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EricSwindon

EricSwindon
Joined Jan 2015
EricSwindon
Joined Jan 2015

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I would urge you to use cpap or preferably apap if you have one, it truly is life changing if not life saving amd of course completely drug free. My story is somewhat similar :- I took early retirement from full time work because my Consultant recommended it after diagnosing diaphragm spasms whilst attempting to fall asleep and he thought that my work as an accountant was stressful enough to cause this - I awoke with a start gasping dozens/hundreds of times every night. This I would add was in the 1980's and my doctor was a Chest Consultant, this was a long time before sleep apnea was even heard of in the U.K. When the very first sleep clinic opened in Leicester England I went for a private sleep study in a tiny broom cupboard room and wore a special vest with electric cables sewn in designed by the first sleep doctor, the clinic was within a university teaching hospital. Although he was able to show me the next morning how many incidents I had experienced and for how long his only suggestion was to take anti-depressants to help me fall asleep quicker. Anyway, nothing helped despite many other sleep studies in various NHS hospitals until I went to Harley Street in London in 2006 and was diagnosed with O.S.A. and equipped accordingly, I took to cpap (apap actually) really well and most problems are managed well. Recently however the diaphragm spasms have returned on trying to get to sleep, not many but they are frightening because you literally wait awake for the next one. That's the story - I take Valium for muscle twitching and I know this is often recommended for diaphragm spasms but probably not with cpap. I say this because obviously Valium is a muscle relaxant and this could cause the apap machine to increase pressure to compensate. In the same vein I have always suffered from fairly bad insomnia and have talked to both my GP and sleep doctor about this and they said try sleeping tablets (Nitrazepam) and see if they do any good but I am not filled with confidence because it is patently obvious that after twelve years of cpap I know a lot more than the sleep doctor does who refers me for everything to his nurse and my own GP does not even know what O.S.A. is. I would be interested to hear from anyone who hgas tried sleeping tablets whilst using cpap and did it help? Thanks. Eric