Take a sleeping pill or not on test night?

chunkyfrog wrote:Had I felt anxious about the study, I would have brought along an alprazolam--just in case.
Of course, I would have run it by my doctor first.
As it was, I'm that person who was awakened by the nurses (in the hospital) to take a sleeping pill,
which I refused, scolding them for disturbing my sleep in the first place.

Is Diazepam similar to Alprazolam?


Stevoreno_55
MS Gulf Coast
05/11/14

I didn't know either, but this seems fairly complete:
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Alprazolam_vs_Diazepam
These days, you don't have to know everything--just where to find it.

As always, talk to your doctor. But here's the argument your doctor might make against a benzo (like diazapan and alprazolam) or even an antihistimine, as opposed to something like Ambien, unless you're regularly on it and your doctor says to keep taking it for the study: they affect sleep architecture, which means if REM onset is delayed, that might obscure a diagnosis of narcolepsy (the half life of these medications, especially diazapam, lasts long into the MSLT the next day, if it's part of your study); and if REM is suppressed or the periods are shortened significantly (as it was for me my first test, since my percentages are so low as it is and tylenol PM knocked it straight out), you may have difficulty getting a good titration/diagnosis, since REM is when many people have most frequent events. (The lab I used for my studies didn't have a benchmark for how much REM you got for them to consider it an official, accurate titration night, so I ended up with only a fraction of the pressure I actually needed.)

The Latinist wrote:Follow your doctor's instructions, of course; most likely they will want you to take everything you usually take. If I didn't usually take a sleeping pill, I would not want to on the night of my sleep study; but I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat pretty much anywhere. That said, a sleep study with no sleep is useless, so if you anticipate difficulty I would definitely bring something just in case.

I asked my doctor to prescribe a sleeping pill as I normally struggle to sleep in hotels, and I normally go to sleep between 4 and 6am, a lot later than the normal start time for a sleep study. My insurance won't pay for the sleep study if I don't sleep long enough, and it was at the high end of what people report for costs of a sleep study.

As it is, I did a split night study, and never reached deep sleep or REM during the diagnosis phase. While it could be argued that my sleep apnea might have been more severe with medication than without, it is also possible that it would have been worse had I actually been tested all night and reach REM sleep. So, I am very happy with my results. Also, being severe (ahi 79), it also tells me I need to take care of this, so I have more incentive to keep at it than somebody who finds they are "just mild".

Take between 5 and 10 mg of Zolpidem (generic Ambien) just before sleep and tell the Technologist about it. It may delay REM (so what) but would not affect the EVENTS.