Sleep specialists

Anonymous
August 1, 2009 at 10:07 am

Hi Guy,
You did not mention if or what drugs you have tried for sleep.
The best way to test a med to see if it will work, is to ask your Primary Care Physician, (PCP), if he has any samples he could give you. I do that for different things with my doc. This way you don’t end up buying a whole bottle to find out it won’t work on you.
A while back, I was having problems with sleep. So, I tried the new Ambien, (with some letters with it), and it worked well, (it was samples from my doc).
But, because it is a new med and very expensive, my insurance wouldn’t cover it. So, I went back to my doc, and he checked what sleeping aids WERE covered by my insurance. He gave me a sample of Temazepam 15mg, (Restoril), and it worked. So he gave me a script for it, and I got a bottle of it. But I knew about how your body can become expectant of taking it every night, so, I tried to get my body back into the routine of sleep, using the pill just for a week. It worked out, and the rest of the bottle now just sits there.

But what I wanted to mention to you, is that there are Neurologists that specialize in sleep disorders. Problems with too little sleep, too much sleep, and Sleep Apnea are usually their specialties. Because I have advanced CIDP, a major problem is severe fatigue, and was sleeping twice daily for about 6-8hours each time. So, my neuro sent me a Sleep Specialist, (a neuro.), with the intention of my trying out speed to try to fight the fatigue.
Move forward three months later–after trying samples of a couple of different meds, I now use 10-20mg of Ritalin twice each morning, to get me through the rest of the day. It works 90% of the time–but sometimes my body just doesn’t cooperate, and I end up in bed most of the day. The sleep specialist also usually has a Respiratory Therapist on staff, as they test you for Sleep Apnea, or even Apnea throughout the whole day, (which is what I have), and the RT was able to adjust my bipap as my breathing is now much shallower.
But, perhaps a visit for you to go to a sleep specialist, is needed. It was my neuro who sent the referral to the insurance company to get approved. Maybe they can help you out?
KEDASO
(Ken)