Waking up with rapidly beating/pounding Heart Beat--Scary!!!

[quote="Anonymous"]Hey Snoredog,

I think I will be ok increasing to 9 from eight.

You know it is interesting, the cflex has started to bother me....like I almost crave the pressure of regular cpap...so I turned my cflex from 3 to one and now if feels a LOT better. I don't know why this would be, maybe am just craving more pressure in general...dunno

Also, the way that the bounding heart rate happens is this: I am in a dream state, I am aware that I am in a dream state--I am enjoying it, I feel close to awake the whole time, I don't feel bad or panicky and feeling no chest pressure, etc. Then WHAM, I pop out of the pleasant dream state and there it is--chest pressure, bounding heart rate, etc. Almost like I came back to life--scary to say....so maybe I am becoming to bradycardic. My pulse during the sleep study did run between 45-65. But this happens once or twice per week.

And it seems like it happens more readily if I am wearing CPAP, because I never remember this happening in my pre-cpap days--In those days I would wake up in a puddle of sweat from a dream state. Now it is waking up with the heart thing from a dream state. Am almost sure I am waking up from Rem, but the type of apnea I am not sure if it is central or obstructive. As the doctor said there were no AH at a pressure of 8, but I never reached rem.

Thanks for your replies, they are helping me get my mind around this thing.

Kent

Thanks Snoredog,


I turned the cflex down to 1 last night with the CPAP up 1 from 8 to 9. I felt like I slept like a log, feel good today, and no heart pounding last night Maybe I am getting somewhere.....yeah the cfex made me feel like I was "breath stacking" like the breaths were uneaven...so much pressure on inhale and no pressure on exhale. Now it feels like a balance between inhale and exhale.

Thanks,

Kent

Misterdux wrote:For Hawkeye or others. Can you define CFLEX for me? I started on CPAP of 10 and then went to APAP for a bit and then back to CPAP of 10 with expiration relief of 2. Is that what you mean by CFLEX?

WillSucceed explained the C-flex well, to my understanding. On the ResMed machines, the EPR provides for lower pressure throughout the exhalation process, if I understand correctly. This is very similar to a BIPAP, but only allows the exhalation pressure to be 3 cm lower than the inhalation pressure, at most. Your EPR setting of 2 would make the exhalation pressure 2 cm lower than your set pressure of 10, that is, 8 cm. My understanding based on what I've read here is that Respironics' C-flex settings of 1, 2, or 3 don't necessarily correspond to any specifically quantified reduction in pressure.

Misterdux, my apologies for not responding to this paragraph earlier.

Misterdux wrote:Also when I first described my "numb" feeling all over when I get up, with the heavy limbs and the shakes, two doctors and a respiratory therapist said I was probably breathing rapidly and blowing off my CO2. They did not say this in context of apnea because I had not had a sleep test at that point. I began to put this down to anxiety disorder but, Hawkeye, you have now mentioned CO2 imbalances in light of apnea. I do find myself breathing ragged and yanking off my mask at times. I wondered for awhile if my apnea was upsetting my CO2 balance.

I had experience thirty years ago waking up in hyperventilation which was verified by blood gas tests at the time. I learned to control it after the fact, but could not prevent it from happening. At the time there was no suggestion of apnea, of course, just the paper bag rebreathing exercise. (It works, by the way.)

In retrospect, the pieces come together around apnea and a myriad of otherwise disconnected symptoms make sense. While I'm no expert on the matter, I've read enough to know that some people, apnea divers specifically, live with a deliberately induced long-term shift in their CO2 levels caused by their repeated hyperventilation. The shift helps them stay underwater longer without breathing. Since apnea divers can deliberately induce such a shift, it stands to reason that the constant nighttime bombardment of apnea can also induce a CO2 shift in the other direction.

When I first started on xPAP, I tended toward hyperventilation with C-flex and with BiPAP both. I couldn't tolerate either at all. It's not that I was anxious or panicky, but after some number of minutes, I was hyperventilating and was aware that the machine was forcing my breathing to occur at an abnormal rate.

Just my experience of course, for whatever it's worth. Hope it helps. Best of luck with your therapy.

Regards,
Bill

I just read this post and am curious: When you awake in the middle of the night with your heart pounding (from whatever cause), can you then go back to sleep? That seems to be my problem. I just like awake because I can't fall back to sleep after the heart pounding episode until it's time to get up. Then I'm washed out for the day. Someone suggested my body gets an adreneline shot to wake me up.

