Medication.
So I've not been sleeping well for the last few months. I think it's mainly down to not putting myself to bed at midnight and staying up until 2am or so instead. I've also been slightly worried about my sleep apnea recurring. And there's been school stress 'n' other sorts too.
I went to a doc last week to discuss getting referred to a sleep clinic. We discussed my problems dropping off at night, and she prescribed me some sleeping pills.
This raised an eyebrow for me, because never before have I been prescribed sleeping pills. Also... Sleep Apnea. Not being able to wake up could possibly equate to death, depending on the kind of muscle relaxant involved.
But she's a doctor. I'm not. She didn't ask me if I had any allergies, which also kinda puzzled me, but I didn't think about it until after I had left the clinic. So I took the prescription. I got it sorted today.
I have been prescribed Lorazepam, 0.5mg tablets. 1-2 before sleeping. The pharmacist, reassuringly, asked me if I had any allergies before she sold them to me.
And because I'm the kind of person I am, I wiki'd Lorazepam. Before taking any.
Note the admonition "Lorazepam must be avoided in patients with the following conditions:"
The 6th (of 8) warnings: "Sleep apnea. Sleep apnea may be worsened by lorazepam's central nervous system depressant effects. It may further reduce the patient's ability to protect his or her airway during sleep."
I am going to return to the pharmacy tomorrow and speak to the pharmacist about this, and see if this is a problem.
Then I may be having a conversation with the "doctor" regarding which cereal packet she got her medical degree from. The word "malpractice" will probably be involved a lot.
When I went for my leg surgery, the doctors didn't give me a general anaesthetic, as they were concerned that if I took a muscle relaxant then I wouldn't wake up again.
With sleep apnea (the version I have, at least), one's throat collapses in on itself when one sleeps. The body then begins to suffocate, and then wakes up enough to tense the throat muscles sufficiently to allow air to flow again. (Then one sleeps more deeply, and the process repeats)
Introducing a muscle relaxant, at best, will worsen the apnea (if it has returned). At worst, it could kill me.
I am extremely angry right now.