Bad night last night

[Renee71]

I had a terrible night last night. I woke up several times with my heart racing like it used to prior to CPAP. This morning I had a quick glance at my AHI and it said it was 3.7 that is the highest it has been since starting CPAP. The night before last it was 0.3. I do not have a computer right now to download my data. My computer broke just last week and have not had a chance to get it looked at yet. I wear a full face mask. I did notice this morning I had a little leak when I moved my face a certain way, I think I may need to tighten up the strap on the left. This justr scares me. When I wake up with my heart beating so fast and not feeling good I get concerned that I am causing heart damage or on the verge of a heart attack. I have had all the heart tests done, and everything checks out good so far. The first thing that alerted me to having sleep apnea was waking with a racing heartbeat. Anyhow, any suggestions would be helpful. I know you all probably can't help much without seeing the data. My CPAP is set at 8.5, doctor set it at 8 but when I did my home sleep study I was sleeping on a wedge pillow so now that I no longer sleep on the wedge I have set it to 8.5 and have had good results up until last night. Should I maybe try to set it to 9 and see how that goes?

[Pugsy]

We all have bad nights from time to time and unless they persist night after night I don't suggest that someone goes changing their pressures based on one possible fluke night.
Without knowing the event category breakdown you don't even know if that increase in AHI is obstructive in nature or central in nature and if it was central in nature a pressure increase won't help at all. You could be chasing something that won't ever respond to a pressure increase. Could also just be a fluke night..random for no apparent reason.

Not long ago I had a bad night in the midst of some good nights
AHI of 5.2 preceded and followed by nights with AHI less than 1.0. It happens.

[DEXSUZ]

Renee: I've been on CPAP for approximately 500 nights. Compared to how bad sleep was for decades, the 20-30 below average Quattro FX nights I may have totaled since February 2013 are just specks on life's landscape. Sleep - whether good or not so good - involves many variables and all it takes is a bit too much caffeine, room temperature being off a tad, or even having bed clothes that are too tight or loose and the result might be awakening and thinking, "Ah gee, not a good night."

Without knowing your particulars, I'd tell you not to worry unless you have equipment that isn't working properly or the bad nights become a regular thing. In addition, do NOT get worked up about various sleep stats that many posters on here constantly mention. All that counts is a person waking up in the morning and asking himself, "Do I feel refreshed or not?".

I've known several CPAP users who literally lost sleep over going to bed and hoping that this number or that would be acceptable to them the next morning. This reminds me of a story about Yogi Berra as a mediocre-hitting rookie for the Yankees many years ago. Frustrated over the barrage of conflicting advice he was given, Yogi stalked out of batting practice one day muttering, "How in hell can a guy think and hit at the same time?"

Same principle is in play here.

Good luck and God bless.

[cdean]

This morning I had a quick glance at my AHI and it said it was 3.7 that is the highest it has been since starting CPAP.

AHI of 3.7 is not so bad. Actually, less than 5 does not even meet the criteria for a sleep apnea diagnosis.

[The Latinist]

Making any change based on one night's combined AHI without knowing why you had the change is not a good idea. For all you know, you had a cluster of centrals or a few minutes of leak that stimulated a cluster of anomalous obstructives. Besides, your AHI is still well below the threshold for concern. I've been at this for two weeks and have yet to get close to 3.7.

[LSAT]

I had a terrible night last night. I woke up several times with my heart racing like it used to prior to CPAP. This morning I had a quick glance at my AHI and it said it was 3.7 that is the highest it has been since starting CPAP. The night before last it was 0.3. I do not have a computer right now to download my data. My computer broke just last week and have not had a chance to get it looked at yet. I wear a full face mask. I did notice this morning I had a little leak when I moved my face a certain way, I think I may need to tighten up the strap on the left. This justr scares me. When I wake up with my heart beating so fast and not feeling good I get concerned that I am causing heart damage or on the verge of a heart attack. I have had all the heart tests done, and everything checks out good so far. The first thing that alerted me to having sleep apnea was waking with a racing heartbeat. Anyhow, any suggestions would be helpful. I know you all probably can't help much without seeing the data. My CPAP is set at 8.5, doctor set it at 8 but when I did my home sleep study I was sleeping on a wedge pillow so now that I no longer sleep on the wedge I have set it to 8.5 and have had good results up until last night. Should I maybe try to set it to 9 and see how that goes?

