Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 4:17 pm
I had my hospital sleep study and it basically confirmed what I'd been told after the home sleep study....mild obstructive sleep apnea. The sleep study itself was a 'pain" and I don't care to go through it again.
In the months leading up to the study I had been continually adjusting the MAD, giving myself more and more of an underbite, hoping to "land" on the ideal setting. The neurologist had recommended a device which would strap around my upper body and prevent me from sleeping on my back, this being the worst position for one with sleep apnea. His device cost $200! I found one online for $50 and began using it. It's called a Slumber Bump. It worked and kept me off my back but it was also a PITA. I began using it after the sleep study.
After the sleep study the Neurologist wanted to do an oximeter test at home and he wanted me to adjust the MAD to exactly where it was when I had the sleep study. Fortunately, I'd been keeping very detailed notes of all the adjustments since getting the MAD in September. The oximeter test showed that I was getting ample oxygen and that the MAD was doing its job.
In the last month and a half I've started getting more and better sleep! I quit using the Slumber Bump just to see what would happen. Nothing bad happened so that device is in the closet. It's becoming the norm for me to sleep 7-8 hours, sometimes waking once in the middle of the night and more and more not waking at all. I have a gentle alarm set for 6AM and sometimes I hear it and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wake a little before the alarm goes off and sometimes I actually don't hear it and wake about 7AM. The neurologist had emphasized that I should be waking at the same time every morning, hence the alarm. I followed his instructions for months during this "retraining period". I now go to sleep between 10-11 each night, wake between 5-7 each morning and feel (I owe it to myself ) no guilt if I don't get up til 7 now and then. I no longer read in bed and don't go to bed until I have dozed off in my recliner. Regularly during the week my girlfriend and I might go to bed/sleep as late as midnight. Still, I wake about the same time each morning as I explained above. For me that is totally acceptable and a goal we set when I started this "journey".
As to my RLS. I had been taking Horizant at $150/month. My local VA does not dispense Horizant but had told me they would review my chart notes and consider Horizant in the future. The neurologist sent the chart notes and a RX for Horizant. The VA responded by sending me a 2 month supply of Gabapentin which I have been taking. For the most part the Gabapentin is working but I am having RLS more often than I was with the Horizant. With both drugs any RLS was occuring later in the evening 2-3 hours after taking the drug. On the GABA the RLS is more severe than when on the Horizant. The dose for both drugs is the same, 1200MG at 7PM nightly. I am not waking with RLS on either drug.
Where I had occasionally smoked weed to calm the mild RLS when on Horizant, I've not had such good luck since going on gabapentin. The weed either doesn't work or it works for a short time and then I have to smoke again as the RLS gets worse and worse. I don't understand why the weed would have different effect with one drug over the other as I think the only difference between the two is the time release factor. So I'll keep trying the Gaba and consider another request to the VA for Horizant if necessary.
I've done no research into whether I can reaasonably expect the Gaba or the Horizant to last 'forever' or whether I should expect it to be short term like the dopamine agonist drugs were.
Bottom line.....I am sleeping better than I have for 40 years and I'm still pinching myself when I think about it.
Jim
In the months leading up to the study I had been continually adjusting the MAD, giving myself more and more of an underbite, hoping to "land" on the ideal setting. The neurologist had recommended a device which would strap around my upper body and prevent me from sleeping on my back, this being the worst position for one with sleep apnea. His device cost $200! I found one online for $50 and began using it. It's called a Slumber Bump. It worked and kept me off my back but it was also a PITA. I began using it after the sleep study.
After the sleep study the Neurologist wanted to do an oximeter test at home and he wanted me to adjust the MAD to exactly where it was when I had the sleep study. Fortunately, I'd been keeping very detailed notes of all the adjustments since getting the MAD in September. The oximeter test showed that I was getting ample oxygen and that the MAD was doing its job.
In the last month and a half I've started getting more and better sleep! I quit using the Slumber Bump just to see what would happen. Nothing bad happened so that device is in the closet. It's becoming the norm for me to sleep 7-8 hours, sometimes waking once in the middle of the night and more and more not waking at all. I have a gentle alarm set for 6AM and sometimes I hear it and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wake a little before the alarm goes off and sometimes I actually don't hear it and wake about 7AM. The neurologist had emphasized that I should be waking at the same time every morning, hence the alarm. I followed his instructions for months during this "retraining period". I now go to sleep between 10-11 each night, wake between 5-7 each morning and feel (I owe it to myself ) no guilt if I don't get up til 7 now and then. I no longer read in bed and don't go to bed until I have dozed off in my recliner. Regularly during the week my girlfriend and I might go to bed/sleep as late as midnight. Still, I wake about the same time each morning as I explained above. For me that is totally acceptable and a goal we set when I started this "journey".
As to my RLS. I had been taking Horizant at $150/month. My local VA does not dispense Horizant but had told me they would review my chart notes and consider Horizant in the future. The neurologist sent the chart notes and a RX for Horizant. The VA responded by sending me a 2 month supply of Gabapentin which I have been taking. For the most part the Gabapentin is working but I am having RLS more often than I was with the Horizant. With both drugs any RLS was occuring later in the evening 2-3 hours after taking the drug. On the GABA the RLS is more severe than when on the Horizant. The dose for both drugs is the same, 1200MG at 7PM nightly. I am not waking with RLS on either drug.
Where I had occasionally smoked weed to calm the mild RLS when on Horizant, I've not had such good luck since going on gabapentin. The weed either doesn't work or it works for a short time and then I have to smoke again as the RLS gets worse and worse. I don't understand why the weed would have different effect with one drug over the other as I think the only difference between the two is the time release factor. So I'll keep trying the Gaba and consider another request to the VA for Horizant if necessary.
I've done no research into whether I can reaasonably expect the Gaba or the Horizant to last 'forever' or whether I should expect it to be short term like the dopamine agonist drugs were.
Bottom line.....I am sleeping better than I have for 40 years and I'm still pinching myself when I think about it.
Jim