problems falling asleep after waking up

MaxDarkside · Post by **MaxDarkside** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:45 pm

need2snooze wrote:I was reading this thread with curiosity, as I often wake up after 4-5 hours of sleep. What really hit me, though, was what MaxDarkSide said about Excedrin. I hope he is still reading this thread b/c I would like to know how he quit Excedrin cold turkey.

My situation is different. I have chronic neuropathy body aches. I won't call it "fibromyalgia" because mine is clearly hereditary neuropathy, probably a demyelinating one, from my mom. Anyway, I can go cold turkey just by hurting, looking at the Excedrin (or other analgesics) bottle and saying to myself, "No. Tough it out." My pain level while taking Excedrin was like a 4 on the pain scale. When I quit it went to 5 for a while, then dropped to a 3. Being at pain 3 and no drugs is better than taking them and being at a pain 4. I still take 1-2 in the AM with my blood pressure meds to eliminate the more acute neuropathic pain when I wake up and as an aspirin prophylactic for my heart, per the doc, due to high blood pressure.

Migraines manifesting in acute pain would be an altogether different situation.

Edit: The loop I got into was this... I would have body aches. I take Excedrin. I feel better, for a while, then I feel worse than before (called "analgesic rebound"), so I take Excedrin, repeat, but the length of "feeling better for a while" got shorter and shorter to where I was nearly always taking Excedrin to avoid the "feel worse than before". In a "I have daytime sleepiness" meeting with my neurologist, I mentioned this. He hit the brakes and told me to bust the cycle and not get into it again. Tough it before I start doing damage, that I'll feel better in the end. He was right.

need2snooze · Post by **need2snooze** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:15 pm

Thanks for the info, MaxDarkside. I'm always looking for ways to deal with, or hopefully, get rid of, the migraines so I won't need any painkillers. Learning as much as I can about my sleep apnea is one of the best ways I can think of to greatly reduce my migraines and frequent headaches.

MaxDarkside · Post by **MaxDarkside** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:38 pm

My wife takes Relpax (Eletriptan) at the first sign of a migraine. It works wonders for her, but I think there are a lot of different kinds of migraines, many different causes and associated issues. My wife has a raft load of "associated issues" that sent her to Mayo for a week's testing and 6 diagnoses, the least of which were migraines.

Suzjohnson · Post by **Suzjohnson** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:51 pm

I was shocked at the reduction in headaches when I was told to quit the Excedrin. The neurologist insisted and by golly, he was right. CPAP has resolved the wake up headaches, so if it weren't for migraines, I would call myself headache free for the first time in probably 20 years. It's like a miracle! Now if only Bayer asprin would take care of arthritis and body aches, I would be in little pig heaven.

Suz

need2snooze · Post by **need2snooze** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:10 pm

MaxDarkside-I Did Relpax for a couple of years until it stopped working, then Maxalt, then Imitrex, same thing. Dr. then prescribed another drug that insurance would only cover with a much larger co- pay. I did some research and found out that the drug was basically Imitrex + Aleve. I can do that myself a whole lot cheaper. As patients, especially sleep apnea patients, we really have to be on our toes about what our healthcare providers are providing for us and make sure we're not paying too much and getting too little.

Suz- that's great! I'm always mindful of not taking too much Excedrin, as a former dr. of mine told me the same thing. The CPAP has eliminated those daily morning headaches, unless I wake up with a migraine from something I ate the previous night, like I did at 2:00 this morning (darn that Trader Joe's ice cream!). But how much is too much Excedrin and how long does it stay in your system? That's what im curious about - especially if it is interfering with my sleep cycles on a regular basis, not just when I have a migraine. I'll keep researching......

MaxDarkside · Post by **MaxDarkside** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:30 pm

I think I'm the lucky one... I rarely get headaches and never the morning ones people around here talk about. I was remarkably surprised at how many had morning headaches and how xPAP would help. "What are these people talking about? Am I supposed to be having them?" I felt like the kid sitting on the couch alone at the birthday party, left out.

49er · Post by **49er** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:19 am

justacpapuser wrote:I have been using CPAP for about a month now. I have RERA (respiratory event/effort related arousals).
My CPAP pressure is 11cm and it has helped me a great deal. I'm using a full face mask (Quattro FX).
For the first 2-3 weeks, I was able to sleep 6-7 hours straight, which is something unheard of for me (at least in the last 13 years or so).
But then, for whatever reason, I stopped sleeping that well. For a little over a week now, I'm able to fall asleep for 3-4 hours and then I wake up.
I feel the urge of taking the mask of and changing position from sleeping on my back to my stomach (which I can't have the mask on).
I tried to continue using the mask after I wake up but for some reason I just can't seem to fall back asleep (was able to do so in the initial few weeks on the rare occasions when I did wake up at night).
Without the mask I fall asleep eventually but wake up multiple times.

Some of it might be due to the heat. I do feel my face getting hot - weather has changed where I am now quite a lot from about a month ago.
But am not sure if that is the reason. I am going to try the Swift FX nasal pillows and see how that works.
I am still much better than without a CPAP but am missing putting my head on the pillow and waking up in the morning after 6-7 hours without waking up.
I hope that the new mask and sleeping positions it allows will indeed fix my issue.
I do maintain good sleep hygiene and always have been even though I didn't know it.

I called my doctor and he said it is possible that in the initial few weeks I slept pretty good because I was making up for all those lost years but the need to shift positions can be very important for some individuals.
If someone else has had similar issues I will greatly appreciate any help/insight.

I am finding that drinking sleeptime tea with half and half plus eating a few almonds is working great in getting me back to sleep. It can take awhile but it works for me.

49er

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