Snorenomore2005

SnoreNoMore2005 wrote:I just read this post and am curious: When you awake in the middle of the night with your heart pounding (from whatever cause), can you then go back to sleep? That seems to be my problem. I just like awake because I can't fall back to sleep after the heart pounding episode until it's time to get up. Then I'm washed out for the day. Someone suggested my body gets an adreneline shot to wake me up.

Snorenomore2005

Could be your fight or flight response kicking in, sort has a tendency to do that when you are not getting any air.

But toss out everything you have read here, set your machine from 4cm to 20cm and let her rip!

That way you catch everything and don't leave any apnena unturned, suggest wearing a chin strap, that way if it blows the top of your head off it will hold it in place.

Could be your fight or flight response kicking in, sort has a tendency to do that when you are not getting any air.

But toss out everything you have read here, set your machine from 4cm to 20cm and let her rip!

That way you catch everything and don't leave any apnena unturned, suggest wearing a chin strap, that way if it blows the top of your head off it will hold it in place.

Shame on you Dog. Many posters will read what you wrote and not know that you are being snide.

Your advice is usually extremely helpful, please don't stoop to this.

SnoreNoMore2005 wrote:I just read this post and am curious: When you awake in the middle of the night with your heart pounding (from whatever cause), can you then go back to sleep? That seems to be my problem. I just like awake because I can't fall back to sleep after the heart pounding episode until it's time to get up. Then I'm washed out for the day. Someone suggested my body gets an adreneline shot to wake me up.

Snorenomore2005

Yes, snorenomore, I can get back to sleep, it usually take me about 20 minutes, but I can get back to sleep.

Linda3032 wrote:

Could be your fight or flight response kicking in, sort has a tendency to do that when you are not getting any air.

But toss out everything you have read here, set your machine from 4cm to 20cm and let her rip!

That way you catch everything and don't leave any apnena unturned, suggest wearing a chin strap, that way if it blows the top of your head off it will hold it in place.

Shame on you Dog. Many posters will read what you wrote and not know that you are being snide.

Your advice is usually extremely helpful, please don't stoop to this.

seems I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, don't see why others can get away with giving bad advice like that and I can't. I get in trouble every time I do. Actually, that is what DME's set your autopap for, besides everyone seems to think I make too much out of it anyway

But actually what Kent did by increasing his by only 1cm pressure and gaging the result the next day is the correct way to do it (as long as your under 10cm) and know where you are as it relates to too much pressure.

Hopefully he will leave it there and not think that gee if I increased it by 1 and feel this much better I wonder how 2cm might feel. That is when you can get into trouble.

Sounds like my senerio.

I have been on CPAP for 4 weeks. I bought software and submitted data to my doctor after 2 weeks. From the beginning of treatment I felt tons better but still was registering AHI of 30+.

When my doctor saw my data, she scheduled me for a followup oximiter terst. Although the test was +\- 2%, because in my first sleep test I had 6 centrals\hour, she ordered a follow up sleep test. The first half of the night was spent fooling with pressures, BiPap, APAP, and at midnight, thet put me on a ResMed ventilator called VPAP Adapt. Turns out all the earlier serenios were generating centrals expotentially. With the VPAP Adapt, all 30+ AHI and centrals went to zero. I slept like a log and woke feeling better than I can ever remember. I understand that the Resmed Adapt for insurance purposes is not a xPAP, but a Ventilator. I expect my insurance to pay for the second $3k study and the $7k Resmed, but even if they do not, I will pay because it saved my life.

My advice is: If you experiment on your own. do so at your own risk. During the first half of my 2nd sleep test when they were experimenting with pressures, BiPap, and APAP, I awoke multiple times in severe pain feeling like the left side of my head was going to blow off. I belive this was caused by the compound centrals. Your problem may very well be more than what the average CPAPer has experianced.

Seek Professional help.

yes I do this almost every night...it is better i used to do it a few times every night......I have had two studies done and am going in for a third on the 20 of march.....I havea setting of 7 but have bad symptoms thanks for all the info...I am now better prepared to have a good talk with the people at the sleep study.....

billie wrote:yes I do this almost every night...it is better i used to do it a few times every night......I have had two studies done and am going in for a third on the 20 of march.....I havea setting of 7 but have bad symptoms thanks for all the info...I am now better prepared to have a good talk with the people at the sleep study.....

It would be my guess that your pressure is too low......and consequently that's why your gasping for air.
Sounds to me like your doctors are trying to milk your insurance for all they can. You're being screwed.....monetarily.
What brand and model of machine do you have?
Go up to the "lightbulb" (above) and do lots of reading.

Best wishes,

Den