Anxiety and Sleep Apnea

[snugannon]

Hi everyone. Am a 40 year old woman who has anxiety disorder which has flared up considerably in the last 4 months.
I was diagnosed with COPD and am due to go and get my machine set up and assessed next week - just before Christmas...
What I wanted to check in with was do other people feel or know if sleep apnea influences anxiety and if using CPAP machine will help with symptoms e.g. racing mind, overthinking, lack of appetite. Am on medication for a long time for Generalised Anxiety Disorder but want to see if there is anything else that can influence me getting past my symptoms.
Thanks my friends
Susan in Dublin, Ireland

[harrywr2]

The list of illnesses associated with sleep apnea is long. Heart disease, anxiety,depression, psoriasis are just the tip of the iceberg. Not breathing isn't at all healthy!

[slowriter]

In general, poor quality (fragmented) and insufficient sleep can cause anxiety. Obviously, sleep apnea is one of those conditions that substantially negatively impacts sleep quality.

[Julie]

What is important is to be sure your meds dion't interfere with getting good sleep... sometimes substitutions need to be made, but I'd wait til you're set up well with the machine and mask before coming to any conclusions.

[Miss Emerita]

Welcome, Susan! As others have said, anxiety and sleep disorders are entwined. I've certainly read posts on several forums from people who have found that effective treatment of apnea helps them with anxiety-like symptoms. It is great you will soon be starting treatment -- Santa is coming a little early to your place!

For now, just a couple of thoughts. One is that while some people adapt to the CPAP experience very quickly and easily, for most of us there's a period of adjustment that calls for some patience, problem-solving, and perseverance.

Another is that you will do yourself a favor if you try out your new machine during the day while you are watching TV or reading. This helps you start to get used to the experience. You might also try using the machine during the day in your bedroom so you can see how your mask fits when you lie down and turn from side to side. In your place, I'd actually give this sort of early, day-time acclimation a couple of days before starting to use the machine at night.

Finally, try looking on line for videos that show how to adjust your particular kind of mask so it fits as comfortably and leak-free as possible.

Let us know how it goes, would you?

[slowriter]

More on sleep and anxiety.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/11/04/de ... ous-brain/

[Geer1]

Anxiety is a chemical/physical response to either psychological or physical triggers.

Triggers include being tired and fatigued which is one of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea. When you are tired/fatigued your body knows it is vulnerable and acts on a biological level to try and protect yourself by increasing chemical production that puts you into fight or flight mode, aka anxiety.

My OSA went undiagnosed for nearly a year because one of my main symptoms was anxiety. I tried antidepressants, benzos, sleep aids and supplements as well as counselling for both personal and career trying to figure out what was wrong and all gave minimal improvement. I was unable to find triggers and all I knew was that for some reason I was not able to deal with difficult situations anymore, things that were once easy to deal with caused me to be overwhelmed.

I have been on treatment for 29 days now and already have noticed an improvement and hopefully you will too with your treatment.

[snugannon]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I got fitted and started with the mask last night. The humidifier didn't help as felt the drips on my nose so just removed it.
I think it went okay but will need to give it time to see how I adjust.
If there is anything else that you guys can help with re anxiety please let me know

[Hulk]

I have GAD too. I can say that while using the CPAP does not treat my anxiety issues...it definitely has treated my constant exhaustion which in turn makes my anxiety more manageable.

Like a PP said, if you are on any medications that effect sleep you may also need to work with your doctor to adjust how/what you are taking. I now take my pills before bed instead of in the morning and it makes falling asleep easier and my CPAP insures I get quality sleep.

I also have enough energy now that I actually took steps to find a new therapist. CBT has been the most helpful thing in dealing with my GAD but therapy is emotionally draining and was just not something I could deal with when I was exhausted.

I can’t offer much CPAP advice since I’m a newb to it too but if you want to talk GAD management strategies feel free to PM me. I’ll be following your thread to see if I can’t learn some new things too!

[Geer1]

If there is anything else that you guys can help with re anxiety please let me know

The anxiety and phobia workbook by Edmund Bourne is a good book that covers almost all the basics of anxiety.

The big thing about anxiety is figuring out what is triggering it then working to get it under control. With GAD you probably don’t have many obvious triggers because imo it is probably in part due to your health situation as mine also was. Anxiety is a process designed to protect us when we are threatened, sick or tired and sleep disordered breathing is the perfect breeding ground for it.

[Janknitz]

My anxiety went down significantly on CPAP. At first it was more challenging, because I have some claustrophobia, but once I got over that, I noticed other anxieties were much diminished. For example, I get really anxious driving over narrow bridges (and there are many in the SF Bay Area). But that anxiety has been much decreased since I began using CPAP.