central nervous sleep apnea

Is there a sleep disorder support group in ottawa, ontario?
I have been on trazadone and mirtazapine and other antidepressants for sleeping for over 15years. Ive been to 3 sleep clinics and diagnosed with mild case of Central Nervous Sleep Apnea. I tired the CPAP and it didn't help. My psychiatist just keeps switching my prescription and now sending me to another sleep clinic. But still can't find any solutions. I wake up in a drug hangover every morning and still feel like a truck ran over me. I wake up constantly during the night and have terrible side effects from the meds. The drugs blur my vision at night and I can't even read to get to sleep. I desperately want to get off the drugs because its affecting my life not to mention the damage on my liver and cognitive thinking. I am full time marketing specialist and teach fitness classes and personal trainer part-time. I run and workout daily. I maintain a very healthy lifestyle but the drugs have been slowly decreasing my well being.
I would like to hear from other people that may have similar issues or info on related articles or support groups.
Thanks,
Deborah

Hi - At the very least I would definitely ask my doctor to help me get off the meds temporarily to see the result... you may either be on too high of a dose or no longer need them at all, but don't just go off them on your own as that can cause all kinds of trouble itself... Once you've been off for a time (a few weeks?) then you can tell if you need to restart them, or possibly switch to something else, take different doses, etc. etc. You could also get a sleep study done as well as a thyroid test because thyroid problems can cause similar symptoms. If you do get a sleep study, wait til you've been off the drugs for a few weeks at least to be sure the residue is not having an effect.

I'm not sure what you mean by "central nervous sleep apnea", but if you're referring to "central sleep apnea" vs 'regular' apnea, there's only one way to tell if you do have that and a sleep study would be in order... It's much less likely that you'd have that however as it's much less common than regular apnea... If you just mean do you have apnea (sleep apnea) and were assuming it's a central nervous system disorder - your terminology is not really correct.... apnea may be a nervous system disorder (there are different origins) but it's not referred to that way.

I should also say that if you do have apnea, being on something like trazadone is a bad idea as it can very possibly make the condition worse, as can many meds. though if you need something for clinical depression (after having proven that it''s not a result of apnea - a very common story (being half asleep can mimic depression) - then you can always try other things along with Cpap if you need it.

Sounds like you need to see at least as many psychiatrists as sleep clinics! Are you sure your central sleep apnea is due to the meds? How are your AHI and AI, though it really doesn't matter since you feel so bad. I take psych meds and don't feel like you do annd don't seem to have centrals. Some doctors treat centrals with ASV instead of CPAP. Talk to the sleep doc.

If you had a sleep study and they determined you had "mild" central sleep apnea, then medications only rarely help. There are two options that help more. First, you can try a BiPAP S/T unit with oxygen. The S/T unit will switch to inhalation pressure if you have not initiated a breath within a certain amount of time. The second therapy (and the preferred by the medical researchers) is an ASV (adaptive servo-ventilator) unit. This in addition to the S/T type function, it also adds a ventilator function - when you fail to breathe. It helps sustain your breathing in spite of the central sleep apnea. This helps break a repetitive undershoot / overshoot cycle. It helps dramatically reduce central sleep apneas.

Though the other medication can help you sleep better ... as you note they come with the side effect of increasing the "fuzzy head" feeling. I personally also use mirtazapine to help promote deeper sleep. But like you, I find that I have to go off it after a while. Since poor sleep seems to cycle for me (every two to three weeks), I just add it when my sleep gets very bad. It then seems to help me break the pattern and improve my overall sleep.

Hope that helps.

This place in Ottawa might be interesting:

http://www.theroyal.ca/en/blog/2011/11/ ... for-youth/

See also:

http://www.theroyal.ca/en/research-at-t ... disorders/

Youn need to give more details about your medical ailment and results from sleep clinics.

dodoodles wrote:Is there a sleep disorder support group in ottawa, ontario?
I have been on trazadone and mirtazapine and other antidepressants for sleeping for over 15years. Ive been to 3 sleep clinics and diagnosed with mild case of Central Nervous Sleep Apnea. I tired the CPAP and it didn't help. My psychiatist just keeps switching my prescription and now sending me to another sleep clinic. But still can't find any solutions. I wake up in a drug hangover every morning and still feel like a truck ran over me. I wake up constantly during the night and have terrible side effects from the meds. The drugs blur my vision at night and I can't even read to get to sleep. I desperately want to get off the drugs because its affecting my life not to mention the damage on my liver and cognitive thinking. I am full time marketing specialist and teach fitness classes and personal trainer part-time. I run and workout daily. I maintain a very healthy lifestyle but the drugs have been slowly decreasing my well being.
I would like to hear from other people that may have similar issues or info on related articles or support groups.
Thanks,
Deborah

Welcome to the forum. I don't know of local support groups. However, I would be happy to participate in an Ontario group. I have a lot to learn, even though I've been a hoser for almost 15 years.
DaveL
Toronto

DaveL wrote: Welcome to the forum. I don't know of local support groups. However, I would be happy to participate in an Ontario group. I have a lot to learn, even though I've been a hoser for almost 15 years.
DaveL
Toronto

Dave and Deborah...

All you need is 3 or 4 people in your area who want to participate and you've got your group. I started Denver back in September with the help of some others and we've got a steady group now of 6 to 12 people who meet 1/month. All great people and you learn a lot from each other in person. Promote it here on cpaptalk.

Here's our group: viewtopic/t71157/DENVER-forum-meetup-Sa ... -10am.html

Well I went to high school in Ottawa andNepean Township a long time ago. I am a 5 or 6 hour drive away. So I am not a phone call away. However, interest stands.
Ontario support group.
Hope this helps.
DaveL

Thanks.

Suggest a group of Ontario or Canadian friends who might support each other. I am a 6 hour drive from Ottawa, though I shall be there Monday to help my Brother and Sister.

DaveL