[phillygem]

I have a fear of taking meds, and part of that is I have sleep apnea and fear Med will put me in a very deep sleep and my body wont wake itself when my breathing pauses to long. I don't always use my cpap machine because I get bad gas from it.

[Yoda]

Have you talked to your respiratory therapist or physician who manages the cpap machine? Have they tried lowering the pressure on the machine? You should not eat three hours before bed.

Do you also have GERD? I read GERD could predispose you to gastric insufflation but I don't know much more about it.

Have you ever been to the site cpaptalk.com ? May or may not be a helpful site.

[agma]

I can see why you are worried...I'm sure I would worry in your situation as well. There are several antidepressants that do not make you drowsy. I have been on (at different times) Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and wellbutrin, and I had to take them in the morning because they kept me awake if I took them at night. If you do decide to take meds, just make sure you discuss all your fears with your doc.

[LiveThroughThis]

I have Sleep Apnea, and I'm on a number of meds....though most of them I've been on so long the side effects of drowsiness per se has long worn off.

I'm not sure if this is helpful to you, but I've only recently been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. (In fact it was my Psychiatrist that pushed me to get my sleep problems checked out.) After following up with him about it, he told me, "Since your brain will be getting better quality sleep, more oxygen, etc. with the machine, I expect your meds to begin working even more efficiently."

As previously said, definitely talk to your doctor about it. I'm sorry you have gas issues with your CPAP--- I've not heard of that, how unfortunate, Have you talked to your Sleep Doctor about it? Maybe there's a way to get rid of that side effect completely (I use my machine nightly; I regret it if I don't).

I feel for you, and hope you can get all this resolved.

[phillygem]

Thank you for your replies, I do have GERD also since 1993. My friend told me if I ever get on meds make sure I use my cpap every night. I need to use it more but the gas can be so painful.

[phillygem]

Hello I wanted to ask if you ever had side effects with Prozac or Zoloft?

QUOTE=agma;2611415]I can see why you are worried...I'm sure I would worry in your situation as well. There are several antidepressants that do not make you drowsy. I have been on (at different times) Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and wellbutrin, and I had to take them in the morning because they kept me awake if I took them at night. If you do decide to take meds, just make sure you discuss all your fears with your doc.[/QUOTE]

[agma]

I didn't have any side effects with Prozac until my dose was increased from 20mg to 40mg (I started seeing double every afternoon). The 20mg dose helped a lot but I was still having some issues so they raised it to 40 and then I got the double vision. I currently take 150mg of Zoloft (started at 50mg and worked my way up). I had diarrhea for the first week and then it went away. I haven't had any side effects since.

[LiveThroughThis]

I was on Prozac in my teens and it did nothing but numb me and cause weight gain.

I've essentially tried every SSRI on the market, and Zoloft has been working well for me for over a year. I honestly think it's the only SSRI I've taken that hasn't caused weight gain. Paxil works well for a lot of people, too.

That said, meds work differently for different people; many people are prescribed a med(s) and it works for them immediately, little side effects. Others--like myself--go through many meds that either don't work, or work with heavy side effects. Such a crapshoot.

[phillygem]

Wow it sounds really trying...I was prescribed a low dose of Prozac but to afraid of side effects to try it.