Waking up every 3 hours? Doc Says Sleep Meds are solution?

Nicely said, Kathy.

I have Central Sleep Apnea and all of the diagosis stemmed from a visit to a sleep clinic because I had problems falling and staying asleeps. So, now I have a VPAP and mask, the whole nine yards. This certainly has not made my general sleep problems any better. The sleep doc said that it was best that I use Ambien consistantly as the stress of not falling asleep was not a good thing. As a licensed physician, I hate using any long term soporifics (sleeping pills) but it is a case of "you can pay me now or you can pay me later", in other words, all options are less than desirable

Hey, Velbor, as you well know, good friend, I was fortunate to have a good sleep doc, a GOOD sleep lab and a real SHEISTER as my first DME supplier. MOST of us in this forum got here BECAUSE our DME suppliers, sleep doctor or sleep labs left too much to be desired and "us" out in the cold. So ... bear w/us and our gripes and pot shots at the sleep profession. If it hadn't been for YOU in an apnea forum that auto titration so many months ago now would have been a REAL WASTE.

BrackStone, prior to CPAP I had trouble GETTING to sleep PLUS staying asleep. I was on a 2 hour cycle. Two hours asleep, two hours awake, two hours asleep, all night long and fighting exhaustion all day, often in two hour cycles as well.

That improved w/CPAP therapy, but I still ran into that cycle on occasion for a LONG time. A little more erratic, not as close to 2 hours on the nose as prior to CPAP but close enough.

It might be time for an at-home auto titration to see if your pressure needs have changed. Maybe your CPAP needs its pressure calibrated to be sure its producing what it is supposed to produce.

Did you ever get a copy of both the doctor's dictated results (usually 1-2 pages) AND the scored data summary report (5 or more pages w/condensed graphs) for both your sleep evaluation AND your titration? The answer just might lay there in those results. If you don't have copies of them, ask for them. You have a legal right to those copies via HIPAA if you are in the USA.

I was fortunate, while I did eventually have to resort to Ambien, I only used it 7 nights straight, evidently long enough to break the cycle. AND I was fortunate to have NO SIDE EFFECTS except falling alseep w/in 10 minutes or so and a guaranteed 4 hours of sleep. No hung over after effects in the AM either. (I never tried the Ambien CR).

I did try Lunesta ONCE. My doctor gave me some samples when I asked about maybe trying Ambien CR to get that additional 3-4 hours of sleep. It worked. I slept 7 straight hours. I dont' remember whether there was any hung over or other undesirable side effects BECAUSE I was overwhelmed w/the gawd-awful, long-lasting, HOR-EYE-BULL after taste. It took I don't know how many teeth brushing, mouth rinses and until noon to get rid of that taste. I've never touched another one.

I still have some of my original 30 tablets of the first Ambien script fill left. I will still use it on occasion. Even tho there are refills left on it, the script is too old to be honored so in due time I'll be asking for another script for it.

I have Crohn's disease so I HAVE to take 16 capsules a day just for that (or 8 a day of a larger size, much larger size) so adding even one more pill a day is not something that I look forward to. With Crohn's disease I've found that ANYTHING I put in my mouth can be a potential hazard, natural, script or just plain food if the disease is active. So I do NOT take taking meds or a new med lightly. But at times one does what one has to do.

Well I generally really like my Dr. (internal medicine/not sleep Dr) but we could not seem to get any real diagnoses for my lack of sleep and finally one day after sitting up all night and searching the net I found a couple of OSA websites. After reading other's experiences that sounded much like mine I called my Dr. and requested that he get me in for a sleep study. Low and behold I do have SA with PLMD.

The problem is that no matter how much I like my Dr. I am the one that had to suggest the sleep study. I think it is like some have said. Dr's see to many patients and even the best spend to little time with us.
After 9 months of fairly effective treatment the last 3 months have been more like the old me, waking every hour, restless etc. I am in the process of trying to gather enough money to buy an auto myself and see if I need adjustments in my therapy. There are no specific sleep Dr's in my small town so it is more reasonable to just buy the machine instead of paying my deductible over and over for sleep studies.

