Depression and CPAP

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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OldHippie
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Depression and CPAP

Post by OldHippie » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:05 pm

I have battled depression for most of my adult life and have been on medication for it for part of that time. About 2 years ago, I took myself off Prozac and have been doing well with just some normal periods of depression.

However, I have discovered a "side effect" of CPAP treatment. I almost have to laugh when I type this...when you aren't dead tired anymore, things bother you more, both physical and mental!!

I went to have another surgery on an ingrown toenail today (it grew back) and I sware that the the "toe shots" as I call them hurt much worse. My nagging back pain hurts more and so do the little discomforts I have always lived with. And the depression has returned with a vengeance.

I guess this is a small trade off for hopefully, more years of life because I sleep at night but it is also somewhat bothersome.

Has anyone else experienced something like this????

God bless,
Louise


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nana
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Post by nana » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:07 pm

Louise,
I hear what you are saying. I think my expectations are strong for a quick fix by cpap, with a condition that I have had for years. I always think it should have been done "yesterday". We are finding ourselves more alert. Maybe those sensors for pain are awakened as well. Take care of your "whole" self and seek extra help if needed. Thank you for posting this and sparking my thoughts about my own treatment with cpap and moving forward. Like you, I have more aches and pains now that I'm not getting up and down out of the bed all night.
Nana



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Post by CollegeGirl » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:15 pm

I'm so sorry, Louise. I actually had the opposite experience. I was diagnosed as being clinically depressed at 16, and then as bipolar at 23 - it turned out all my mood disorders were caused by untreated apnea. When I started CPAP, my mood disorders went away entirely, and I had no need for medication anymore. I'm one of the lucky ones, though.

There have actually been many threads on the forum about people who only got a sleep test when their psychiatrist referred them - mood disorders are quite a common side effect of untratead apnea.

You're the first person that I recall saying their depression became worse on CPAP - I doubt you're the only one, though. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Good luck, Louise. My thoughts are with you.

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Post by Snoredog » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:02 pm

Do like Rosie O'Donnell does...hang upside down. She claims it helped her depression (she still has a screw loose, but hey it helped her depression as she claims).

But I know hanging upside does have some benefits, I do it all the time as a form of traction on a inversion table for my bad back (L4) which gives me the sciatica pain across the buttocks then down the back of the leg to the outside of the foot. When that flares up, it is constant pain and nothing will stop it except hanging upside down for a few minutes each morning after getting up on the inversion table and taking a daily aleve for about a week. It separates the vertebra and allows blood flow to the damaged disc (not having surgery).

Hanging upside down increases blood flow to the brain, how that plays a part in depression I don't know, haven't bothered to research it. I would just treat Rosie's claim as a testimonial.

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Post by DreamStalker » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:18 pm

Snoredog wrote:Do like Rosie O'Donnell does...hang upside down. She claims it helped her depression (she still has a screw loose, but hey it helped her depression as she claims).

But I know hanging upside does have some benefits, I do it all the time as a form of traction on a inversion table for my bad back (L4) which gives me the sciatica pain across the buttocks then down the back of the leg to the outside of the foot. When that flares up, it is constant pain and nothing will stop it except hanging upside down for a few minutes each morning after getting up on the inversion table and taking a daily aleve for about a week. It separates the vertebra and allows blood flow to the damaged disc (not having surgery).

Hanging upside down increases blood flow to the brain, how that plays a part in depression I don't know, haven't bothered to research it. I would just treat Rosie's claim as a testimonial.
Might it be a bad idea for those with high blood pressure though?
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Depression

Post by vdol52 » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:46 pm

Depression is a common disgnosis when doctors don't know what is wrong.
Some people are legitimately depressed and need medication. I personally was diagnosed with depression until I found that I had sleep apnea. Then I "undisgnosed" myself of depression. Who wouldn't be depressed when they can't sleep. Between Sleep apnea and Menopause I thought I was really losing it.
I think that uncovering the root of our health issues and emotional issues takes perserverence and listening to your own internal knowingness.
After all, we have all the answers within us.
It's also nice to hear the stories and encouragement of others on this forum. These people really care. Many are very knowledgeable, way more than me, and spend hours helping others.

I support you in doing whatever it takes in getting to the bottom of your sleep/depression problems.

I am right here with you doing the same.
Viki

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Re: Depression

Post by jskinner » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:01 pm

vdol52 wrote:Depression is a common diagnosis when doctors don't know what is wrong.
Amen. Its too bad really that doctors don't look more closely for the real causes in most cases. I honestly believe that depression is a symptom and not an illness thats happens on its own. If your depressed you need to find out why and correct the problem, no drug way the symptom...

Snuffles

Sleeping with depression

Post by Snuffles » Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:21 am

I have slept with a diagnois of depression as well.....I usuall a simple mask and I am sleeping with a cpap pressure of 12 cm on a normal old Sullvian Elite S6 cpap.


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Wistful
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Post by Wistful » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:25 pm

Hang in there.
Apnea can cause depression but the other way around can be true as well. I have mentioned in other posts that low serotonin is linked to both depression and apnea. It is also linked to sensitivity to pain.

Depression can be an illness, if one has a deficiency in serotonin it is no more their fault than someone who has a deficiency in insulin.
Medication can be the solution for some, but definitely not for all.

