Medicinal side effects

[merlinofchaos]

I take claritin to help keep my sinuses under control. I don't really have the normal allergy problems (though I suspect I'm developing them too) that most people do, however I demonstrably get stuffy at night and this leads to sleep apnea. I also use a HEPA filter which helps a lot too. esmerel really notices when the filter is dirty, because I snore louder, though I can never tell myself.

I get my claritin at Costco, and usually I buy a 40 pack for $28 -- not a bad price I suppose, but still quite a bit more than I paid while it was under insurance. Like the HEPA filter, I notice the difference btwn claritin and not claritin a lot less than esmerel but that's fairly normal with sleep apnea. Well, this costco trip they didn't have the 40 pack--but they did have a 30 pack of claritin D for $27. Which is definitely a worse deal. But claritin D includes a decongestant (which is the same decongestant in the 24 hour non-drowsy Sudafed, I found out--240 mg of pseudephedrine) and so I figured I would try it and see if it had any effect.

Well, it did. The first night I tried it I woke up at 4:30, dozed a little until about 6, and then laid there for a bit and got out of bed around 7. I was tired, but I didn't really feel exhausted like I would have expected to, waking up early like that. For comparison, I ordinarily sleep until about 10 if I don't have to get up for anything, which amounts to 10 hours of sleep as a rule--and I often don't feel refreshed, likely due to the apnea.

This morning I woke up at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep; I laid there until esmerel's alarm went off, and then just got up. Like yesterday I don't feel exhausted, I feel a little tired but I almost always feel at least a little tired. I'm perfectly functional and I'm having no problems focusing on my tasks for the day (which has been the server hacking).

When I looked up pseudophedrine, it's known that it can cause insomnia in rare cases.

Now, the thing I can't tell is--am I getting less sleep because it's causing insomnia, or am I getting less sleep because it was the push that made my apnea level low enough that I'm actually getting more restful sleep than usual.

I suspect I'll know more in a few days; either lack of sleep will catch up with me, and I'll switch back to regular claritin, or it won't and I'll stay on claritin-d. Here's to hoping that I'm sleeping better and therefore need less sleep.

Comments

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me suddenly that, during a big chunk of the "4 hours of sleep per night" periof of my life, I was taking Claritin D and Allegra D. Maybe the need for less sleep is an unintended benefit! Woo!

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

I am hoping that it's more restful sleep. You're looking reasonably tired by the end of the day, but you still weren't ready to crash by 10, which is what I'd actually expected.

Your snoring has not been as bad the last couple of nights, either. You still are, but it's even lower grade than usual. Me, I'm willing to fork over the extra cash if it means you're *rested*.

[evilmagnus]

I'm sure Denyse will correct me as necessary, but Pseudophedrine is a stimulant for some (most?) people - my mother gets hyper on the stuff, for example. You could just be seeing the stimulant effect of the drug.

Do you have a humidifier in your bedroom? We do, and it helps us both.

Bwahah

[rrauwl.livejournal.com]

That shit'll kill you. You're a walking corpse, Miles. A regular hopping vampire!

Love,
Bill