Feeling ill on CPAP

[Brendon1984]

Hello,

I'm totally new to this CPAP stuff.

I recently got diagnosed with moderate/severe sleep apnea and I also suffer from horrendous anxiety and depression.

My anxiety and depression was "managed" sorta but the mornings and most of the day leave me with headaches, disorientation, fatigue, nausea, spaced out to the point I can't even realise what is what. I thought it was due to side effects of the anti depressants I am on, then I was diagnosed with he sleep condition where I stop breathing at alarming rates in sleep. I wake up basically paralyzed and crippled with terrible anxiety, panic and depression every morning.

I got a CPAP machine from the Therapist last Tuesday and tried it Tuesday night. Here are the issues and the problems I am facing with it..i feel worse!

- I am struggling to sleep with the mask really being intrusive and the air seems to be making me panic and anxious and for some reason. It is the mask that has the nostril things and a band that goes over the head. I am suffering from even more crippling depression since using it.

- when i do sleep, I wake up in the middle of the night with panic and anxiety and struggle to go back to sleep.

- I am also struggling to eat during the day, I can hardly move and i feel more bloated.. which is a huge reason that I needed addressed in the first place. I also feel super sick, headachy, sore arms, legs as well.

- The following day, I'm an even more mess than I was and it feels like the one thing that all the Doctors, therapists said would help is making me an even more mess and it is intolerable.

I have adjusted settings for pressure etc and notified the Therapist last Wednesday but I got no reply. I'm also worried that although my insurance covers it, I have to pay basically 2.500 up front first and I don't have that money, let alone it not working.

I know there is a period where it takes a bit to get used to but I an unsure if I'm even using it right or how long these side effects will last. My Therapist will have ideas but I can't see it being anything other than " seeing it out" if anyone knew what I go through on a daily basis for the last 30 years would know that this is basically my last hope in terms of feeling somewhat ok physically and mentally.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just super annoyed, sick and feel so trapped.

[Julie]

Ok, you have a few issues to deal with and there are fixes for them, but we need to know the exact model of your machine, e.g."Resmed Auto" not being enough as there are very many models of very many machines. And the same goes for your mask. So all the words please. Lots of smart people here to help. Do you know your pressure setting(s)? Are you using the ramp feature (and at what settings?). Taking any meds?

[chunkyfrog]

Plus a million to that!
Once we get our ducks lined up, we name them and put them to work.
It's like the old riddle: How do you eat a whole elephant?---One bite at a time.
The more you know about what's going on, the easier it gets.

[Brendon1984]

So, i now struggle to sleep much at night! I have gotten used to the mask and I still continue to feel awful.

Another thing to note is that while my weight was an issue for my height..im short and very stocky but "fat" now..my stomach, face and i have gained weight...this was something that needed to be addressed in the first place! so, im freaking out a bit...i look awful! ..glazed eyes, very overweight, bloated etc

I saw the therapist this morning and apparently all my results look good! and she has moved me onto a bipap...not sure why but she's the specialist lol.

Yet to use it but im freaking out at the fact i look awful, feel awful and see no improvement in how i feel...and positive results ironically don't help..kinda like saying "this is how it is" lol...sorry for rant haha

[Miss Emerita]

Hello, Brendan. It's fine to rant -- so many of us have been through the wars trying to get decent sleep, and we can sympathize.

But there are also a lot of people here who would be happy to try to help you if you could give some more information and take a little more of active role in making this CPAP stuff work for you.

* Please do let us know the make and model of your new bilevel machine, plus your mask information. If you would put the information in your profile, it would be there every time someone read one of your posts.

* There's a puzzle you could solve. If everything was peachy, then why did the tech move you to a different kind of machine? I strongly advise you not to think, "Well she's the expert, I guess she knows what she's doing." Get back in touch with her or her office and ask her why you needed a different machine. This is not challenging her decision; it's just getting information. Once you find out, let us know. That could be an important clue to why you're not getting the benefits we'd hope you'd get.

* You would also do well to educate yourself about your settings, if you are uncertain what they are. What is your minimum pressure? Your maximum? And what is your "pressure support," which is the difference between the pressure when you inhale and the pressure when you exhale?

I know it can be hard to take a more active role when you're feeling so depressed and exhausted. But by reaching out here, I think you've shown you can do it.

Oh, one other thing. Is the bloat coming from a lot of air in your digestive tract, where you want to burp or pass gas? That is something that can happen with CPAP, and if you can give us more information, we might be able to help.