I finally asked my Dr. for a very low dose ambien (5mg) which I take about every 3rd night if I am not sleeping. That small dose seems to help me sleep deeper and longer without feeling drugged out in the morning.
I hate taking a drug but sometimes I just HAVE to get some rest.

My Dr. isn't big on sleeping pills but does see that sometimes they can help. He does warn of constant use and abuse though and I think he would crack down on me if he saw that tendency.

It may seem to some people that visit this site that we are bashing Dr's or DME's. I do see some major irritation with DME'S (generally with good cause) I don't see a lot of Dr. bashing.

The DME'S I have visited with personally have left a lot to be desired and their business is $$$. Therefore the major tone of a visit with them is to sell you what they have in stock and/or what they need to push to make the most money. After getting shafted a few times with that attitude a person who is stuck in the middle tends to get a little irked.

Best defense in my opinion for DME's would be a good offense and to me that means take time with your customer, actually care about why they are visiting your business and actually listen and don't sell the customer a load of goods because today more than every the customer has more knowledge about equipment and the therapy than many of the DME'S.

This of course is just my opinion.

Well, now, DieselGal, just 'cause you said it I'm gonna "knock" some of these sleep docs!

I have no use for those "prima donna" Sleep doctors who "just" read the scored report, dictate their results and suggestions which they send on to the "referring physician" who most likely is NOT familiar w/CPAP and sleep apnea and then are only available for "consultation" w/the referring doctor and NEVER see the patient or talk to the patient. And there are far too many of them!

And far too many sleep labs that are utilizing or contracting or whatever you want to call it w/these type of doctors rather than having a sleep doctor on staff are also on my "less than desirable" list.

Slinky wrote:Well, now, DieselGal, just 'cause you said it I'm gonna "knock" some of these sleep docs!

I have no use for those "prima donna" Sleep doctors who "just" read the scored report, dictate their results and suggestions which they send on to the "referring physician" who most likely is NOT familiar w/CPAP and sleep apnea and then are only available for "consultation" w/the referring doctor and NEVER see the patient or talk to the patient. And there are far too many of them!

And far too many sleep labs that are utilizing or contracting or whatever you want to call it w/these type of doctors rather than having a sleep doctor on staff are also on my "less than desirable" list.

I can't argue with that either!

i agree with diesalgal...i guess i didn't see my comment, or anyone else's as dr. bashing

after nearly 43 years of having lots of complicated health issues, my experience has been that all of the 3 GP's i've had and all of the many specialists i've seen are far too eager to whip out the prescription pad, and far too reluctant to pursue other avenues, least of all try to get to the bottom of symptoms

i've been on more than one prescribed medication that was later pulled from the shelves due to the fact that they were proven unsafe...and one of those i took every day for 17 years

so...
am i suspicious of pharmaceuticals? yes
do i think that "sick care" is first and foremost a money making industry? yes
do i think medications have their uses, if totally necessary? yes
do i believe that dr's prescribe too quickly, too casually? yes
do i believe that doctors act in the best interest of their patients? sometimes
do i believe that people need to do their own research, make their own decisions and not blindly follow the advice of their overworked, overstressed doctors? absolutely
will i continue to offer my opinion to people who ask for it? sure, why not; mine's just one of many


so yeah, if that's dr. bashing, then i'm guilty
but not one of the dr.'s who has made an error in my treatment over the years has admitted it, acknowledged it or apologized for it, so i'll admit that i'm not the most unbiased forum member when it comes to pharmaceutical use

Hi Brackstone,
How long have you been using a machine? What are your settings?
I found that on APAP, I was waking up all night long. When I switched to straight CPAP, it stopped happening. Some of us are awakened by the changing pressures of APAP and do better with the consistency of the CPAP setting.

kteague wrote:.........

This is a tough audience, because many who frequent the forum found their way here when not getting the help they needed from their medical professionals. ............

Ditto for me - well said Kathy.

[quote="brackstone"]Hi Everyone,

About every 3 hours I wake up in the middle of the night. I don't really feel any particular reason for the arousal (biobreak, itching, uncomfortable posistion, etc.) I just wake up.