Fists Clenching

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
ChasingSheep
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 11, 2014 2:53 pm

Fists Clenching

Post by ChasingSheep » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:13 pm

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has experienced fists clenching during their sleep? And if so, how did you resolve it? For the past few months, I've been experiencing tired hands (sweaty at times) when I wake up, and I've also noticed that I've been getting a lot of wrinkled lines on my palms (presumably from the constant clenching). I am using a nasal pillows atm and I tried to switching to the airfit f10 to see if it was because I was mouth breathing and losing therapy, but haven't had any luck sleeping with it without any leaks. I've started back on my nasal pillows and been mouth taping the past couple nights, but I'm still experiencing some of the fist clenching symptoms. Any ideas?

I will try to post my data from the previous night when I get back home later

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Julie
Posts: 19898
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:58 pm

Re: Fists Clenching

Post by Julie » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:00 pm

You may need a referral to a neurologist because your symptoms are not only not common with OSA or Cpap, but could definitely be symptoms of unrelated problems that should be addressed... and getting guesses from strangers on the internet will only prolong things. You could find some people who've had similar problems, but it doesn't mean their diagnosis will be yours. Go see your doctor.

library lady
Posts: 1116
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:10 am
Location: Rochester, MN

Re: Fists Clenching

Post by library lady » Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:25 pm

I don't have any ideas about the fist clenching; it might not have anything to do with cpap therapy... but I do use a FF mask, specifically the F10 that I switched to from Quattro Air, my first mask. The only thing I found to control the leaks was a mask liner; none of other options that I tried worked on my leaks.

Two main brands, both of which are used by many folks on this board; some swear by one, some the other. Pad-A-Cheek: http://www.padacheek.com, which also has nice strap covers. RemZzzs: http://www.RemZxx.com or the sponsors of our forum, https://www.cpap.com. I tried both, preferred the RemZzzs, but purchased strap covers at P-A-C. These days I make my own liners from old t-shirts, wash and reuse them over and again. I still have a stack of unused RemZzzs and occasionally get a couple of them out and put them in with the others as some of the oldest ones are starting to fray, and it's no fun to wake up with little threads on your lips. I wash the RemZzzs along with the homemade ones, which are from a pattern based on the RemZzzs.

_________________
Machine: PR System One REMStar 60 Series Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: AirFit™ F10 Full Face Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments:  Sleepyhead
Now using AirFit F10 mask; Quattro Air is backup mask. RemZzzz mask liners with both.

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robysue
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Location: Buffalo, NY
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Re: Fists Clenching

Post by robysue » Wed Mar 04, 2015 1:20 am

ChasingSheep wrote:Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has experienced fists clenching during their sleep? And if so, how did you resolve it?
Prior to being diagnosed with OSA and starting CPAP, I would wake up with my hands and feet in fists almost every morning. No explanation was ever given for my hand and foot pain beyond "minor arthritis" by my (then) primary care doc.

Six months after starting CPAP, my morning hand and foot pain simply disappeared because I was no longer waking up with my hands and feet in fists. I had a very rough CPAP-adjustment period, and at the time I was fighting my First War on Insomnia with the aid of a PA in the sleep doc's office. She speculated that perhaps the clenched hands and feet (pre-CPAP) had been due to the fight-or-flight response that your body can undergo every time there's an hypopnea or an apnea. And that one the CPAP was treating the apneas and I was (finally) beginning to get a bit of real sleep with the machine, the hand and foot clenching decreased because I was no longer spending huge amounts of time sleeping in fight-or-flight mode.

But of course, my experience is that with CPAP, the waking up with my hands in fists decreased and disappeared, and your experience is quite different:
For the past few months, I've been experiencing tired hands (sweaty at times) when I wake up, and I've also noticed that I've been getting a lot of wrinkled lines on my palms (presumably from the constant clenching). I am using a nasal pillows atm and I tried to switching to the airfit f10 to see if it was because I was mouth breathing and losing therapy, but haven't had any luck sleeping with it without any leaks. I've started back on my nasal pillows and been mouth taping the past couple nights, but I'm still experiencing some of the fist clenching symptoms. Any ideas?
Have you looked at your data? In addition to the leaks being under control, is the apnea under control? In other words, what does your AHI look like on the nights where the clenching seems to be at its worst?

If the AHI is still too high on those nights, then perhaps "fight-or-flight" responses coming from the body's reaction to the apneas and hypopneas that are still occurring.

If your AHI is nice and low when the clenching is at its worse, then you may have a problem that needs to be investigated from both a sleep angle and another non-sleep angle.

_________________
Machine: DreamStation BiPAP® Auto Machine
Mask: Swift™ FX Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: PR System DreamStation and Humidifier. Max IPAP = 9, Min EPAP=4, Rise time setting = 3, minPS = 3, maxPS=5