Posted by Buster on June 26, 2008 at 22:54:25:

Forgive me if it's a bit long, but i would really love some feedback on this situation please. I can't seem to get the 'ask the technician' section to work for me, but maybe y'all can help:

First, I've had sleep problems since my teens, the worst of the onset at 19. My mother has RLS and my son has a severe arousal disoder. Both take Clonazepam to relieve their symptoms and it works well. I had been self-medicating for many years (and no, not with a stimulant) in my 20's, which masked the extent of my sleep problems. In my early 30's, I stopped all that and suddenly my symptoms came back full force and were very debilitating. So, I was referred for a sleep study which resulted in "only 2 apnea episodes, considered insignificant, no RLS, some PLMs, and failed MSLT for narcolepsy"; so no diagnosis, but the doctor confirmed that I was excessively sleepy. We tried a few different things, but I did not want to return to self-medication and she tried me on clonazepam (one pill before bed) since both my mother and son had significant relief. Well, the clonazepam is great - I feel rested when I sleep, I wake up well, I don't have to nap during the day, and I'm fine with 7.5-8 hours sleep. Without it, I can't think, I sleep 10 hours a night, I have trouble even getting to sleep alot, I nap almost every day without even planning to, I have no memory, I ahve elaborate dreams, etc...it's a nightmare.

I recently moved here and the dr's have insisted that I have another sleep study because they're not comfortable continuing my prescriptions without one. So fine, did it the other day. Of all things, it comes back as REM-related OSA with an AHI of 54.0 during REM sleep (severe) and of course the recomendation for a CPAP machine.

Here's my problem: I spent the past 10 days OFF of the clonazepam so the meds wouldn't skew the testing. Im not arguing with the diagnosis - I recognize that obviously I'm having apnea and that needs to be treated. But here's the thing....4 years ago when I was tested, I weighed 80 lbs less (all the med changes at the time triggered weight gain and I was too exhausted for a long time to keep working out). And when I was 80 lbs lighter, I didn't have any problems with apnea, which to me suggests that the apnea they're seeing is pretty directly related to the weight gain. On top of that, if it were apnea alone, then clonazepam should actually make it worse. As it is, when i went off it for the test, I battled periods of overwhelming sleepiness, was too sluggish to get stuff done and napped at least once a day, every day. As soon as it was over I went back on my meds and within two days I was back to normal, slept well, wake refreshed, don't need to nap, 7-8 hours sleep is enough, etc. And I haven't had the follow-up appt to get the CPAP.

One does not help the other...I'm not against treating the apnea, I agree that it's important, but I feel like they saw apnea and closed their eyes to any other evaluation. really feel like this apnea has appeared because of all this extra weight, but that the dr's ignored a) that I had no apnea when I was at a healthy weight and b) when I had no problems with apnea, from 19-32 years old, I still had significant sleep problems tat were relieved by treatment with clonazepam. What explains that? As it is, because they're all gung-ho on apnea, they feel no need to continue any other treatment besides the CPAP....

Am I way wrong here? I'm definitely getting the CPAP, I'm not resisting that. I just feel like once I've gotten myself back into shape, I really expect the apnea problem to be significantly resolved and then what? The apnea will be gone again, but the underlying sleep problem will still be there - it's been there and hasn't changed since I was in my teens....

I'm so frustrated.

Follow Ups:

---

Copyright ©1995-2008 Sleepnet.com., All rights reserved