I hope that you find a solution that works for you, with your doctor. Easy, safe things to try are Omega-3, light therapy, walking or swimming, good music and aromatherapy. All of these can boost your serotonin safely and may dull your pain while lifting your mood.
Just a thought,
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Post by jskinner » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:12 pm

Wistful wrote:Depression can be an illness, if one has a deficiency in serotonin it is no more their fault than someone who has a deficiency in insulin.
Depression has *never* been linked to low serotonin. Never. Not even once. While this is a widely held belief its simply has not been proven by science. If you don't believe me I suggest that you point me to some research to the contrary. If someone actually made that link they would win the nobel prize.

The reason that so many people (and doctors) believe this is due to a huge marketing campaign by the large pharmaceutical companies in the early '90 when they wanted to sell SSRIs. They implied that they had found this link but it was a lie. Now that the patents have run out on those drugs they are off selling other types of drugs that affect other neurotransmitters. Its amazing how many doctors still believe that there is some truth in this. Of course much of modern day psychiatry is based on this unproven idea.

Its my personal belief that most antidepressants actually _create_ chemical imbalances and this is how they produce their results. Unless a doctors measures a low neurotransmitter level before putting you on a particular drug he is just guessing. There is no way for him to know that you have imbalance without a test. Worse yet me may make things a lot worse (just ask the family's of the countless people who have died from these drugs.)

Of course its possible that some people have low serotonin its just never been proven. Even if you had low serotonin, there is no proof yet that it would result in depression. My guess is that a very low portion of people with depression actually have low serotonin. Both before and now after the marketing of SSRIs other antidepressants have targeted other neurotransmitters and have been just as effective.

If you have a headache and take aspirin and it makes your headache go away does that mean you have an asprin deficiently? This is the logic that has been used with the effectiveness of antidepressants. They boost chemicals that can make you feel better (sometimes) but not fix necessarily what is wrong with you. The way that they work is not unlike many street drugs.

I'm not saying they are not useful in some cases. I just personally think they are way over prescribed. I really think that most cases of depression have a real physical cause (apeana, low B12, thyroid, etc) or psychological causes (divorse, breakup, death, etc) In both cases I think drugs to mask the problem is the wrong approach. The widespread use of antidepressants has directly correlated with there wide spread marketing...

I recommend that you check out some of the following books:

- Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications
- The Anti-Depressant Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox
- The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It
- The Antidepressant Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide to Safely Overcoming Antidepressant Withdrawal, Depend
- Let Them Eat Prozac: The Unhealthy Relationship Between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Depression
- Talking Back To Prozac: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug
- Blaming the Brain: The Truth About Drugs and Mental Health
- The Prozac Conspiracy: A Novel Exposing the Mass-Production of Mental Illness
- The Invisible Plague: The Rise of mental Illness from 1750 to the Present
- Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories
- Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients
- The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers
- Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies
- Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent
- America Fooled: The Truth About Antidepressants, Antipsychotics And How We've Been Deceived
- The Hundred-Year Lie: How Food and Medicine Are Destroying Your Health

Last edited by jskinner on Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by ffarmer » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:41 pm

Hi Louise,

Feeling pain more acutely after coming off Prozac is not your imagination; that is common. In fact, anti-depressants are used to treat chronic pain, so perhaps you were feeling pain less intensely during the time you were on Prozac.

In terms of depression, you will receive a lot of different advice because people have many different feelings and opinions about medication, drug companies, etc. However, in the end, you are the best judge of how you feel, and whether medication improves the quality of your life. In the end I think the decision is yours, in consultation with your doctor.

Frances

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roster
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Post by roster » Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:53 pm

jskinner: Thanks for writing the truth. In my lifetime, I hope to see this antidepressant marketing exposed for the sham it is.

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chennOR
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a "side effect" of CPAP treatment

Post by chennOR » Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:39 pm

Yes, I too found some disturbing side effects of cpap therapy. I have been on it since Feb 26, 2007 and have been dealing w/ outbursts of anger and up and down emotions that remind me of my early teenage years. I wasn't prepared for this and hope it will even out in time as I get more used to my "new" fuller functioning body.

Let us know if you "mellow out" the longer you are on cpcp treatment.

Carol


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Post by elliejose » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:01 am

Two different times my son has had flu-like symptoms when coming off zoloft. He could not stay awake either. He missed several very important events that he did not want to miss because he slept thru them. This lasted for about 2-3 weeks each time. He vows never to take another SRI if at all possible.

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Post by jskinner » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:29 am

elliejose wrote:Two different times my son has had flu-like symptoms when coming off zoloft.
Thats a classic SSRI withdrawal symptom. The first time I came of Zoloft I had it so bad I couldn't get out of bed for 3-4 days. I told my Dr. I thought it was a withdrawal symptom from the Zololft and he said it was _impossible_ that antidepressants couldn't cause that.

Fast forward another five years and it was starting to become clear that many people where having withdrawal symptoms. In an effort to make the situation sounds less severe all the big pharmaceutical got together and named the withdrawal 'SSRI discontinuation syndrome'.

Even today some doctors aren't aware of this problem. Once needs to tapper very slowly to minimize it.