Seratonin

[Heavy Chevy]

Hello, all. New to this forom. I've been on CPAP for one year. It has helped with the fog and headaches. Numbers are good; doc says all is working. However, I am still tired. Doc says it might be seratonin levels missed up and recommended i talk to my family doc about small doses of anti-depessiant drug. I hate to take drugs. All else is good with blood work and check ups. About 25 over weight. Anyone else have this problem? I searched but did not see this type of discussion. Thanks.

[Wulfman...]

Hello, all. New to this forom. I've been on CPAP for one year. It has helped with the fog and headaches. Numbers are good; doc says all is working. However, I am still tired. Doc says it might be seratonin levels missed up and recommended i talk to my family doc about small doses of anti-depessiant drug. I hate to take drugs. All else is good with blood work and check ups. About 25 over weight. Anyone else have this problem? I searched but did not see this type of discussion. Thanks.

You've given us absolutely no useful information to go on.
We have no idea of what equipment you have, what your settings are or what your nightly reports look like.
Are you using software to monitor your therapy? If not, get Sleepyhead and then you can see what's going on while you sleep.

This would be like me going to a CAR-TALK forum and saying "My vehicle's mileage isn't as good as it used to be......what's wrong?"

Please fill out your equipment profile with some pertinent information so we can start asking questions.


Den

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[MrsRinPDX]

Hi Heavy Chevy,
Welcome to the forum.

I won't talk you out of meds, because I can say from experience that depression can make you feel tired. According to drugs.com, "An imbalance of serotonin in the brain is thought to contribute to depression, anxiety, poor mood, sexual dysfunction, OCD and stress." I'll also add that it has ties to migraine headaches.

And yes, it may take some hit and miss finding the medicine and the dose that will work for you. Brain chemistry is a tricky thing.

If you the need medication, you need it. All the wishing in the world won't improve a chemical imbalance on its own. But the fact that you are here on the forum shows you must have a little hope that your tired feeling is sleep apnea related. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. That is what Den is trying to help you with.

But in my case, a lack of serotonin came decades before the sleep apnea.

I hope I've answered your questions.

All the best,
MrsRinPDX

[49er]

I am not going to talk you out of meds either but you might want to consider that the chemical imbalance theory has never been proven.

http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/o ... m/PDF/view

[49er]

Other things to consider- Even if the doctor says everything is fine with your blood work, you might not be at optimal levels. For example, a few years ago, when my vitamin D tested out at 22ng/ML, the doctor said one source he looked at said that was fine. But according to many sources I have looked at, an ideal level is between 60-80.

It is frustrating but you might have to do some detective work on your own to figure out what is going on.

Start with Den's advice to post some data.

[MrsRinPDX]

I am not going to talk you out of meds either but you might want to consider that the chemical imbalance theory has never been proven.

http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/o ... m/PDF/view

Ok, don't call it a chemical imbalance if that bothers you. I think the last paragraph of the paper linked above is telling. In essence the authors admit " All thoughts, feelings and motions in the brain are mediated by the release of chemicals in brain pathways..." while at the same time say "Even when we use medication to help an individual with overwhelming emotions, most of the time this is not to repair a ‘chemical imbalance’ but simply to help contain symptoms. " Isn't that the whole idea here? To contain the symptoms and get better? Who gives a rip what it is called?