Did you experience this side effect to treatment?

[Ty'sMom]

Did anyone become MORE irritable, frustrated, and angry after starting treatment?
Maybe emotions were magnified?
Maybe they were felt with more intensity?

Tyler's behavior is significantly worse. What was just a bit annoying on day 3 is.....well, I don't want to get into that! But he is miserable and making us miserable. There is a chance it's related to other things, of course; but this is what it seems linked to timing wise. The fact that we noticed some changes in the first week and they are just amplifying....

If you had this situation, how long did it take for you to even out?

[Marietjie]

Did anyone become MORE irritable, frustrated, and angry after starting treatment?

YES and...aggressive and depressed!

how long did it take for you to even out?

Very soon after I started with therapy, I had more energy, not so sleepy, etc... BUT
it took me 18months to get rid of the aggressiveness and depression!
I think I have now fully accepted this 'abnormal' therapy.
So, Ty'sMom, hang on, it will get better.

[PetrusKy]

None of those side effects for me. Instead, here's what I got:
. Daytime sleepiness diappeared
. GERD/Hearburn disappeared
. Night time sweatiness disappeared
. Skin complexion got better
. S*x drive is back in force

[roster]

If you don't have a data-capable machine and you don't monitor how he is breathing at night (apneas, hypopneas, snores, mask leak), you can't know whether or not the treatment is effective. He could be worse with the treatment than he was without. You need data.

[BlackSpinner]

Did anyone become MORE irritable, frustrated, and angry after starting treatment?
Maybe emotions were magnified?
Maybe they were felt with more intensity?

Tyler's behavior is significantly worse. What was just a bit annoying on day 3 is...

It can take up to a month for the brain to accept that it is safe to sleep with the thing on your face and that breathing will continue. As a result he will sleep less until his brain gets used to it.

[Janknitz]

Is Tyler really sleeping well, or is he still getting used to all of this. I had even MORE interrupted sleep the first month or so. I was very depressed and tired and grumpy--not fun to be around. I didn't want to be around people either.

Finally, the mask problems (mostly) resolved, and I started getting good quality sleep. Then I started to feel better and calmer.

It took a while!

[DreamOn]

Hello Ty'sMom,

I did not have the kind of reaction to CPAP that your son Tyler has experienced. I actually have felt calmer and less irritable. But I also did not have the extreme daytime sleepiness that your son experienced and my sleep apnea was not as severe, so it probably was not as much of a shock to my body/brain to be breathing and sleeping well again.

I looked up some of your past posts, to get some more insight into Tyler's background. Late last month, you said:

We can already tell some behavioral differences.

He used to be SO sleepy. He'd seem lethargic oftentimes, depressed? He'd be hyper or annoying, but it always seemed as a way to regulate the sleepiness, to stay awake. Now he seems to have *real* energy. He's not real sure what to do with it though which makes him a bit annoying still!

I think that children (especially teenagers!) react very strongly to changes. My thought is that he had been SO tired for such a long time that it's probably difficult for him to know what to do with this new energy. His brain is finally getting the oxygen it's been deprived of for years. It's like it's "coming alive" again. I would think that all his senses were very dulled before. It would be difficult to adjust to such a major reawakening, especially with all the hormones of puberty coursing through your body! You're used to him being more docile for all these years, so this is certainly a big adjustment for you too. I'm not sure if you have had other adolescent sons, but his behavior may actually be closer to "normal" now.

You list the REMstar Pro 2 C-Flex CPAP as Tyler's machine. That's an older machine. Since you just purchased the machine recently, I suspect that you actually may have the PR System One REMstar Pro CPAP Machine with C-Flex Plus. You may want to double-check to confirm the exact model, and correct that in your profile. If that is the machine that you have, you should be able to check the AHI results and leak rate on the LCD screen, to determine if your son's therapy is effective and to make sure that he isn't having excessive air leak problems. Someone here can help you learn to do that if you don't know how, once you confirm which machine he's using.

Is Tyler feeling more rested? Does he seem to be sleeping okay? Does he have any complaints about the machine/mask that we may be able to help with? Is he mouth breathing (dry mouth being one indication of that)?

I'm wondering about this too, from your previous thread:

The sleep study lady mentioned his dancing in his sleep (sitting up, twirling around, etc). Considering he ends up tied up in sheets, on the floor, flipflopped every which way, etc, I've wondered how we're going to keep the machine on him.

