Does SA cause Anxiety issues?

Been to the emergency room 4 times this year so far due to freaking out and now finding out that I have sleep apnea and bad anxiety issues. Freaking out because of anxiety due to not getting enough sleep sleep and not using my machine. All of a sudden anxiety hit me and now I have a new 11 machine with doctors monitoring it.

I am on cpap now and when I started was at 30 events an hour..next night 13 and last night 3.8 an hour. Today I'm getting bad anxiety.

Can anyone explain what to do and if any can tell me if they are experiencing this to?

Is this anxiety going away? Or is it that my body after so many years not sleeping right freaking out because it's not use to sleeping good or getting propper treatment as it is now?

Thx

It's a complicated, ongoing research topic. But sleeping well and breathing well tend generally to help make everything in life better over time, in the long term:

https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apne ... onnection/

Lack of sleep does. SA might in the short term until your sleep is corrected

Blog comments from Ms. Clark:

https://www.cpap.com/blog/sleep-apnea-and-anxiety/

My anxiety gets better when I am doing something about it.
Like using my APAP.

DaboKembo wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 11, 2023 2:17 pm

Does SA cause Anxiety issues?Quote DaboKembo

Untreated and ineffectively treated sleep apnea absolutely does cause anxiety in many people.

DaboKembo wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 11, 2023 2:17 pm

Or is it that my body after so many years not sleeping right freaking out because it's not use to sleeping good or getting propper treatment as it is now?

Your body is not getting good treatment. AHIs of 30 and 13 are far from good.

Read at the top of the index page about New Members and OSCAR. Post a daily details chart in this thread.

When you have an apnea event, your body does everything it can to get you breathing, including excreting stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. If you are having 30 events an hour, that's happening 30 times per hour. So you have to bet it is affecting your entire body.

I noticed that my anxiety went way down when my apnea was finally optimally treated--it did not happen overnight. Where I noticed it most was crossing bridges, and driving in the far left lane when there is a solid median barrier--they gave me huge anxiety! I wouldn't say my anxiety is completely gone, but it's much, much better. Also at first I had a lot of claustrophobia in the mask, and that eventually subsided as well.

So I would say that CPAP treatment is not CAUSING your anxiety ( after all, you had episodes of anxiety which landed you in the ER when you weren't doing the treatment) and given time it will get much better. You're making great progress with your therapy, hang in there.

As for what to do when the anxiety comes on, look up "square breathing" which is a very simple and effective relaxation technique. It works, but you have to practice, practice, practice when you are NOT in the middle of an anxiety attack for it to be most effective when you need it.

I had very bad anxiety, light headedness, and equilibrium problems with untreated OSA. Even with treatment it continued, but I did better once I mouth taped and adjusted my pressure, as I was still losing a lot of air to mouth leak. My symptoms are almost zero now with proper treatment.