Can CPAP cause Anxiety/Panic Attacks?

[Allan-Dallas]

I have started CPAP a little over a week ago. This past week, I have had been experiencing bad anxiety and yesterday had a bad panic attack. I'm never had anxiety like this before and just wondering if the CPAP can be contributing to this.

[SleepGuy]

Feelings of claustrophobia, panic, and anxiety are all faily common side-effects in cpap therapy. There are a number of threads on the forum about these kinds of issues. I recommend that you search for "panic" or "claustrophobia" and take a look at what others have said...there's a lot of good advice.

[Panhandler]

...I have had been experiencing bad anxiety and yesterday had a bad panic attack....

Allan:

Just to clarify, do you mean you had anxiety during therapy or during the day?

[Allan-Dallas]

Good question. Anxiety/panic attack during the day. Wondering if the CPAP therapy (air pressure, etc.) can trigger this.

[Guest]

Allan-Dallas, I doubt we will ever get any definitive information in this regard at least not for another decade or so. The last thing the "industry" wants to do is to have any side-effects implicated with CPAP treatment.

[jburnham]

The very nature of CPAP pretty much ensures it won't directly cause distant side-effects. You're forcing air into your lungs (and sometimes out your eyes, into your stomache, etc.). You could certainly get some direct side-effects like gas, dry eyes, sinuses, bruised and sore skin, etc, but much more so than any surgery or a drug, it isn't going to cause some odd, distant side-effect.

On the other hand, altering your sleep patterns in any way, can have a dramatic impact on what's happening in your brain and elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that CPAP makes some people worse. CPAP might reduce your APNEA but be so disruptive that you sleep worse. CPAP could be making you sleep better, and making your brain chemistry return to your normal - and what's normal for your brain may not be healthy. Sleep disturbances and the resulting brain chemistry issues might be masking some other problems.

Hopefully, your panic attacks and anxiety are only temporary while your brain is returning to its normal state. I'd be optomistic since you're new to CPAP, and more worried if you had been on it for a while and then developed panic attacks.

Either way, you need good sleep and I would continue with the CPAP. If the anxiety and panic attacks continue, go see your doctor. I would start with your sleep doctor and then try your GP.

I'm no doctor and don't have experience with psychiatrists or those meds - I wonder if there is a fast-acting anti-anxiety med they can give you for temporary use while your brain gets used to proper sleep? I'm sure there are some people more experienced on this forum. Lack of sleep makes us crazy and some of us were probably diagnosed for that before APNEA.