Sleep Meds & Sleep Apnea?

I think I would also severe ties w/anyone and everyone who referred me to a person who behaved this way.

But then, I find the older I get the less BS I tolerate

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I've taken Ambien off and one for over a year without any problems. Three different doctors have recommended it to me for various sleep problems. I've also used it during all my sleep studies per doctor's request, otherwise I wouldn't have slept all. I would think it would be more dangerous taking if your apnea wasn't under control with cpap.

You sound a lot like me. Most medicines that make people sleepy make me hyper (or crazy as I like to call it) and I can't sleep at all with them. So sounds like I'll stay away from ultram. My OSA isn't nearly as bad as yours. My worst OSA is in my cervical spine and I find that if I use the right kind of pillow, that helps. And mobic and alleve taken regularly (which I don't and then I suffer). I know I probably have some in my hips and lumbar spine just because they hurt. My doc says I need an xray but I tend to think well what is the point. I probably hurt as much from the weight I am carrying as I do from the osa. LOL, that's how I found out the flexoril made me sleepy. He prescribed it and that was the first time I took it without the lortab. I think by the time I went off the lortab, my body probably adjusted to the flexoril. I just don't have time to adjust to the flexoril at this point. Besides, flexoril and other muscle relaxers aren't good to take for too long.

The fm medicine helping with sleep and pain doesn't surprise me. The basis of those medications is to quiet the response of the nerves. Last spring, I got to hurting so bad in my neck, shoulder and down my arms, I was almost in tears most days. Prior to that, doc had raised level of mobic. I finally called my doc and said I couldn't handle the pain and he started me on hydrocodone and generic flexoril (I thought it was the hydrocodone making me sleepy) which I took even though I nearly slept through therapy because I hurt so badly. Well the pain got better but I started having numbness and prickly, needle pain down my arm all the way to my fingers. So went to see doc. He said, well, we have two options. I could give you lyrica which would helpt the numbness and tingling or we can get an mri to find out what's going on. After he listed all the side affects of lyrica, I chose the mri. (Found out once more that my claustophobia is worse than I thought). Turned out I had 4 herniated discs in my cervical spine and two of the herniations were pinching nerves, from which came the numbness, tingling and needle pain. Had surgery on my neck so that really helped. I've stopped taking ambien (for insomnia rather than pain issues). Got tired of the difficulty I had waking up the next day. I took that for probably two years and had no problems stopping as far as feeling addicted. Haven't taken that since a couple of days after my sleep study. I do have a whole bottle just in case I go through a huge spell of insomnia.

You are right though. OUr machines are there to help us and if we do have to take medications that affect breathing, than our machines should be set to manage that.

Oh and btw, if one more doctor informs me I have an age related medical problem, I believe I will scream.
[quote="Pugsy"Flexoril does the same thing to me. Heck even if I didn't have OSA and had to worry about that side effect I just can't function during the day with even a small dose. Knocks me on my butt for 2 days. ...Guess which one I get? Yep, insomonia. It wires me up and can't sleep. So can't take it at night and expect to sleep. So I have 3 meds that I sort of alternate with to help me "sleep through the pain"....So we deal with any possible issues that the meds might impact. That is what I have the machine for. It's not like if I didn't take the meds that I wouldn't need the machine anyway.

There is a time and place for help using meds. If the patient and the doctor are in agreement with their choices and options then that is all that matters. BTW I broke my wrist last summer..bad enough I had to have surgically repaired with pins. I was given the good stuff (Percocet) for pain and believe me the first few nights I needed it. My AHI didn't dramatically change from non Percocet nights. Maybe AHI increased 1..but it is normal to see such a change anyway. It most certainly didn't make it go anywhere near the 5 AHI number.[/quote][/quote]

Kairosgrammy wrote:Oh and btw, if one more doctor informs me I have an age related medical problem, I believe I will scream.

I hear you. For 2 years my fatigue, killer headaches, high blood pressure and poor sleep were blamed on "menopause" and anxiety/depression and they gave me Valium. Moved and got a new doctor and when presenting with my usual complaints as part of history...first words out of his mouth were "do you snore" and the rest is history. Of course I got the usual "gee you don't look like you would have sleep apnea"..meaning I am not very big. There is some thought that the surgery that I had on my cervical spine, which was rather extensive, may have caused some of the laxity in the tissues of the throat. No way to know for sure but the OSA symptoms only started a couple of years or so after the neck surgery.
I just shrug my shoulders because not much I can do about it now anyway. Had to have the neck surgery as the vertebrae were unstable and sitting on the spinal column itself. Talk about some killer neck pain...man it was like a hot poker in my neck 24/7. I am not pain free and never will be but it is hugely improved.

What about trazadone to help with sleep? Ambien wasn't helping me and my doc prescribed trazadone to take at bed. I haven't started it yet. Just doing a little research first. Anyone have any experience with it?

does restoril or clonezepam cause memory damage long term?

Trazedone is an older class anti-depressant and one of it's off label uses is as a sleep medicine. My doctor when I first started having problems with insomnia prescribed that. I think it has a low incidence of dependence. I took a 1/2 a dose (can't even remember the dosing to be honest) and to take a full pill if needed. It wasn't like ambien either where you really have to have a solid 8 hours before wake up.

sickwithapnea17 wrote:is trazodone mainly for schizophrenia?
does clonezepam cause memory damage long term?

TmjTerri wrote:I just wanted to let you all know that I deleted my question. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Your best bet is to contact the administrator of this website and ask to delete this conversation and explain why.
But your intent was good!


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The sleep doc told me to bring my ambien (similar medicine to lunesta, work the same way according to my doc) if I thought sleeping would be difficult and never said I needed to get off afterwards. I just stopped taking it because really sleeping made me feel better. I can't say about the Amtriptyline. Just honestly, you probably won't need it once you are using cpap. Most of us apnics wake up struggling for air. If you don't struggle for air, you don't wake up.

Corkster52 wrote:I am a new member and will be going in next Sunday for my 2nd sleep study where I will be using a cpap for the first time. I have been taking Lunesta (to get me to sleep) and Amtriptyline (to keep me asleep) for several years now. Just wondering if they will be an issue for me in the future with the cpap? I really would like to get off of them.

Thanks for all of the feedback. Had my titration study a few days ago, and had to take a second dose of Lunesta after 80 minutes awake. DME called and left a message for me to call back. Who knows, my have my S9 autoset (unless they say NO, then I may walk away) by the weekend!