Sleep and Depression

For twenty plus years I suffered from undiagnosed sleep apnea. I was only diagnosed by accident when I was hooked up to a heart monitor and my breathing interruptions were noticed. It took a while to get a sleep study which confirmed the problem. I now sleep with a CPAP machine and according to the software in the machine my apneas are currently well managed. Unfortunately the hoped for return to a normal sleep cycle never occurred. I still wake up constantly and feel tired most of the time.

I'm also on blood pressure meds (the OSA was probably a contributing factor to my high BP) which make me tired, and I was recently put on psych meds (zoloft and abilify) which really made things worse. I can't function this way.

My sleep study showed severe PLMDs, although the arousal index was considered "within normal limits". I'm not sure that's reliable since the OSA was interrupting my sleep 86 times an hour. I don't know what else could be causing the constant interruptions to my sleep.

When I was first told about the OSA I was really happy, as I thought I would be able to get on top of this problem. When that didn't happen things just got worse, and I soon found myself unable to sleep more than an hour or two a night. I was prescribed zolpidem and melatonin which put me back to where I was, waking up 5-6 times a night, but able to chain together a few hours of sleep.

I've been to 6 different sleep doctors in the last year, but none of them have been helpful. Once your sleep study is done, they're not that interested it seems. So, any other OSA patients? Anyone have a similar experience where the CPAP therapy didn't reverse their sleep problems?

I use mindfulness practice to help me relax enough to sleep. Even if I don't fall asleep it helps renew my psyche.

Here are articles
Psych Central - Search results for Mindfulness practice

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