fingers tingling

I've had my CPAP machine for about a month. My pressure is 14. Since I've started using it, my fingers in both hands have been numb and have a tingling sensation. I don't know if it's a side effect or a coincidence. Is there anything I can do to alleviate the pain?

mamafrey wrote:I've had my CPAP machine for about a month. My pressure is 14. Since I've started using it, my fingers in both hands have been numb and have a tingling sensation. I don't know if it's a side effect or a coincidence. Is there anything I can do to alleviate the pain?

See your doctor...it's not from the CPAP.

It's not from Cpap as such, but if you're newly lying in a rigid place trying not to have mask leaks or something, that certainly could be a factor... but if I'm wrong, do see your MD as there are various (neck, shoulders, sugar, etc.) things it could relate to. Are you wearing the neck part too tight across your cervical area?

Doesn't carpal tunnel cause tingling?

postitnote wrote:Doesn't carpal tunnel cause tingling?

Yes it does! Inflation of the carpal. I've got and I'm trying hard to avoid surgery.

Pesser wrote:

postitnote wrote:Doesn't carpal tunnel cause tingling?

Yes it does! Inflation of the carpal. I've got and I'm trying hard to avoid surgery.

Wouldn't it be unusual to get tingling in both hands at the same time? Carpal tunnel normally starts in the dominant hand.

could be from holding to tight to the pole

Nobodys giving medical advice hopefully, just possible research the OP can do.

Tingling fingers could certainly be related to non compliance, IMHO, because lots of people who are on cpap are actually non compliant no
matter WHAT your ahi numbers are telling you.

I was compliant on cpap a long time, saw 2 top surgeons, and was told "no way" the symptoms i had were CAUSED by apnea, much less being on pap.

What can happen is
a. you need to be on bipap because your airway is collapsoing upon exhale---the most common type
b. you have complex or periodic breathing
c. ETC>

THus, if you are stopping breathing, you CNS could easily be rousting you out of sleep, flooding you with adrenaline, and all kinds of other neurological harm could come of it.

I'd recommend seeing a NEUROLOGIST who's a sleep doc. I have one here in ohio.

You might have something else going on, but im refuting the idea that this cannot be caused by apnea, because at the heart of it, IMHO apnea is a neurological problem as much as anatomical.

Thank you! I'm seeing my primary next week and will ask for a referral.

Which mask are you using? Have you tried others? How tight is it?

Sometimes, a pinched nerve will cause numbness, tingling, or pain. Perhaps the straps are causing a nerve to get pinched. I would try to fit the mask differently and see if that eliminates the problem.

Another suggestion would be to consider if your sleeping position has changed, or if you are more tense than normal? Before cpap, I used to sleep in a very tense position. I would often wake up with my whole arm clenched and asleep. Sometimes both hands/arms. That hasn't happened with cpap, so I am not sleeping so tense any more. But I do sometimes wake up really stiff since I don't move as much now with cpap.

Any chance you are diabetic? If so could be the diabetes. Just a thought.......

Does it go away once you are up and moving around? I find I now sleep on my back with my arms on my chest to keep the mask and hose from moving around too much. In that position my hands tingle too sometimes. I'm sure its not good for them. I must be pinching something or cutting off circulation.

I go along with the possibilities that David Carolina posted, and the comment about Diabetes. However, unless you are better off financially than me, I would first speak with your primary sleep doc and consider several possibilities. First, does your sleep doc think you were properly titrated or was it more like, this 14 looked good for the last thirty minutes of your titration? What are your leaks like? Is your machine set to auto to increase the pressure, which could indicate that the doc was not quite certain what the pressure should be. That could translate to mean that part of the night your pressure is too low, leading to your body not getting enough O2. I have had tingling from almost all the aforementioned causes: Pinched nerves. Needing a Bi-Level machine. There are two pressure levels needed by some of us. One is having enough pressure from the machine to keep the airway open. and then getting enough pressure so that we can get the requisite amount of air into our lungs during the inhale. Lastly to be able to more fully exhale for later air, while not getting aerophagia, air in the stomach, which could lead to our needing more pressure to inflate our lungs the next time. I got rid of most of my tingling when I got a Bi-Level machine, and I got my blood sugar back under better control, I started insulin. Still, sometimes I need to take a pain killer, Tylenol, to sleep, as I have arthritis, old body. Tylenol leads to my sleeping longer in one position, which can bring back a bit of tingling, but mine is never localised in my hands.

