Pregnant and sleep apnea

[anne92]

Hello everybody!

I am a woman, 30 years old and since a bit more than 2 months I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea (around 50 stops per hour). I started to use the CPAP, and this has been a somewhat bumpy road. The mask is fine and I do fall asleep with the mask but the problem is using the CPAP all night long.

Here is the part im worrying about the most at the moment: Im 15 weeks pregnant. Although I am really trying, the therapy with the CPAP is not yet what it must be. (excuse me for my English bytheway, im from the Netherlands). When I go to bed I fall asleep with the CPAP mask on and everything goes well (stops are around 0.5 per hour when I use it!). But... then I wake up after 2-3 hours to go to the toilet. Most of the nights I have trouble falling asleep with the mask after that. Sometimes I lie awake for half an hour and then I decide to pull of the mask out of frustration. Problem is that most of the times I do fall asleep and I find myself waking up a few hours later without the mask. This means that most nights I maybe sleep half of the night with the mask on and half of the night without. I am really worried that my baby will get a lack of oxygen and something bad will happen.
The thing is that I am really trying, but sometimes I do not even notice that I pull of the mask at night, it happens when I'm half asleep.

Anyone with experience being pregnant and having sleep apnea? I am really worried it will harm my baby in this way....My midwife did not really know what sleep apnea had as affect on the baby so they can not really help me

[ChicagoGranny]

This means that most nights I maybe sleep half of the night with the mask on and half of the night without.

This is a somewhat common problem for people who are not pregnant. Some have taped the mask's straps to their face to make it more difficult to pull the mask off unconsciously.

Which mask are you using?

[Julie]

Hi, first thing - the Cpap will NOT hurt your baby. ALL it does is give a very little amount of plain air (not "oxygen" alone) to hold your throat (airway) open a little bit better than if you did not use the machine. Apneas interfere with how much your airway is open, and the air from the machine does not really even reach your lungs, just keeps things open a bit better for when you take a real breath so that reaches your lungs. There are people on Cpap who do use EXTRA oxygen (through a special hose) but most of us don't do that (and you would definitely know if you were doing it).

Using Cpap will help your baby by making your breathing easier, not hurt it!

[lazarus]

It is natural and commendable that you are so focused on doing what is best for you and your unborn child, but try not to let that positive focus on CPAP cause you too much extra stress at this beautiful time in your life.

Yes, the goal is to sleep all night with effective CPAP. But on the way to that goal (which everyone here will help you with), a few hours of sleep with effective CPAP can do you and your baby a lot of good. So don't consider your partial success and your progress to be failure. Just keep making steady progress as you try suggestions to get your PAP therapy comfortable and at the best pressure and settings possible.

As your body gets better sleep with the CPAP than it got before CPAP, it can still take a while for your brain to figure out what is going on and that it can keep sleeping beyond a few hours. It may assume it is done. Be gentle with yourself in giving yourself time with getting over that, but be firm with your brain that you will NOT sleep without the mask. Win that battle of wills!

Hopefully some of the amazing hormonal changes that occur as your pregnancy progresses will help in cooperation with your use of CPAP.

Congratulations on the pregnancy and on being willing to use CPAP! You WILL get the CPAP working better for you soon, I just know it, based on your good attitude, your motivation, and your willingness.

I wish you all the best.

[anne92]

Thank you so much for your response everyone!

@Chicagogranny, I have the Resmed airfit p10 mask!

@Julie thank you! I know the CPAP will not hurt my baby, that is not what im worried about. Im worried about the hours I do NOT sleep with the CPAP can hurt my baby due to loss of oxygen...

@Lazarus thank you so much for your kind response. This made me a bit calmer and proud of the hours i DO sleep with the CPAP. Last night I slept 6 hours with the CPAP and only 1-1,5 hours without. I was feeling guilty about the 1,5 hours I slept without the mask, but then I thought about your response, that I am already trying my best.

I know that my level of oxygen will not drop to such a point that I will suffocate but Im worried my blood does not have enough left for my baby. The thing is that here in the Netherlands there is not much research done around sleep apnea and pregnancy. I only know that it can cause higher blood rate and pre-eclampsia. But somehow Im just stressed about 'what if my baby does not get enough oxygen'.

I think the only thing I can do is keep trying, but I hope I can stop worrying for a bit.

[lazarus]

Last night I slept 6 hours with the CPAP and only 1-1,5 hours without.

So you are already 80% to your goal of all night every night! And I'm SURE you'll get there soon.

It is true that CPAP helps oxygen levels, but it also helps the quality of your sleep, which is important to you and to your baby too.

There will come a time not too many months from now when you will look back fondly on these nights of sleeping at night.

The people who pay for the existence of this forum also have a brief article up on pregnancy and CPAP, and it contains a few links:

https://www.cpap.com/blog/pregnancy-sle ... -pregnant/

[Janknitz]

Keep working at it! Your baby needs oxygen and so do you.

If you do a search here, you will find a lot of suggestions to address the issue of pulling off the mask in your sleep. Above all, if you wake without the mask, put it back on. Eventually your body will get used to the feeling of having the mask on while you sleep.

If the mask is causing discomfort or leaking when you get to higher pressures during REM sleep, that may be a reason you are unconsciously removing it. We can help if you can identify those issues for us and tell us what mask you are using.