First sleep study: Scored a 34 on the AHI. Still can't get any CPAP equipment.

[greatunclebill]

Sleep doctor came through with a prescription for Ambien for the night of my test. He prescribed four 5mg tablets. Reading up that 10mg is the standard dose, so I might just take that. Looking forward to this Thursday night's sleep test so I can finally get this process underway.

i'm jealous. i only got 3 ambien. good luck and most of all enjoy the legal high. the first time around my sleep was so fragmented he had to guess and gave me a 9. years later with the ambien i slept all night and got a 12 with good data. the answer to the next question is both my sleep doc and my pulmonologist are triple board certified and said the ambien does not skew the results. some people think it does but they are not my doctors.

[Netskier]

Sleep doctor came through with a prescription for Ambien for the night of my test. He prescribed four 5mg tablets. Reading up that 10mg is the standard dose, so I might just take that. Looking forward to this Thursday night's sleep test so I can finally get this process underway.

Ambient is purported to not reduce REM sleep but there are reports that it does, and the worst obstructive apnea occurs during REM. I found a really good article that I recommend to you at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/walker-sleep.html and note particularly that it says "Numerous sleep studies of the effects of Ambien have been conducted. Common findings include an increase in deeper stages of non-REM sleep, and there may also be a decrease in REM sleep." This suggests to me that Ambien reduces REM in at least some people, so it might lead to an under measurement of your true obstructive apnea.

If I were taking the test, I would first go with Zonk's cherry juice and bananas (cf. his two post on 2012-03-15), plus my 1-3 melatonin pills, and hold the Ambien in reserve, using it if necessary to sleep, because you really do want to sleep the entire night, particularly the latter part of the night because that is where most of the REM occurs, so that you get good data regarding obstructive apnea.

Have a great sleep study.