Sleep deprivation or something else

[Allan-Dallas]

I have Sleep Apnea – OSA, and told it is severe. I’m still working on finding an effective treatment, using a Somnomed mouth guard now and trying to find the optimum setting. (I previously tried CPAP and could not tolerate it.)

I’m wondering if the symptoms I am suffering from are from sleep deprivation or something else (such as allergies). My problem is that I often feel very spacey, lightheaded, off balance, with some anxiety/panic feelings. This seems to escalate in social situations (i.e. talking to someone in my office). This is not an every day problem. I can feel fine one day (including socially) and suffer from the symptoms above the next. I have been attributing this problem with my Sleep Apnea and poor sleep. But, wondering if it could be unrelated to SA. I wonder because I’m not very sleepy or exhausted, etc. for the most part.

Has anyone heard about these symptoms I describe? Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

[Bigburd2008]

The anxiety / panic feelings could be a O2 problem, low oxygen level. See if you can get a portable O2 recorder to wear. I used to forget to breathe at different times and those were some of the symptoms.

[Julie]

Hi, your symptoms could be related to OSA to an extent, but also to anxiety, not necessarily related to OSA. Unfortunately no one on a forum like this could come close to diagnosing you of course, and you'd have to see your own doctor for that, but I would like to ask you about your negative Cpap experience, because people here have become their own 'experts' and been able to help a lot of others deal with what seemed to be insurmountable problems with Cpap. So much of the time the problem turns out to be a wrongly fitted mask, or a just plain wrong one (a shame, as there are so many out there now), but also e.g. pressure settings left to possibly untrained "technicians" to adjust, or simply the wrong machine prescribed for a given patient, etc. If you'd like to tell your story about treatment, we'd like to help.

[kteague]

I agree that monitoring your oxygen overnight could shed some light. It may be that it will take successfully controlling your OSA then see if the other symptoms remain. All kinds of things in our body and mind can be out of sync when we are sleep deprived, and even more when oxygen deprived.

About your dental device, did your doctor tell you it is a viable option for severe OSA, or was this a "better than nothing" effort? Hopefully there is a plan for testing while using the mouthpiece to be sure of its effectiveness. I have a friend who was adamant he could not use cpap, so he had surgery. His symptoms returned, so he got a dental device. He says he's fine now, but every time I see him he's nodding off mid day. For one's mental and physical health sake, it is best to be sure.

I feel I would be remiss if I didn't offer that another try at cpap with some help here is still an option. Best wishes in whatever means resolves your apnea and protects your health.

Kathy

[Allan-Dallas]

The anxiety / panic feelings could be a O2 problem, low oxygen level. See if you can get a portable O2 recorder to wear. I used to forget to breathe at different times and those were some of the symptoms.

Thanks for the reply. Is this something I would wear during the day, just at night, or both? Where does one get a portable O2 recorder. Thanks.