Posted by EnglishEric on February 26, 2010 at 03:00:56:In Reply to: apnea, insomnia?? posted by theVerve on February 24, 2010 at 18:53:35:
Hello Verve, I am also British and live in Wiltshire so I can empathise with you on your NHS comments. I have had insomnia for almost 20 years but it took until 4 years ago to get diagnosed with OSA. I went everywhere in the UK from Leicester to Oxford, I eventually gave up on the NHS and went privately to a Harley Street Clinic who arranged for a two night sleep study (because my problems were irregular), obviously it was costly but it changed everything. I was diagnosed with mild to moderate OSA and prescribed a cpap auto machine which averages a pressure of 7.0. By the way although you need a referral to a NHS clinic like Oxford you do not need to be referred to Harley Street, my Sleep Doctor has appeared in television programmes and you would probably recognize him. I have had almost all the symptoms you describe especially the leg jerks at night and all over the body muscle jerks during the daytime, fortunately my GP was able to sort that one out and prescribe 5 mg diazepam (valium), 4 times daily, it works very quickly thankfully because the muscle twitching always happens on a vein or artery or near the heart and it is weird. I belong to The Sleep Apnoea Trust (just google this and visit their website) they are great, it is similar to this forum but they have help phone lines manned by sufferers and their partners based in the UK. I would love to write more to answer any questions so just shoot away. Best Regards English Eric