trying yet another medication for sleep

Sleepynomore, My doctor refuses to perscribe Ambien He had a patient who got hurt sleep walking evidently it was bad enough that he refuses to write scripts for that medicine.

geoDoug, Thanks for all the tips, I do go to bed at the same time every night and do not have trouble getting to sleep. I do not read in bed, watch TV or do anything else that isn't sleeping other than toss and turn.

At one time I would have had to say yes, my mind is racing when I wake up but that is not true for the last year or so. I am a clock watcher though and only recently learned to turn it away from my view.

As for my mornings, I do not go for a walk immediately upon getting up unless I am at the beach. I have arthritus in my feet and cannot walk on hard surfaces. BUT I do get up immediately and wash up, feed my pets and open all the blinds. If the weather is nice I go out on the porch and have my morning tea. I then cook my breakfast and take my meds. I cannot exercise before eating due to blood sugar problems. I never lie in bed in the morning. Just can't do it never could.

I have also tried various forms of sleep deprivation though not exactly what you propose. I have tried staying up later, not napping during the day, never sleeping in past 7am and a few other alterations to get me to sleep longer... all to no avail. Paradoxially the longer I stay awake, the less I am able to sleep. Recently I brough this up in a dialog with my doctor. He advises against voluntary sleep deprivation due to medical reasons. He says that when he has a patient that only sleeps two to three hours a night he is not going to recommend taking away what little sleep they do get.

I do think the sleep diary is a good idea. I have been meaning to set one up for a while now but I was just too tired LOL I do know that I wake up at 3am every day regardless of when I go to sleep and how many times I wake up prior to that time. My husband and I have tried to find a reason for this but haven't come up with any yet. The closest thing we figured whas that I did use to work the 5am - 2pm shift a few years back. But even then I didn't get up until 4:15 as work was only 5 minutes from home.

Thanks for all your imput I have printed out the thread so I have it to refer back to. The one thing I do thank goodness for is that I do not yet dread going to bed as many insomniacs do. Every day I go to bed expecting to have a good night's sleep.

magpie wrote:The one thing I do thank goodness for is that I do not yet dread going to bed as many insomniacs do. Every day I go to bed expecting to have a good night's sleep.

Woohoo! That's a HUGE step! Getting your mind in the right place is so important in overcoming insomnia. If you aren't thinking the right way, you're going to end up in a nightly internal struggle. It's an ugly downward spiral.

Doug.

Hello Magpie,

When I joined this forum six months ago, I was struck by a posting in which you described your apnea symptoms, complications, and ongoing sleep problems. I felt as if I could have written it. You were about to begin CPAP therapy, and I had just begun. We were both hopeful that good sleep was within our reach...

It's too bad that you are still suffering. I, too, still awaken inexplicably at 3:00 a.m., sometimes earlier, and every hour or half-hour thereafter until I just give up. The awakenings are abrupt, followed by restlessness (rearranging bed pillows and coverings, adjusting my CPAP mask, etc.) and sometimes difficulty returning to sleep. I never feel rested in the morning.

After a few months of CPAP use, I complained that although my numbers looked good (100% compliant, AHI consistently under 5), I was not feeling more rested or energetic. My primary doctor offered no explanation except that perhaps I needed a different type of machine.

He referred me to a pulmonologist, who lowered my pressure from 10 to 9 cm H20, ordered pulmonary function tests, and prescribed steroidal and saline nasal sprays. According to the pulmonologist, my test results were "consistent with sleep apnea," and I should "just get used to waking up" because she did not want to prescribe any sleep medications. She was nice but not helpful.

There was no mention of whether or not a different type of machine might help me. There was also no mention of the central sleep apnea observed in my diagnostic sleep study. (Actually, I had more central events than obstructive events, which I recall was the case with you.)

This is all leading to today, when visiting my DME for CPAP filters, I met a new respiratory therapist who asked how I was doing. When I said I have not yet begun to sleep better, he checked my reports and suggested that my straight CPAP was treating only half my problem (the obstructive apneas) and not the other half (the centrals). He further recommended that I speak to my doctors about getting a VPAP Adapt SV, and gave me a data sheet from ResMed. He said he's observed people with problems just like mine "sleep like a baby" with that machine. Wow, does that sound good to me!

Magpie, are you sure that your APAP is the right machine for you? Or am I mistaken about your mixed apnea?

papoose wrote:I, too, still awaken inexplicably at 3:00 a.m., sometimes earlier, and every hour or half-hour thereafter until I just give up.

FWIW, just throwing this out there: I'm far from being 100% compliant. One of the consistent side-effects of using my CPAP is that, in addition to waking up refreshed, I need less sleep. If I go to bed at the same time as usual, I wake up much earlier and get out of bed.

Maybe the answer is that simple? Just a thought.

One other thing along the same lines. Oddly enough this is consistent: If I listen to my body and get out of bed when my body wakes me up early, I feel refreshed that day. If I spend the next couple of hours trying to get back to sleep, I don't feel as good, even if I spent the same number of hours "on the hose." I won't pretend to understand why, because I don't have to know why.

Doug.