Posted by Skip Baumhoefner on July 12, 2000 at 17:24:15:

I just left one of the nation's highest regarded sleep disorder centers and am so angry that I can hardly control the words I am using.
Short background: suffered concussion June 1999. Shortly thereafter, found that I would go to sleep easily at normal times but wake up within 5 to 20 minutes, stay up for about 2 hours, sleep for 5 to 20 minutes. Needless to say, I became exhausted. Since I had also injured my neck and back, the Doctors first treated lack of sleep caused by pain. Not True. I felt the best lying down or lying in bed.
EEG's showed that even in entering sleep stage, my alert brain waves stayed fully alert. No change from being awake to falling asleep.
Doctor put me on Ambien. Knock out in 15 minutes.

Worked hard to get an appointment to Sleep Disorder Center. They interviewed me, scheduled an accumeter, (a computer recorder that looks like a watch that I wore for 2 weeks and logged every activity)
Meet with the Sleep Doctor today, his response was that with Ambien my sleep pattern was normal. WHAT!!!
I know that without Ambien I have totally fragmented sleep. His response was that since my pattern was normal with Ambien, there was nothing else to do. He also stated that there are no cases, or so few cases, where a concussion has caused this sleep disorder that it was not related. He declared that it was probably due to depression or anxiety. Therefore he has cursed me to a life of drugs and no sleep.
I do not believe that it is real sleep with Ambien. I do not feel rested and need to take 1 to 3 naps by 11AM to finally wake up so I am alert enough to even visit or read.

HELP>
Any suggestions?
I want to drive this quack out of the business. He is regarded as one of the top experts in the field, and is one of the teaching Doctors at a Medical Teaching Hospital, and speaks on the subject around the world. He was arrogrant, had no consideration that I knew anything.

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