RELAX.....take a deep breath and leave all your settings alone.

[old dude]

Renee71, any chance you suffer from clinical anxiety?

Don't ask me why I thought to ask that...

[Renee71]

Thank you all for the responses. Yes, i do actually have anxiety. I also have GERD. I am also in Menopause. I did eat some spicy mexican food yesterday. I am usually very careful and I never eat later than 6:00. I had the mexican food at lunch time. I woke up feeling horrible. Have not been feeling good all day, having some chest pain and pain in my left shoulder. I went to the doctor. They ran some tests, Blood work and EKG and said everything looks good. So I am thinking maybe my GERD was acting up, not really sure. The doctor thinks I have costochondritis. All I know is I had a bad night last night and I was really feeling terrible today. I am actually starting to feel a little bit better.

[Renee71]

Forgot to mention, I also was just diagnosed with fibromyalgia. So who knows, maybe its a combination of all these lovely things along with the sleep apnea!!

[Todzo]

Forgot to mention, I also was just diagnosed with fibromyalgia. So who knows, maybe its a combination of all these lovely things along with the sleep apnea!!

To stabilize quickly after a “heart racing” wake up try this simple exercise:

Take three slow shallow breaths and pause at the natural end of the third breath for ten seconds. Repeat up to four times.

Likely you will feel the blood go back into your feet. At some point you should feel the intense air hunger subside (for me this is between 40 and 60 seconds). When it does subside continue to breath slow and relaxed and try to put a small pause between the end of exhale and the beginning of inhale.

I am suspicious that you are having breathing stability problems while using CPAP. Sometimes this is due to vitamin D3 levels outside the useful range.

Those who are working with the D3 hormone (A.K.A. Vitamin D3) (e.g. Dr. Stasha Gominak, Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D., Vitamin D Council) seem to be finding that the very low side of the “normal” range of 30-100 ng/L produces a range of symptoms including OSA, pain, and infection. All believe that a level lower than 50 ng/mL is not good and Dr. Stasha Gominak recommends 60-80 ng/mL for good health.

It would probably be wise to check your vitamin D3 levels. See “The Vitamin D Council” for assay details.

You might do well to look into the possibility of Lyme disease. It tends to mimic many other things.

I have found that moving toward less stress in my life along with the pursuit of an active lifestyle and eating well has moved me away from unstable breathing while using CPAP. For one thing I am using about half the pressure I was only a few years ago.

And have some fun!

[old dude]

Renee: I've been on CPAP for approximately 500 nights. Compared to how bad sleep was for decades, the 20-30 below average Quattro FX nights I may have totaled since February 2013 are just specks on life's landscape. Sleep - whether good or not so good - involves many variables and all it takes is a bit too much caffeine, room temperature being off a tad, or even having bed clothes that are too tight or loose and the result might be awakening and thinking, "Ah gee, not a good night."

Without knowing your particulars, I'd tell you not to worry unless you have equipment that isn't working properly or the bad nights become a regular thing. In addition, do NOT get worked up about various sleep stats that many posters on here constantly mention. All that counts is a person waking up in the morning and asking himself, "Do I feel refreshed or not?".

I've known several CPAP users who literally lost sleep over going to bed and hoping that this number or that would be acceptable to them the next morning. This reminds me of a story about Yogi Berra as a mediocre-hitting rookie for the Yankees many years ago. Frustrated over the barrage of conflicting advice he was given, Yogi stalked out of batting practice one day muttering, "How in hell can a guy think and hit at the same time?"

Same principle is in play here.

Good luck and God bless.

Excellent post.

I fall into this category. I can somehow think myself right out of almost any positive outcome.