Sleep Problems?
I have chronic sleep problems (over 10 years). I have extreme difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. I’m seeing a sleep specialist next week, but I’d appreciate some feedback on what to ask.
I had as sleep study done 10 years ago and was diagnosed with hypopnia (not apnea). CPAP seems to help, and is tolerable.
It’s hard to deal with the CPAP when you can’t fall asleep for hours, so I often fall asleep without it and it does little good.
I’ve been taking Ambien for 5 years, but it’s loosing effectiveness. Now it causes me to loose memory, and I’m getting up and doing things during the night with no memory.
I’ve gotten fed up with that side effect, and had my doctor switch me to Lunesta this week. It doesn’t have the knock-out punch of Ambien, but it seems like I’m still awake all night. I’m asleep at some level, but it sure feels like I’m awake.
I think all the Ambien does is make me forget I can’t sleep.
Any advice?
Hypopnia is where your breathing doesn’t stop, but it is shallow or slow. In my case it wasn’t impacting my blood oxygen saturation, but was waking my body enough that I rarely entered the "restful sleep" phase.
I’ve tried melatonin before, but it didn’t seem to help. Actually, I’ve read all sorts of books for answers or remedies, but nothing has been a magic bullet.
I’ve also had surgery to correct a deviated septum. That helped a little.
I think I’ve tried about everything. I’m hoping someone has some new cutting edge ideas. Right now I’m thinking of restricting myself to 4 hours of sleep a day. Maybe I just wasn’t meant to sleep a normal 7-8 hours.
