Thought to have MdDS, does CPAP imitate motion ?

[BlizzardUK]

A week after I started CPAP in late 2015 I started to feel very swimmy headed and off balance and felt my body constantly rocking all the time and swaying, and my vision is off focus. I still have these problems a year later. Doctors think I may have something called MdDS which is a balance disorder, however this is usually only triggered by motion, such as a cruise, long car journey, or plane ride. I did none of these things prior to my problems starting. I am trying to rule things out. Given this started a week after I started CPAP I want to try and rule that out. Does anyone know if the up and down levels of air going up the nose via nasal pillows could imitate motion like on a ship ? Sorry for such a strange and hard to answer question. Sadly MdDS does not have a foolproof diagnostic test so this is only a doctor thinking it might be this, going from symptoms.

So really I am just curious if the body's way of recognising motion could come from the variation of Auto CPAP air. Or just a general discussion about it if no one is fully sure. I am just unsure how the body recognises changes of motion normally.

[Slartybartfast]

I doubt it. You appear to be describing plain old vertigo. http://www.webmd.com/brain/vertigo-symp ... reatment#1

I had a bout of it a couple of years ago. Once, when I laid down and strapped on, the room suddenly began to spin and, though I wasn't moving, I felt as if the bed was going to tilt me onto the floor. I had a couple of surprises while driving and couldn't climb ladders for about 6 months after that (I was drywalling my workshop then), and couldn't tilt my head back while in the shower. Then symptoms went away gradually over half a year.

[BlackSpinner]

Sinuses and ears are connected and your inner ear controls your balance. For many people using cpap affects the sinuses and that is why it is important to use a humidifier in a way that YOUR sinus passages prefer.
Cpap does not imitate movement but it might have irritated your sinuses and affected your inner ear and push something "over the edge"

[chunkyfrog]

Try the epley maneuver. It worked for me. Very quickly.

[BlizzardUK]

Thanks all.

Chunkyfrog, what were your symptoms prior to the epley being performed ?

[Pugsy]

Look up BPPV
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-cond ... n-20028216
This is what the Epley maneuver is used to treat.
Helps get that little crystal back in place.
I am very familiar with BPPV ...sometimes mild and sometimes severe..in fact just last week had a relatively severe attack with it. I have never managed to be able to do the Epley maneuver on myself and I was alone and no way to go to the ER for them to do it and by the time I could drive...didn't need it.

This may or may not be what is going on with you but it is something that is very common.
Cpap won't make it better or worse though.
Get an appointment with a good ENT doctor. They have a special test that they can do to see if a person's chronic vertigo is related to BPPV or not. My husband had it done a few years back in the ENT office and yep...that's what his dizziness is from.
The test is simple, easy and not invasive. It just a matter of moving a person around in a special chair that causes the little crystals to move and cause the vertigo. They do tell you to have someone with you to drive home...just in case the crystals move too much and you don't feel like driving.