So this is all a mystery, but likely to improve your sleep, then day time well being when you get it solved. Which brings back the idea of keeping a sleep journal to not only record what is happening, but to help you to notice the little details of what is going on.

Part of getting a Bi-level machine is usually to prove to the insurance company is to prove that you have failed CPAP, as a Bi-Level machine costs more. Your doc is likely waiting for your report of problems before proceeding on to getting you on a Bi Level. Further, Medicare specifically says that one can not get a bi level machines for comfort. I have heard that ones pressure is usually above 12 before the doc considers a bi level machine as well. ???? I wished I had known how much my sleep, reduction of Aerophagia, reduction in GERD I would get when I got a BiLevel machine. For a while there I had a little money and could have gotten a BiLevel for straight up cash. None of this nonsense that Medicare puts everyone through.

My sister has a different problem with her hands, Raynaud's (ray-NOHZ) disease, which does not say tingling from using xPAP at night, but well, might you have Raynaud's, coldness in the hands during the day in response to chill or stress.

Pugsy, where are you. Tell me where I am wrong. again.

mamafrey wrote:I've had my CPAP machine for about a month. My pressure is 14. Since I've started using it, my fingers in both hands have been numb and have a tingling sensation. I don't know if it's a side effect or a coincidence. Is there anything I can do to alleviate the pain?

I agree with the advice to see a doctor. On a related note, I kept waking up with a very painful thumb that turned out to be trigger thumb according to the doctor I saw. Why it was more painful when waking up, I have no idea since I was sleeping on my back and not putting it in an awkward position. But it was definitely not related to my cpap machine. Hopefully, I can avoid surgery.

Anyway, don't guess and see your physician.

49er

purple wrote:Pugsy, where are you. Tell me where I am wrong. again.

Not going to point to anything specific as what you have said can be true depending on the situation.
People don't always have to "fail" cpap to get a bilevel machine...just depends on diagnosis and pressure needs.
Example...should someone happen to need cpap pressure of 22 cm..they get bilevel automatically because regular cpap won't go above 20 cm.
Or maybe their primary diagnosis was central apnea and cpap won't do a thing for plain CSA.
So there's a lot of "it depends" when coming to meeting bilevel criteria. I know you had some particularly difficult hoops to jump through to get your bilevel device but it isn't always that difficult for everyone.

Now I don't know where bilevel needs got thrown into the original poster's stated complaint...numbness in the fingers.
A pressure of 14 was mentioned but no mention of problems with therapy itself and in fact we know nothing else about the equipment being used or at what other settings might be involved.
Don't even know what mask is being used....don't know sleeping position...don't know much at all really.

There was some giant leaping here with offering ideas as to explain the fingers tingling....before talking about machines or pressures I think that the cause of the symptoms needs to be figured out and that involves a trip to the doctor.

OP hasn't returned to give us any more information. Without additional information the only appropriate response that I would even think of making is what LSAT and some of the others have said.....see a doctor.
The only remote blame as to cpap therapy itself being a potential culprit would be perhaps related to sleeping position because of the mask maybe limiting movement and sleeping position maybe puts pressure on a nerve somewhere. Even then that's a sleeping position thing and not a cpap pressure thing...and that's a lot of maybes and what ifs. I personally don't go into all the what ifs unless the OP returns and we can get more information that might give us some clues as to what is going on. That's why I hadn't said anything here...I had nothing new to add.

There's a ton of potential causes for hand/arm numbness/tingling out there and it's simply something that needs to be evaluated by a doctor unless someone knows for sure what the causative factor is.