Sorry, Paul, no pic of me with a cpap mask on...I don't have sleep apnea! Apparently I don't have hypopnea either, despite what the tech said. What I *do* have is periodic leg movement disorder. My legs twitched or moved about 23 times an hour, resulting in 20 or so arousals, or movements from one stage of sleep to a lighter stage. Which, of course, sums up to I sleep like crap. It's kind of hard to get deep, restful sleep when your sleep stage is interrupted every three minutes or so.
Anyway. So now we are in the "try to fix it" part of the process. The first thing we're doing is having me take clonazepam at night. It's an anti-convulsant with muscle relaxant and anti-anxiety side effects, to stop the leg movement. We started out with a .5mg dose at night, and if there aren't significant benefits, we'll jump up to 1mg.
And let me tell you, I have noticed a difference! I am beginning to feel more rested. I'm not completely exhausted all day long. I have been on this med for a week, and I am very pleased. There still needs to be some tweaking, I do still get tired later in the day, and can easily take a 1.5 hour nap or so, but it's still SO much better. And that was on the .5mg dose.
Last night I bumped up to 1mg. And I overslept! I slept from about 9:30 to about 6:30 or 7. I don't know if that is related in any way to a bunch of stress I've been going through lately or what, but it was interesting. I'm more tired right now than I have been the last several days, but as I've also just gotten up, it could just be that. So we'll give it a bit of time. I might try the 1mg again tonight, depending on how the rest of the day goes.
I know I have about 15-16 years of sleep debt to make up, so I don't expect to feel all energetic and "cured" overnight (no pun intended). But a little better every day would be great, and not to fall any further behind also.
If overall we're not happy with how the clonazepam works, we'll move on to a dopominergic, which increases dopamine and reduces muscle contractions. Other possibilities, after we've worked on reducing the PLM, is to try a stimulant to counteract the daytime sleepiness. These include Provigil or, believe it or not, Ritalin! But that's ages down the road. First let's see how this one does. :)
So there ya go, peeps, my sleep results. I KNEW something was messed up with my sleep! Now to just tweak til it's all better. mk
7 comments:
So interesting. I learned a bunch of stuff from reading these past 2 posts. Very, very interesting. I'm glad something's working for you. :)
-bm
P.S. I've been neglecting my blog too.
Glad to hear that you won't need all the 'headgear'! No matter which med ends up working for you, will it have to be a rest-of-your-life deal??
Paul
Probably, Paul. I haven't confirmed with research, but I don't seem to remember reading anything that says that periodic leg movement goes away.
And I am soooooo happy I don't have to wear the headgear! :)
BM, so pleased to have been able to share some new information with you! :D
mk
how many arousals per hour??
yeahhhhh, you're funny, Ro! :P
You are awesome!!!!!
Yes, I'm leaving you comments everywhere. I would come spraypaint it on your car too, but I think that would make you mad. :)
-bm
Hey, the paint job on the markiramobile so badly needs to be redone, graffiti would probably improve it! So come on over! :D (besides, it would mean I got you to Maine)
Post a Comment