Clonazepam

izzyb wrote:.........
Rooster, Wow! I thought treatment for my sleep apnea was supposed to help me attain those things. If I were only that perfect I wouldn't have depression, sleep apnea, insomnia, aches and pains; be overweight, grumpy or lonely.
.......

It is vicious circle, IMO. Sleep apnea can cause depression and insomnia; which causes weight gain, grumpiness and loss of human relationships; which causes aches and pains; which makes sleep apnea worse.

Get the software into the circle. You need to first make sure you have minimal apneas at night. Then you can work on insomnia. Then depression should improve some. Then grumpiness can decline. Then you can make friends. Then depression goes away.

Good luck to you Izzyb.

Rooster, your are so right. But, I have had dysthymia all my life. I was hoping that treating the sleep apnea would help that. It hasn't seemed to help anything except no more trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night anymore. So I know it is doing something.

rooster wrote:[It definitely makes me sleep. But then I feel worse the next day. I doubt that the sleep you get when taking it is a normal sleep architecture and this may be why you feel bad the next day.

All Benzodiazepines reduce the amount of Deep and REM sleep you get.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=dNiuq2bwgng

Well, jskinner, that was certainly enlightening. This sure makes my doctors look like idiots.

So I was checking out the software and card reader and they are $139 each! Is there somewhere else to get them. Maybe in a bundle. $139 once I can stomach, but not double that.

That's probably the "minimal advertised price" force by Respironics. Call cpap.com to get the real price they want to sell it for.

O.

izzyb wrote:So I was checking out the software and card reader and they are $139 each! Is there somewhere else to get them.

The Card reader can be had for $24 USD at http://two-factor.com/shop/index.php?productID=115

Thanks, jskinner, but it is not in stock. I knew that was too good to be true. Do you know anyone who got one from them? It's not used is it? As you can tell, my glass is always half full.

Back to clonazepam. Yes, I think we have a great deal of over-medicating in our society, but thanks to whoever noted that some people do need meds.

I have been using clonazepam for 15 years for Restless Leg Syndrome. I would not be able to sleep without it since my legs jerk just as I am dozing off as if an electrical charge is moving through them. It can sometimes be quite painful. I use a .5 dosage which stops the jerking although if I get sick or stressed, my legs can get worse and I require up to 1.5 to calm them down. When that's over, I go back to the low dose. So, my case is not one in which I have to keep raising the dosage over time to get the same effect. The drug also does help make me drowsy, but I don't feel sluggish the next day even if I've had to raise the dosage.

I know that clonazapam does affect sleep as my sleep analysis says (for those who understand these things) that "prominent alpha and exaggerated sleep spindles were detected in EEG likely secondary to Clonazepam."

There are other drugs for RLS although my dr. seems to feel that if I'm stable on clonazapam I should stay on it as it can be hard to find the right dosage with another Rx.

Moral of the story, I guess, is that certain drugs are useful for some people and that an across-the-board condemnation of drug use is not helpful since individuals vary greatly.

Claire

Guest (sorry forgot to log in) wrote: Moral of the story, I guess, is that certain drugs are useful for some people and that an across-the-board condemnation of drug use is not helpful since individuals vary greatly.

Claire

Hear, hear! Although I'm not partial to loads of pharmaceuticals, I've been using clonazepam for a number of years with none to minimal side effects. I use it when my PTSD symptoms get bad and then as soon as they've improved, I drop the dosage to a bare minimum so it will continue to be effective. Yes, it is a benzodiazepine and it is long-acting. I also use Ambien (regular) and take it 5 nights per week on nights before work. Friday and Saturday nights I skip to reduce the habituation. Occasionally I'll have a spell of a month or two where I can cut it down to 5 mg. I'm working on sleep hygiene with mixed success. Still working on it - just got a new book to try.

Trazodone and benadryl have the opposite effect for me - they make me totally wired so I can't sleep at all.

IMHO, it's all about trade-offs and personal needs and our own reactions to meds.

Mindy

izzyb wrote:Do you know anyone who got one from them? It's not used is it? As you can tell, my glass is always half full.

Many from this site got their reader from that site (me included). No they are brand new.