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I'm a 50-year-old woman. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hyopthyroid with auto-immune component). I've been taking Synthorid since my diagnosis 15 years ago. I also suffer with chronic mild depression and back pain (herniated discs, sciatic problems), and in the past few years have become more anxious for no real reason. Recently I have been unable to lose weight and seem to be gaining despite eating normally. All my blood tests are normal and according to my doctor I'm in perfect health, but I usually feel sub-par so I think something must still be wrong. I have good days and bad days, but lately more bad days.

During the past 6 months I began to notice that I was not sleeping well, and my husband told me that I was jerking in my sleep. I have also been noticing that my sciatic problems are worse no matter what I do (or don't do).

My husband got a sleep study done because for years he has snored a lot and snorted loudly in his sleep. Diagnosis: SEVERE obstructive apnea. He has been on a CPAP for the past few months with an air pressure setting (whatever you call it) of 10. He says he has a lot more energy now.

He strongly suggested that I get a sleep study done, which was recently completed  (I had to go back twice). It was found that I have moderate hypopnea, with my oxygen level dropping to 94% many times throughout the night. I haven't gotten my CPAP yet (it's a long story of stupid doctor delays) but hope to soon. After the most recent sleep study the lab said my setting might be 6.

What scares me: the jerking and twitching have gotten much worse in the past few weeks. Now it's not just my leg jerking, but twitching in other parts of my body, too. I'm even twitching a bit during the day in odd places like the tip of my nose and my soft palate, and I feel very anxious. I also find myself sometimes waking up with a pounding heart and rapid pulse. Some of my joints feel achy and when I wake up in the morning, I usually don't feel well-rested and my back is incredibly stiff. For the past few weeks, I have felt absolutely awful most of the time -- achy, tired, having a hard time concentrating, anxious

I'm starting to fear that I am developing an neurological disease, or some other auto-immune disease like rheumatoid arthritis. I am considering consulting a neurologist or going back to my endocrinologists for more tests. I have been tested for RA in the past and it has always come up negative.

 

One thing that pisses me off: my endocrinologist said that my weight gain, etc is "middle age." I don't think my symptoms are menopause because I'm still on oral contraceptives and my GYN says that I would not be getting any menopause symptoms. Sometimes I wonder if still being on The Pill at my age is making things worse for me. My GYN plans to slowly taper me off the pill by the time I'm 55. Sometimes I want to just get off of it, but I'm afraid doing that might cause even more problems. (sigh......)

 

My husband insists that this could all be related to my hypopnea. He has an extra travel-sized CPAP machine, and this week we are going online to get me a mask so I can try it. I hope to have MY OWN machine by early August but don't want to wait that long. I am very pissed at how long this is dragging out because of doctors being on vacation, the sleep lab screwing up, etc. I wanted to start on CPAP two months ago and feel that I'm wasting time.

I would like to hear from anyone (espeically women) who had restless leg or jerking symptoms, and/or back pain and/or anxiety before starting CPAP, and how CPAP helped (or didn't help).


Thank you very much.

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Linda, I'm sorry I don't have any answers for you.  I have had life long depression and anxiety (diagnosed Bipolar in 2005).  CPAP has not helped with those symptoms.  I don't blame you for being upset with the delays in getting your therapy started and hope you get on the machine soon.  It may well make a difference for you.  Some people have lost weight after going on CPAP.  Good Luck.
Myoclonus jerks are very common with sleep problems. They tend to go away with treatment most of the time.

I hope you're right! I'm hoping to get my cpap machine by the end of this week (if the sleep center would stop dragging its feet) so I could tell for sure.

 

Last night I drank some herbal tea that contained valerian, chammomile and other sleep-inducing herbs. I slept better than I have in over a week and I think I jerked around less. My sleep seemed quieter to me. Today I feel pretty good. If going on cpap would fix this, I would be very happy.

