of algorithm used plays an important part in interpreting the daily results of an xPAP session. Furthermore, I think that understanding the difference between the two algorithms will help me to request one over the other when I discuss the issue with my sleep doc on Tuesday.

So, for now, I will continue to wade thru the posts looking for bits of info and anxiously await for the mother load (Chuck’s review or preview).

Thanks again,

Welcome the wonderful world of dreams …

- roberto

I just posted this in another thread, it seems relevant here also. It may give you some insight on how different Autos handle things.

http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/pdf/AA_Report.pdf

Bob

I posted a response in the other thread, but once again.....

THANK YOU SO MUCH BOB!!!!!

It's the PERFECT study for the discussion on "Settling" and the differences in algorithms and I was so hoping that someone would dig up and post that study!!!

You're THE MAN Bob, and I'm very grateful for your post of that study.

Chuck

Just as an update, its now 10 days that I've been following my regimen of taking 0.5 mg of alprazolam at hour of sleep, and I CONTINUE to sleep like a baby throughout the night with NO awakenings, no trips to the john, nothing but just a good night's sleep, feeling refreshed when I awaken, generally 8 hours or so later. I'm suffering no adversities that I can speak of, and no, I'm not on the street corner trying to score some Xanax to satisfy my addiction.

I'm gonna try to titrate to 0.25mg tonight to see if that works as well. I'll keep you all posted.

Hope this helps someone.

Chuck

GoofyUT wrote:I posted a response in the other thread, but once again.....

THANK YOU SO MUCH BOB!!!!!

It's the PERFECT study for the discussion on "Settling" and the differences in algorithms and I was so hoping that someone would dig up and post that study!!!

You're THE MAN Bob, and I'm very grateful for your post of that study.

Chuck

you and Bob are turning into quite the poster children of misinformation, that study has been shot down by nearly every medical statistician who has ever reviewed it. It's only financial sponsor was Resmed, then they boast that it was the only machine to respond to that breathing robot consistently over the years. That is because they were the only technical advisor and major contributor to its funding and design.

I guess if you have a dinosaur machine with an algorithm that hasn't changed in 10 years it should respond the same to a robot from the first test to the last.

and now you have resorted to using barbiturate class sedative-hypnotic drugs to sleep and you think that is a good thing?

I think blind leading the blind is more accurate.

Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine-1 (BZD-1) receptor agonist with strong 5-HT agonist properties, as well. It is NOT a barbiturate. FYI, Ambien, Sonata and Lunesta are BZD-3 receptor agonists.

The study that Bob was kind enough to post speaks for itself. Those who read it will evaluate it for themselves. I am not aware of any studies that question its methodological rigor, nor any disparaging remarks. As you say, "that study has been shot down by nearly every medical statistician who has ever reviewed it." Could you provide any references or citations to support your outrageous and irresponsible claims, please??? I'm sure that the authors, the journal in which it is published, and the cpaptalk community would be awfully curious to see your support.

Thanks for being consistent. It illuminates its source.

Chuck

I just briefly browsed over the study and wish to say that it does provide insight into how APAPs work (some of the assumptions made and the complexity of all the variables involved). True, the study shows that ResMed’s competitors have been tweaking there algorithms over the past 5 years while ResMed has kept theirs fairly constant over the same period. However, that does not mean it is a bad thing for either ResMed or its competitors.

I don’t understand Snoredogs hostility towards Chuck and Bob and I really don’t care to get involved in the feud but that does not make this study misinformation at all. Even if the study were biased due to funding by ResMed (which I have no proof that it was or was not), the study clearly states that there was no effort to evaluate which “auto” algorithm was more effective at treating OSA but rather to show that there are differences in the approaches of the different APAP manufacturers and they did succeed at doing that IMO. Consequently, they call for future standards to be established with which to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of the competing algorithms in treating all of the various aspects of OSA.

I am very grateful for both Chuck’s and Bob’s contributions to this forum and hope they continue to provide their wisdom as I find it quite useful in my quest to become informed with this new lifestyle of mine. Thanks guys!

- roberto

PS - I do appreciate Snoredog's input too ... just wish it had a little less bite to it ... again, I'm not looking to get in the middle of any fight ... just looking for info.

Thanks again to all!!
- roberto

GoofyUT wrote:Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine-1 (BZD-1) receptor agonist with strong 5-HT agonist properties, as well. It is NOT a barbiturate. FYI, Ambien, Sonata and Lunesta are BZD-3 receptor agonists.

The study that Bob was kind enough to post speaks for itself. Those who read it will evaluate it for themselves. I am not aware of any studies that question its methodological rigor, nor any disparaging remarks. As you say, "that study has been shot down by nearly every medical statistician who has ever reviewed it." Could you provide any references or citations to support your outrageous and irresponsible claims, please??? I'm sure that the authors, the journal in which it is published, and the cpaptalk community would be awfully curious to see your support.

Thanks for being consistent. It illuminates its source.

Chuck

Abuse Potential

Although benzodiazepines are invaluable in the treatment of anxiety disorders, they have some potential for abuse and may cause dependence or addiction. It is important to distinguish between addiction to and normal physical dependence on benzodiazepines. Intentional abusers of benzodiazepines usually have other substance abuse problems. Benzodiazepines are usually a secondary drug of abuse-used mainly to augment the high received from another drug or to offset the adverse effects of other drugs. Few cases of addiction arise from legitimate use of benzodiazepines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine

that report is not a study so go take a pill.

Snoredog wrote:

GoofyUT wrote:I posted a response in the other thread, but once again.....

THANK YOU SO MUCH BOB!!!!!

It's the PERFECT study for the discussion on "Settling" and the differences in algorithms and I was so hoping that someone would dig up and post that study!!!

You're THE MAN Bob, and I'm very grateful for your post of that study.

Chuck

you and Bob are turning into quite the poster children of misinformation, that study has been shot down by nearly every medical statistician who has ever reviewed it. It's only financial sponsor was Resmed, then they boast that it was the only machine to respond to that breathing robot consistently over the years. That is because they were the only technical advisor and major contributor to its funding and design.

I guess if you have a dinosaur machine with an algorithm that hasn't changed in 10 years it should respond the same to a robot from the first test to the last.

and now you have resorted to using barbiturate class sedative-hypnotic drugs to sleep and you think that is a good thing?

I think blind leading the blind is more accurate.

According to the above quoted paragraphs on xanax or its generic equivalence, they have SOME potential for addiction and MAY cause addiction. That means that at least some people who take it will not become addicted or dependent. Personally, I've never found xanax to be addictive, nor have I needed more and more of it as time went on.

I think it's something to watch, but somehow I'm not worried about you, Chuck. Which is worse, not sleeping or needing a pill to sleep? Certainly, if other alternatives work, that's great. But if they don't, so be it.

Caroline