Anxiety and cpap

[Woodgod]

I started my cpap therapy about (7) months ago. I believe it helping me. I took about 3-4 months to get used to the rig. I noticed an increase in my anxiety level. Has anyone else had such a similar reaction to cpap therapy? I can’t say it’s the cpap of course I have a lot of stress in my life from owning my own business. But I defiantly know the timing of it seems real close. I do know the cpap has helped my sleeping, so I am thankful for that. But I am now dealing with some anxiety issues I have never had in my entire life. And it’s a real change for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[BlackSpinner]

I started my cpap therapy about (7) months ago. I believe it helping me. I took about 3-4 months to get used to the rig. I noticed an increase in my anxiety level. Has anyone else had such a similar reaction to cpap therapy? I can’t say it’s the cpap of course I have a lot of stress in my life from owning my own business. But I defiantly know the timing of it seems real close. I do know the cpap has helped my sleeping, so I am thankful for that. But I am now dealing with some anxiety issues I have never had in my entire life. And it’s a real change for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks

I found my anxiety went DOWN after I started cpap therapy.

Is your therapy effective? What is your AHI?

[kteague]

I agree with wondering if your treatment is indeed therapeutic.

My second thought is to wonder if you are on any meds that could be contributing. It wouldn't be unusual to need a dosage change after settling in with CPAP.

[Todzo]

When you have stress it lowers the point at where the pressure of PAP therapy will cause you to breath too much. This is known as a CO2 maintenance issue.

This also sometimes occurs when you loose weight. Whether the over breathing comes from stress or from the easing of moving less weight the brain and many other organs despise the CO2 washed out blood and the extra efforts cause arousals which fracture sleep.

You need to find a doctor who understands and can deal with CO2 maintenance issues in the setting of PAP use and stress!

I have found the use of enhanced expiratory rebreathing space (EERS)[1] useful to help me through the high stress times. If nothing else, if your doctor reads the referenced article [1] they may start to understand the physiology and so be better able to respond to your needs.

[1] :
J Clin Sleep Med. 2010 Dec 15;6(6):529-38.
Treatment of positive airway pressure treatment-associated respiratory instability with enhanced expiratory rebreathing space (EERS).
Gilmartin G, McGeehan B, Vigneault K, Daly RW, Manento M, Weiss JW, Thomas RJ.
Source: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21206…

[kaiasgram]

Hi woodgod -- I noticed that in the past month or two you've posted about having some struggles with your mask and machine, also some posts about sleep meds and blood pressure concerns. In one post you mentioned having some erratic AHI numbers. So although you said that you've gotten used to being on PAP it doesn't seem like you've found your 'sweet spot' with it yet. I didn't check back to see if you've been monitoring your therapy with software, but if you have can you tell us what your AHI and leaks have been like so far?

I'm wondering if the combination of the stress you've mentioned in this and in previous posts (self-employment, etc.) plus still working on fine tuning your therapy is all contributing to anxiety. We can sure try to help you out with your PAP therapy if you're able and willing to post some data for us to look at.

[borgready]

If you have anxiety for some reason, trust yourself and start trying to figure out what maybe causing it. Most doctors will want to put you on drugs so you ignore your anxiety problems. That's the wrong approach. You have to do some self analysis and take the time to look at your body and your habits and try to figure out what causes the anxiety? What kind of anxiety are you having? If your scared of going to sleep or using the machine, you have good reasons for anxiety. Are you having death dreams or panic attacks while sleeping? Check you machine data to see if it is working for you. Also get a good quality pulse oximeter and wear it to see how bad your night sleep is. If all is good, then that will put your mind to rest for using the machine. If your having complications from using the machine, well, you just have to deal with that one problems at a time.

[jnk]

I had to increase my activity level quite a bit in order to burn off the excess stress hormones that my body was making but no longer needed to use to jolt me awake all night every time I stopped breathing. It used to have to do that many times a night. Once it didn't have to do that, it didn't seem to know what to do with all those stress/anxiety/panic hormones it was making, so it looked for any excuse to release them during the day. (Loud noise? Release the panic juice! AHHHHH!) Once I got my activity level up, though, and kept using the machine at an effective pressure all night every night, my body and brain eventually figured out what was going on, and my stress/anxiety calmed down to pre-CPAP levels, and I was a calm guy again. (Mostly. Just don't sneak up on me.)

During those early days of starting PAP theapy, however, I could easily have concluded that CPAP was causing me anxiety, since the timing coincided. But I reasoned that keeping my airway open all night HAS to be a good thing. I knew that improved health itself can be a form of stress, because it is change. But it is, obviously, good change and good stress. So the trick for me was to let my body and brain get used to better health by taking full advantage of the opportunity to develop healthier habits in life with things like activity level, food choice, and the like.

To illustrate: Someone with untreated severe OSA may be in the habit of drinking many cups of coffee during the day without even realizing how much caffeine he is taking in. Since he is half dead from bad sleep and being jolted awake every few minutes all night to breathe again after apneas, the cafffeine serves mostly just to keep him semiconscious during the day and he has no trouble falling asleep (collapsing) the next night. If that person gets effective PAP therapy, though, and he continues to take in that much caffeine, someone will eventually have to peel him off the ceiling in order to get him treatment for jitters and an inability to blink. He will at that point probably be taking something to fall asleep every night, since he doesn't realize he is still inadvertently self-medicating with enough caffeine to kill a small horse. Did CPAP cause that problem? No. It is the caffeine that is causing it. The person needs to adjust his lifestyle to match the better sleep and breathing he is experiencing.

That is just one example. The principle applies in EVERY aspect of life once someone with severe OSA starts getting effective PAP therapy.