Hi Linda - Sorry to say but I have really bad RLS (restless legs syndrome) and the CPAP machine does not help. My sleep clinic doctor prescribed another medication for the RLS which helped a little bit but not that much. RLS is about the worse thing in my life. The CPAP machine helps me sleep though the night better, but RLS stops me from falling asleep. The falling asleep part is not affected by the CPAP machine - the staying asleep is. Like I said, the medication helps a bit but some nights the symptoms are worse than others so it takes longer to fall asleep. My CPAP setting is at level 12 as I had severe sleep apnea.

When you see your doctor for the final adjustments to the machine, you should mention to him/her your RLS/twitching problem - although he/she will probably have seen that in the study. These doctors are much more knowledgeable about RLS then our family doctors. They are the experts in any symptoms related to sleep and RLS stuff, and will know what to prescribe.

My problem is due to the fact that I gained a lot of weight in the last 5 years and I'm now scheduled for Bariatric surgery in August. Losing weight apparently will fix a lot of these problems like the RLS (which includes my one arm sometimes) and the sleep apnea. Many people whom I've met at the bariatric consultation office who have had the surgery, no longer need the CPAP machine, nor do they still have severe RLS.

I hope this helps some.

CPAP hasn't helped with my restless leg syndrome, but Ropinirole (ReQuip) has.

http://www.rxlist.com/requip-drug.htm

 

Don

Linda,

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 1975, and was on anti-depressants and CPAP until just this year. I had RLS for many years and tried ropinerol which did good, but stopped working after a few months. I stopped taking the anti-depressant and the RLS went away. Also, the depression seems to be under control without anti-depressants. I believe that the CPAP cured my depression, because before I started using it I never got into stage 3 sleep.  

 

Good luck.

My RLS is horrible. I'm currently taking Mirapex (Pramipexole) but it's not that effective. I want to try Ropinirole (Requip) which is what you take... I'm hoping that works better. RLS is a NIGHTMARE. It is an awful feeling and it leaves me completely anxious. I'm having bariatric surgery soon and I'm told that losing weight will help (likely, eliminate) my RLS problem.
I had really bad RLS, but my doctor had me do 5 IV Iron Infusions to raise my ferritin levels. After 5 infusions, my ferritin levels went way up, and my RLS went way down. You may want to consider checking your ferritin levels. I was told by my doctor any level below 50 could cause RLS. Mine started at 5, but now it is at 141. Hope this helps

Patricia Salgado said:
My RLS is horrible. I'm currently taking Mirapex (Pramipexole) but it's not that effective. I want to try Ropinirole (Requip) which is what you take... I'm hoping that works better. RLS is a NIGHTMARE. It is an awful feeling and it leaves me completely anxious. I'm having bariatric surgery soon and I'm told that losing weight will help (likely, eliminate) my RLS problem.
Wow - iron infusions. Very interesting. I'm going to ask my sleep Dr. about that one. I'm writing it down now ("ferritin") since I'm making an appointment soon. Thanks for the tip Mary!
Linda, I spoke to our pastor on Sunday about his apnea and he'd just had a sleep study the night before, as he'd developed the twitching all over. They felt after the study that it was from the sleep problems and with some change in his settings and a different mask that doesn't leak should alveviate the problem. So sorry to hear about all the waiting problems!!

I started CPAP a few days ago, and most of the jerking and twitching in my sleep has disappeared! I'm still adapting to using the machine (trying to find a pillow that works with my neck problems) but I'm able to use the CPAP for 6 to 8 hours each night, which is pretty good for a newbie. The twitching I was feeling during the day has also seemed to go away. So maybe it was apnea causing it. It's too soon to tell for sure, but I suppose I'll know in a few weeks if that is really the case.

 

I did notice that if my sciatic problem on my left side is acting up, even the cpap won't make that much better -- I still feel some energy surges sometimes down that leg.

Hi,  Have the doctor check for Graves Disease.

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