Haven’t worn CPAP in three weeks - feel fine?

[pretysmitty]

Previously I was on CPAP for about a month or two - symptoms of fatigue and tiredness quickly dissipated. I became a new person. This was very relieving as it took around 3 months to get compliant.


Had to get my wisdom teeth out two weeks ago and since then I returned to my old ways of taking the mask off at night. I did notice, however, that I don’t feel as lethargic as I did in the past... could it just be that I’ve paid my sleep debt and am now spending my “savings” (sleep w/o CPAP)? Granted, I don’t feel absolutely 100%, but I don’t feel like someone with sleep apnea either.


Honestly perplexed because CPAP saved me three months ago and now I feel like don’t need it to find relief from symptoms. What’s going on? Life made more sense when OSA caused symptoms and CPAP relieved. Now I’m back to questioning if OSA was the primary cause - it’s annoying to contemplate.


Any ideas?

I should note that my OSA was nearly all hypopneas and RERAs. Resulted in terrible brain fog/insomnia. No apneas or severe desaturations - I’m not at risk for any cardiovascular complications or dying in my sleep.

[FifthAvenue]

How were you first diagnosed with apnea? What are your current machine settings? Hard to help without more information from Sleepyhead software. Apnea rarely revolves itself.

[pretysmitty]

Got a sleep study that showed RDI of 17 and REM RDI of 39. Lots of hypopneas and RERAs.

After more thought, I think my symptoms seem to take a while to develop - similar to how it takes a while to get fat when you stop exercising. Perhaps if I don’t wear the mask for many months and keep a bad sleep schedule I’ll see my symptoms return.

By not wearing the mask, I’m not exposing myself to symptoms directly, but instead opening myself up to the *risk* of symptoms developing.

[pretysmitty]

What are your current machine settings? Hard to help without more information from Sleepyhead software. Apnea rarely revolves itself.

I don’t think my lack of symptoms doesn’t have anything to do with my machine settings at this point because I’m experiencing a lack of symptoms without cpap - so it isn’t dependent on pressure.


Though I think the reason why I’m taking the mask off again is because I slowly increased the pressure previously, so now I’m going from nothing to 11cm is a big change. I think I’m going to have to start again at a lower pressure and work my way up. We’ll see.

[Dog Slobber]

Just because you're not experiencing any symptoms, doesn't mean damage isn't occurring.

[Goofproof]

Maybe when they pulled your Wisdom Teeth, maybe they got too much of the Wisdom Juice. Sounds like that could be the problem. I'd use my XPAP! Jim

[pretysmitty]

Maybe when they pulled your Wisdom Teeth, maybe they got too much of the Wisdom Juice. Sounds like that could be the problem. I'd use my XPAP! Jim

I don’t think I said I *wanted* to discontinue CPAP, just that I’m puzzled as to why the symptoms that CPAP previously alleviated haven’t returned. During the time of my OSA diagnosis, several doctors questioned that OSA rather than depression was the cause of my symptoms. You can see how the fact my symptoms haven’t returned suggests a concerning train of thought..


But I think I answered my own question in one of the above post replies.

[pretysmitty]

In case anyone else stumbles on this post with a similar question (why don’t symptoms suddenly return after CPAP withdrawal?), I found an interesting study:

https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10 ... 106-0964OC


Basically, while actual obstructive events, cardiovascular symptoms, and even general sleepiness returns, psychomotor performance *does not* deteriorate after 2 weeks of CPAP withdrawl. Intuition suggests that other types of brain fog are probably similar in that they don’t suddenly return. Perhaps subsequent complex complications like depression/mood disorders probably also don’t immediately return and vary greatly patient-to-patient.


There’s also a clinical trial on the recurrence of symptoms from OSA after CPAP-withdrawal, so this is a sparsely studied subject that’s only now getting attention.

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03472612