Do you have complete copies of Tyler's sleep studies, with all the data? I think it's very important to evaluate whether he may have some other (as yet unresolved) sleep-related problems, such as REM Sleep Behavior Disorder or a limb movement disorder. Much of the excessive activity while sleeping could have been due to his untreated, severe sleep apnea, but there may be other problems affecting his sleep quality in addition to the sleep apnea.

You may want to discuss these behavioral problems with your son's sleep specialist, to find out if his reaction is common. I would hope that his behavior would even out with time, but he may need some "extra help" (counselling) to adjust. And/or there may be other problems that still need to be addressed.

I do hope that you let us know how you and your son are doing. We do care, and we want him to enjoy all the benefits of fully effective therapy!

[elena88]

"Did anyone become MORE irritable, frustrated, and angry after starting treatment?
Maybe emotions were magnified?
Maybe they were felt with more intensity?"

oH BOY WOULD MY HUSBAND LOVE TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION...

Well, the answer is YES, I was a raving "bit**...

Irritable? I even yelled at the poor dogs!

frustrated.... OMG, you cant believe how bad it was... screaming, yelling, freaking out over nothing..

Angry??? Steam could have been coming out of my ears..

AND THAT IS NOT HOW I react to things.. My poor husband thought some aliens replaced me with a mad woman..

Its been three months.. things are better now.. not perfect, but much better..

I have no idea why the therapy had that effect on me, it wasnt pretty..

My history was, no daytime sleepiness, hyper all the time, few hours a sleep a night... also very light sleeper..
I hope he gets used to it quickly and will probably calm down a lot.. its a VERY BIG CHANGE TO YOUR BODY AND YOUR LIFE..
I almost felt like I had to mourn for my old life.. I think I was grieving for the loss of what I thought was normal..

Choking every night and suffocating is not normal, now I know! My body took awhile to get used to getting oxygen at night..

[kteague]

A few years ago a young lady on here told how she had been diagnosed as bipolar. On medication when she started cpap, she found out the hard way that the meds adversely affected her healthier oxygenated brain. If I remember correctly, she ended up not needing the meds.

I don't know if your son is on any meds, just throwing it out there that if so, you may want to talk with his doctor about if his needs may have changed.

[popotti]

thanks for this post,
I have these symptoms irritable, frustrated, and angry , 3 months with CPAP, and very tired legs (big problem for me), consult a neurologist ?
if others can give advice
thanks

kiss from italy

[roster]

thanks for this post,
I have these symptoms irritable, frustrated, and angry , 3 months with CPAP, and very tired legs (big problem for me), consult a neurologist ?
if others can give advice
thanks

kiss from italy

Same advice every time: Do you have data from your machine? If you don't have data, you can't tell that your therapy is effective. You need a machine that will report apneas, hypopneas, snore, mask leak, etc.

The first three symptoms you list are symptoms of ineffective therapy. It could be something else, but the first thing you should check is the effectiveness of your therapy by looking at data from your machine.

[DoriC]

As the caregiver for my husband's therapy(he's somewhat disabled), the software was essential for me to actually see what was happening and be able to make proper adjustments. I got very little input from him. In fact just this morning when I asked him if he slept OK, he said "fine". When I looked at the data I saw some leaks and the machine had been turned off for about 15 mins. When I asked about that he said "Oh yeah, the mask strap slipped out, I had trouble figuring out how to fix it, didn't want to wake you, it was a mess".

[popotti]

Same advice every time: Do you have data from your machine? If you don't have data, you can't tell that your therapy is effective. You need a machine that will report apneas, hypopneas, snore, mask leak, etc.

The first three symptoms you list are symptoms of ineffective therapy. It could be something else, but the first thing you should check is the effectiveness of your therapy by looking at data from your machine.

my data is ok, just a bit of snoring,
I am very concerned about the leg pain

[roster]

Same advice every time: Do you have data from your machine? If you don't have data, you can't tell that your therapy is effective. You need a machine that will report apneas, hypopneas, snore, mask leak, etc.

The first three symptoms you list are symptoms of ineffective therapy. It could be something else, but the first thing you should check is the effectiveness of your therapy by looking at data from your machine.

my data is ok, just a bit of snoring,
I am very concerned about the leg pain

You list both emotional and physical symptoms - not unusual for sleep apnea. Do you have a good general practitioner to examine you? After the exam, you and he could dicuss whether a visit to a specialist is necessary.

What is your AHI? What is your snore index?

[popotti]

You list both emotional and physical symptoms - not unusual for sleep apnea. Do you have a good general practitioner to examine you? After the exam, you and he could dicuss whether a visit to a specialist is necessary.

What is your AHI? What is your snore index?

hy, thanks for care,

my AHI is 0,3 and snore index 32%