Terrible Sleep apnea, Klonopin?

[ill13632]

I've had terrible sleep apnea for 4 years, it was so bad I couldn't read/remember sentences and had severe exhaustion and prediabetes, constant colds.  I found that 0.5-1mg klonopin seems to help my central apnea, PLMD/seizures.  I feel much clearer and have more energy but I heard that it's a narcotic and can cause memory damage long term/withdrawal problems?

anyway I'm really unhappy that I just got this mysterious disease and asthma.  I keep wondering if it's related to my asthma.  I'm on a resmed asv but I can't sleep through the night with this large face mask even with the klonopin, maybe my settings are too high/low??

[ill13632]

are you doing well on 7cm?  I'm at 14cm now, the lab put me on 18/14 which is too high I think.  maybe 12cm is better.  some say that higher settings can actually cause central apneas

[ill13632]

so are the memory, speaking and reading problems in fact permanent (also the slowed thinking)?  
is there anything else I can do, maybe I could be cured with UPPP surgery??

[ill13632]

I started taking ambien, klonopin with bipap st or asv and it seemed to help a lot but today I still feel exhausted after many hours of sleep and don't have energy.  sometimes I get headaches, chest pains

[ill13632]

I was given a really high setting 18/14 and I thought the sleep lab might be wrong, so I'm trying lower settings like 13/9, 18/14

[tom_h]

This person's post was a little confusing as he mentions both sleep apnea and central apnea in one breath (sorry!), and I don't know if he's interchanging them.  Treatment for central apneas are a little different than sleep apnea.  Central apneas result from a literal disconnect of the brain to the muscles that help one breathe.  CPAP can help some central apneas, but drug therapy I think is the most common treatment.  I have about 6 years on CPAP, or about 15,000 hours.  The device is a small air compressor that provides positive air pressure to literally "splint" the air way open to prevent it from collapsing in.  Pressures settings can vary from 6cm/H2O up to over 22cm/H2O.  Pressure has nothing to do with severity of the condition.  Mine is very severe, yet I require only a "7" to clear it.  Sleep position has little to do with causing the obstruction. I get it in any position, even sitting up in a chair.  Before CPAP, I could feel my airway begin to collapse as I fell asleep.  But it was one of those things you could do little about.  Loud snoring is often, but not always sign of OSA, and I could rattle the rafters.  I'm now completely quiet when sleeping.  Any medical procedures requiring general anesthesia must be monitored for OSA, and my CPAP is always in the recovery room in case it's required.  This has caused several interesting situations like waking up from anesthesia while still intubated for my safety.  That is a very strange feeling when the tube is pulled out!

[Jerry_NJ]

Sorry I can't help, I have opened more to learn.

If you will indulge a couple of questions:
Is CPAP the mask worn at night, supposedly while asleep,that provides a slight increase in air pressure?  I recall my brother-in-law using an air pump for sleeping - but he suffers from emphysema - not sleep apnea.

was your apnea determined by a sleep study done in a clinic?

I am thinking about buying a oxygen saturation tester, the type that clamps on the finger, to record my O2 levels during the night.  This will take some effort as I don't lay still while in bed, up several times to "pee" and I can't sleep on one side very long before it starts to cause pain (suppose it might mean I need to lose weight, 30 pounds off would be an improvement).  So, if a CPAP requires one sleep on their back it wouldn't be easy for me to use one either.

The little I know, my questions, I have never read about anything to replace the CPAP, and I believe the pressure is to keep the breathing channel open wider, not something that a medicine would help, it seems to me.

While rambling, I believe the fact that I sleep on my side, one then the other, means I have less risk of breathing channel being blocked by gravity pulling some "out of shape" in to block.  

[ill13632]

is cpap the only treatment for sleep apnea?  are there meds like diamox that help?  
I tried theophylline but I felt kind of nauseous on it at higher doses and uncomfortable heart beat