Can CPAP use help lessen depression symptoms?

[3birds]

Can anyone tell me if successful use of the CPAP machine can help alleviate or lessen symptoms of depression?
Thanks for your response.

[jnk]

Can anyone tell me if successful use of the CPAP machine can help alleviate or lessen symptoms of depression?
Thanks for your response.

Yes, it can.

"Depressed patients with a suspected OSA should be referred to a sleep disorders center for evaluation by nocturnal polysomnography."-- http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/4/1/13

[Hawthorne]

It hard to make a direct connection but, certainy, if a person is less fatigued they could well be less depressed.

I think that if a person is constantly fatigued and not getting healthy sleep then small things in life tend to bother a person more. That can certainly be depressing. Coping with anything become difficult when a person does not get restorative sleep.

[skylark40]

It hard to make a direct connection but, certainy, if a person is less fatigued they could well be less depressed.

I think that if a person is constantly fatigued and not getting healthy sleep then small things in life tend to bother a person more. That can certainly be depressing. Coping with anything become difficult when a person does not get restorative sleep.

Well said.

[Mary Z]

I have not had any lessening of lifelong depression with use of CPAP. My apnea is not yet completely controlled, but I get plenty of sleep. I do take Nuvigil for hypersomnia.
YMMV

[Junebug999]

i have no doubt it makes a big healthy change in depression symptoms

[kteague]

It can sometimes be hard to differentiate between symptoms of depression and consequences of sleep disorders. The longer my sleep disorders persisted, the less energy I had for doing even the most basic daily activities. Things I used to enjoy took just too much effort. Even basic hygiene was a struggle, and I usually would be in the same sleepwear for days on end. I lacked motivation, and could easily go a week without leaving the house, and days rarely leaving my recliner. I vascillated between crying easily to being void of all emotion - a zombie. There were no highs, just levels of low. Sure sounds like depression. But I was just plain depleted of all physical and mental resources. I don't know how all that might affect chemicals and hormones in the brain, but I do know there isn't a med known to man that could have made me better without first fixing my sleep.

It's my opinion that only with therapeutic treatment of sleep disorders and addressing of any contributing medical and/or nutritional factors can one finally know if and how depressed they really are. I guess all any of us can do is all that we can do and see what symptoms remain. I'm still no ball of fire, but I doubt a doctor would still describe me in their notes as depressed.

[BlackSpinner]

It can sometimes be hard to differentiate between symptoms of depression and consequences of sleep disorders. The longer my sleep disorders persisted, the less energy I had for doing even the most basic daily activities. Things I used to enjoy took just too much effort. Even basic hygiene was a struggle, and I usually would be in the same sleepwear for days on end. I lacked motivation, and could easily go a week without leaving the house, and days rarely leaving my recliner. I vascillated between crying easily to being void of all emotion - a zombie. There were no highs, just levels of low. Sure sounds like depression. But I was just plain depleted of all physical and mental resources.

Wow - close to what I was feeling the 6 months before i got my machine. The first month it was like someone put the colour back on the tv

[elena88]

Im afraid many people are diagnosed with depression, when they only truly have a sleep disorder.

the doctors hear hoof boots, and assume its a horse, but it turns out to be a zebra...

[Cindy58]

A rsounding YES in my case. I feel soooo much better, my attitude has drastically chanced from negative to positive, the feeling of constant irritation and rage with everything that didn't work right is gone! Short-term memory is working a whole lot better! There are only two things that changed in my life: I've been on A-PAP since April this year, and I make it a point to read this forum daily. IMO the only way I'm going to get better (and stay better) is to remain proactive for my health.
Please hang in there. To be honest with you, you might see changes over night, or not (mine took three months) and some changes come so slow that they are hardly noticed...but they will come. Just give yourself and your CPAP a chance... you deserve it. And the people that love you do too.
Cindy

[resistance]

There are clinical studies proving the corelation between OSAS and anxiety disorder. I've read some of them thoroughly because they're concerning me right away. I believe there were other studies on the corelation between OSAS and depression.

Since the beginning of my CPAP therapy, I really feel better. We'll see about the long term effects.

[JayC]

Yes in my personal experience.........at the same time, good cpap treatment allowed me to focus on the remaining symptoms habits and patterns.

Right now I am doing light therapy for depression (I have a "seasonal" component related to length of sunlight) and doing CPAP, and attempting to go to bed by 11pm rather than push thru to second wind like I have for many many years. CPAP didn't fix everything......but I did have some immediate results, some results over time, and my length of sleep is still trending longer, so I expect to see even more good results when I am consistently sleeping in the 7 to 8 hour range....

Sleep issues were probably what came first, and clinical depression for me was a side-effect of that. Although for decades the depression was the focus. It is no wonder meds never worked or did enough......the imbalance chemically was more about quality and quantity of sleep, likely.


In another year or so I will be able to weigh in on whether symptoms continue to recede and more vibrant life emerges.....

J

[Irene P.]

I've had chronic clinical depression for many, many years, and am always on meds for it. However, I have been able to lower my dosage recently, and that is a big win for me! I've been on cpap about 16 months.

But there are other kinds of depression that aren't chronic, but rather more caused by life's circumstances. I think certainly cpap treatment might be a factor in both the cause and the cure.

[So Well]

Can anyone tell me if successful use of the CPAP machine can help alleviate or lessen symptoms of depression?
Thanks for your response.

You may not even be depressed. Docs were quick to diagnose me with depression and prescribe SSRIs. Fortunately I was open about it to several very close friends who insisted that my attitude did not indicate depression. Unfortunately my friends did not know the symptoms of sleep apnea/sleep deprivation and it was quite some time before I got a proper diagnosis and started CPAP. After getting a good therapy I could see that my symptoms were not depression but were extreme fatigue and sleep deprivation.