mph143 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2019 11:04 am
I lost 50lbs down to my goal weight and I noticed I am getting dizzy/lightheaded spells, headaches, loss of balance. I have gone to every doctor there is, cardiologist, ENT, emergency room..etc etc all turned out fine. I stopped using my CPAP and the symptoms have almost disappeared. I did another sleep study and I am awaiting results. Has anybody else had a similar experience? I am hoping my newest study will reveal that my sleep apnea is cured or at least I can get a oral appliance. I have been faithfully using my CPAP machine for about 10 years and it is a pain in the ass. Thanks
WOW. My experience is so similar to this, that i had to register on this forum just to respond to it. Here's my info: i'm 55, currently weigh 180 lbs. A year ago, i weighed 240. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but there's more to the story, i have pulmonary sarcoidosis, and have had it since i was 24. Presently i have about 71% of 'normal' lung capacity, due to the scarring that the disease has done over the years. The difficulty in breathing has limited my physical activity, so that maintaining a healthy weight has always been nearly impossible for me, and being overweight made CPAP necessary. CPAP became necessary for me in 2015, only 7 lbs of pressure, and i used it faithfully every night, 7-9 hours a night, always with no heat and no distilled water. In March 2020 i decided to give keto a try, since it's a diet program that doesn't require exercise. It turned out to be very successful for me. It was around November 2020 that i reached 60 lbs weight loss and shifted my focus from losing weight to maintaining weight. In December, for some reason the winter was especially dry and CPAP was drying out my nose, so for the first time ever i decide to start adding distilled water. by mid-February i start feeling the symptoms that mph143 mentions - light-headed, headache on the right side of my head. These started out to be periodic throughout the day, but within a week they were constant, and only got worse. Pressure behind my right eye, and at the back of my neck, and horrible pain for which the word 'headache' is totally inadequate. I went to the emergency room twice, thinking i was literally going to die from the pressure in my head. I have seen an ENT and a neurologist, and had an MRI of my brain (which revealed nothing). The neuro has prescribed Topamax, which i am taking daily. Prior to this episode my blood pressure was good - it had previously been a problem when i was overweight, but after losing 60 lbs, i have gone from taking 3 BP medications a day to taking only 1, and my BP is usually right on 120/80 or a little below, w/ pulse in the 70s and pulse-ox right at 98 or 99. Your BP goes up with pain, and i have recently seen mine as high as 170/115 when the head pain was at its worst.
it never occurred to me that this might be a CPAP issue. I recently decided to try sleeping without CPAP, only because the quality of my sleep was never as good as i would like, and also because my dog is scared of the CPAP equipment and always leaves the room when i put it on, so to keep her next to me, i tried sleeping without it a few nights. I noticed that i felt a little better, after nine weeks of real misery, but still didn't connect the dots. After 3 nights with no CPAP, i used the CPAP on the 4th night. The next morning was some of the worst pain of this whole experience, lasting all day, and it finally occurred to me that the pain was connected to CPAP. It's been three more nights since then, without CPAP, and i'm really starting to feel great again.
I have no idea what this is, or why this pain might be related to CPAP or to weight loss. Maybe it's just a coincidence. But the similarities are enough to make me want to join the discussion. I have another visit with the neurologist in 10 days, and i will of course be sure to mention this to him. Also, i have another sleep study scheduled in a couple of months. Considering how good i feel without CPAP, that study may not be necessary.
Though, I believe there were several 'cretins' that thought it had nothing to do with the cpap... *shrugs* don't care at this point.
For no more diaphragm cramps and dozing off while driving! 
