Sleep study with Ambien

I’ve been off benzos for several years but I feel I still struggle with long term withdrawal. For instance, if I cave in and have alcohol from time to time I’m struggling with terrible insomnia usually about 4-7 days later and it lasts for a few weeks. Then I return to my default usual 5-7 hours of extremely broken sleep. Tonight I have a sleep study and they have prescribed 5mg Ambien for the procedure. What are the chances this is going to set me way back?

Why take the Ambien?  I had 2 sleep studies done and the Ambien is only if you can't fall asleep on your own. 

In addition, sleep studies almost exclusively look only for apnea.  So if you don't have apnea they are a waste of time IMO.

 

Also alcohol works on GABA the same way Benzos do.  That's why if you drink too much you are having sleep issues for a few weeks. 

Better to completely avoid the alcohol

 

I've been off just over 5 years and I have an occasional beer or 2 max.  I don't want to drink anymore and risk ruining my sleep plus I'm not a big drinker anyway

 

If you do decide to take the Ambien it most likely will not be any worse than drinking a few alcoholic drinks?  You should be fine?

 

I had surgery on my elbow 2 years ago and was given Propofol 4 times (2 surgeries) and it did nothing and others said it caused setbacks for them.

 

Good luck.

 

"Sleep studies" are nothing more than a racket to sell you a CPAP machine, and since it's usually covered by your "benefits", that means it's money you never get to see anyway. So you either lose it, or you give to to these effin' scammers for free.

I had a sleep study done and they certainly didn't prescribe Ambien. WTF??? The study *found* a bit of apnea towards morning (oh please, I've always knows I snored  a bit) and then the fun began. The sleep study place (separate from the hospital -- a commercial endeavor) phoned me incessantly for weeks pushing a CPAP machine. Finally I had to tell them to STOP calling me. But the study confirmed what I basically believed -- that there was nothing really *wrong* with me . . . and that my insomnia was one of the nasty, lingering benzo w/d s/x. Just like almost every other buddie on here.

 

So . . . hmmf. Gosh, Andros, I hope you're not paying for the sleep study?

 

Best to you,

 

Katz

Oh man. These are the experts. God help us.

 

I had a sleep study once, I felt like i didn’t sleep at all. They said I did, and that was pretty much all that came from it. Oh I got a fancy report too. Saying I had “sleep state misperception”.

 

They are looking for apnea. If u don’t have it, u have insomnia and all they can do to help with that is drugs.

 

We really need a machine that checks hormones and neurotransmitters so until they have that ur better off staying home. Waste of time unless u have apnea.

I have never done a sleep study but I can't take Ambien. That quite working for me right around the time Xanax quit working for me. I have tons of Xanax and Ambien and I can't take either! They stopped working. I'm on my own.

Yeah, I tried a sleep study a couple months ago and never fell asleep so they rescheduled with ambien. I do have apnea, the question is it enough to explain all my awakenings and is it enough for a cpap. I’ll find out tonight I guess. I figure I’ll take 1/4 of the ambien and hope for the best.

I will never take a benzo or a Z-Drug again if they had a gun pointed to my head.

 

oregonkatz, I never went to a study, but the docs were really pushing for me to go, as was my work's insurance company, because you know, they are the "experts".

 

I snore, so guaranteed they would have found "apnea" and stuck me on one of those CPAP machines. BTW guess what? My brother bought a CPAP for himself outside the medical system (so he could try it without being tied at the hip to it by these a-holes). When I was only sleeping about 3hr, one issue I was having was that my snores would wake me up. So he let me borrow it. Soooooooooooooo.......I fitted it for me and tried it a couple of nights. I was still snoring even with the machine hooked up. LOL

 

I am now getting 8hr sleep, no pills no CPAP no supplements except for Magnesium. I still snore. It appears to have negligible effect on my sleep.

 

All these "sleep centers" and "sleep doctors" should be (insert your favorite punishment in here). Everyone I know that gets snared by the "apnea" racket, HAS to wear a machine (that is chipped with a SIM card, so that they know if you are using it or not). If they don't do it, they can take your driver's license away. What an evil system.

I went to a “sleep specialist” also back when I was going through the extreme insomnia. One of the biggest assholes I’ve ever come across in a professional setting. I nearly cussed him out he was such a jerk. He saw in my eyes too that I was half a second from wrecking his face and his demeanor totally changed. I never went back to one of those quacks.

 

I agree with others. Their only solutions are CPAP or drugs going through one of those type of doctors.

I went to a “sleep specialist” also back when I was going through the extreme insomnia. One of the biggest assholes I’ve ever come across in a professional setting. I nearly cussed him out he was such a jerk. He saw in my eyes too that I was half a second from wrecking his face and his demeanor totally changed. I never went back to one of those quacks.

 

I agree with others. Their only solutions are CPAP or drugs going through one of those type of doctors.

 

The problem, realistically speaking is: What else do they have? For people that show up with insomnia, the following is assumed:

 

1. Apnea is the root cause

2. If apnea is ruled out, then the only other thing they can offer is drugs.

 

Ironically, people that show up to a sleep study, might get hooked on a CPAP, *and* a benzo. I've seen doctors online recommending someone take a benzo to sleep while "getting used to the machine".

 

If you show up with benzo cause insomnia, they don't believe you. All the doctors I talked to thought it was apnea, or psychological.

 

I do think there's a psychological component, but it's hard to parse what's physical and psychological on your own, let alone any idiot who's NOT inside your body.

 

If you want to check if you have apnea, you can download phone apps that record you at night and analyze your snoring. Most snoring I think is not a huge deal, but if you sound like you're struggling to breathe, that's probably a sign you have apnea. That's probably the time to go see one of these quacks, so they can trip over themselves to put you on a CPAP