I got complacent and now I am paying the price

[Matty332]

Hey folks,

I have gotten so comfortable with my current treatment that for the last 3 days my mask leaks were slowly
rising (I was failing to test the mask seal before I was going to bed) - and today I have payed the price. I woke
up having a panic attack and something felt "wrong". I was too scared to get out of bed.

For the last hour I have been walking around in a semi confusional state (that is now lifting slowly as I stay
awake and breath) and what was scaring me is I couldn't find a reason for it. Until I looked at sleepyhead.




I wonder if I should go to the doctors because of this.

I feel so bloody anxious and 'out of it', and a little nauseous. I already have very delicate brain chemicals due to mental illness and if I mess with them even a little bit I am stuffed. Does anyone else wake slightly confused from a bad night?

[wilsonintexas]

I do not want to be unsympathetic, but it sounds like you are having a panic attach.

The AHI, leak, and other data do not look bad.... I wish I looked that good any night. YOu AHI is at 6, not that bad.

Your leaks are below 20, not great, but nothing that the machine can not handle.... I would not want it every night.

What is there to call the DR about?
Slow down, adjust your mask and try to go back to sleep.

[Matty332]

That's not unsympathetic brother - that is advice that you have given me and I feel very appreciative of it.

Any advice is good advice in my opinion.

I am not going back to sleep though as it is morning here is Canberra Australia. I noticed you are from Texas? The surrounding area where I live - rural NSW is just like a giant version of Texas and I would love to visit the real Texas one day. Thanks for the advice mate.

[DoriC]

Hi Matty, Your leak rate looks good at 95%=13.20 ,Max=19.20 for a short while, well below Resmed's cut-off of 24 lpm. SH tends to make mole hills look like mountains because of the scale. The one trouble spot may have been REM, vivid dreaming or sleeping on your back. I'm sure others will be along to reassure you that you're doing well. Keep us posted.

[kaiasgram]

Hey Matty, very sorry about your rough night and panic attack. You mentioned that you have a sensitive nervous system, so even if your leaks are at an "acceptable" level, your body may be particularly reactive to them. I normally have a pretty good leak line, but when I zoom in for a closeup look, I see that my respiration line goes all jagged and whacko when the slightest leak happens. Even if you don't remember those instances, your body is still reacting as if you're in trouble. If it would give you peace of mind you could certainly run it by your doctor. Glad you have SleepyHead to help you figure things out!

[chunkyfrog]

It is good that you have Sleepyhead, and can share your data/concerns with those of us on the forum.
Even though most of us are not physicians, know that you are not alone, and you can contact someone here any time.

[-tim]

How old is your mask? Is it wearing out? Do you have another one to try?

[DavidCarolina]

First of all, not to disagree with other posters, but I believe strongly that its not the AHI AVERAGE that determines if your are "well treated" by cpap. What good is having seven good hours at zero, and then one horrific hour at 8 that averages to 1.5? Its removing traumatic SLEEP EVENTS that determine success. What you have there, as you've highlighted, is a sleep event that probably coincided with an oximetric drop. I'd like to see oximetry data during that bad hour you had. Im in the same boat as you. I get AHI levels below 1.0 all the time, but i can still wake up in total chaos. Sure, it COULD be a nocturnal panic attack, but it could also correlate to what i described above, you could be hypersensitive (like someone is with MSG or peanuts for example) even "smaller" apneas, etc.

Follow your instincts on your symptoms. Id also recommend a mask change if you keep having problems.

Your sleep doc can prescribe klonapin or even additional doxepine (seroquel) for those panic attacks in the event you have a sleep event.
Be careful to get the correct dosage. Read up on Dr. Cheney's information about those two substances and how they prevent your brain going into excitotoxicity which might explain part of your problem.

Trust me, instead of having a two hour or two day fog, they'll get you feeling better in 40 minutes.

Most people dont know it was originally developed as an antihistamine, so its fighting off those chemicals flooding
your brain and body that is creating that desperate fight or flight hysteria. Its a combination of klonapin, doxepine, and magnesium that certain people are lacking to prevent neuron excitotoxicity

PM me if you want to ask any questions, because theres a lot of misinformation and misguided notions regarding the drug.

I also have an oxygen concentrator that I use when i get a bad event.

[neverbetter]

Sometimes it has nothing to do with sleep.
When I lost my job and was home doing nothing, I had panic attacks every day. I had so much anxiety that I had to be treated with meds for 2 months. When I went back to work, it went away. I wouldn't wish it on anyone but in my case, it was very easy to treat. Go see your doctor and describe it to him or her. Don't try to treat it yourself or assume it's a leak in your mask. It might not be.

[DavidCarolina]

never better, im very curious about the medications used for your panic attacks at that time.

Also, whether anyone attempted to correlate those events to any other possible explanation?

Thanks, and feel free to PM if you want. The more information we all have here the better.

In my case, Ive been told Ive been having panic attacks before that were actually something else, and
the opposite is true as well.

[SleepyToo2]

Sometimes it has nothing to do with sleep.
When I lost my job and was home doing nothing, I had panic attacks every day. I had so much anxiety that I had to be treated with meds for 2 months. When I went back to work, it went away. I wouldn't wish it on anyone but in my case, it was very easy to treat. Go see your doctor and describe it to him or her. Don't try to treat it yourself or assume it's a leak in your mask. It might not be.

Not sure that it is easy to "treat" a lost job - particularly at present! Very pleased that you were able to find something ...

I believe strongly that its not the AHI AVERAGE that determines if your are "well treated" by cpap. What good is having seven good hours at zero, and then one horrific hour at 8 that averages to 1.5? Its removing traumatic SLEEP EVENTS that determine success.

Were you looking at my SH printout from last night???!!! Five hours with only one RE. The last 2 hours had 10 CA events - ranging from 9 to 36 seconds. Quite a cluster of events in the last hour, so that the AHI in the last 30 minutes or so was 7. This doesn't happen every night, but I do think I feel a little more tired than usual ... But that could be because I was late to bed last night after a power failure (I was too lazy to set up the battery pack for what I thought was only going to be a couple of hours without power after getting to bed, so I stayed up reading on my Kindle. The power actually came on an hour earlier than they said (Go PECO!). The question is, what evidence is there to convince our sleep docs that we are still having problems if we don't have fully data-capable machines? Also, do a few events (over the course of a night) actually signify anything? After all, my AHI was 1.52 for the night .... If I am able to convince the doc that I do have a problem, what is the answer. My pressure is only at 9, so there is not much room for reducing it - especially as at 8 I was still snoring! Now, I have lost a few lbs since my titration study, so perhaps it is time for another - and possibly another machine.