hand swelling

Hello. I have been using my cpap since the 23rd of Dec, with mixed results. the last couple of days I have woken up with swollen and stiff hands. Is this normal? I only slept a couple hours at a time last night between bathroom breaks and getting up with a baby.

Are you sleeping on your hands to support your head? That can do it...

Nothing to do with Cpap - call your MD.

Once I was diagnosed with sleep apnea I attributed all medical conditions to cpap. Hope you resolve the hand thing soon....agree with seeing doc.

i'll check with the Doc, I was just wondering if anyone else experienced it since it started about the same time and I saw some articles about it online. Thanks

Is it just swelling? Or are you having numbness, tingling, and/or pain? Are your ankles swelling, too? Could be carpal tunnel, or it could be dangerously high blood pressure -- definitely need to check it out with a doctor.

Ra101075 wrote:i'll check with the Doc, I was just wondering if anyone else experienced it since it started about the same time and I saw some articles about it online. Thanks

In all honesty, new users of this therapy report LOTS of physical circumstances/changes they claim to have never had before starting therapy. Some things could be attributed to this new way of sleeping (more oxygen, hopefully "better" sleep and all that goes with it), and some things are just coincidental. It's not hard for the mind to think it has to do with this therapy, but the user just has to realize or evaluate what is logical and what is not. As much as people may try, not every physical change, illness or anomaly can be "blamed" on this therapy.


Den

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It is just swelling, it's a little uncomfortable til I get up and moving a bit. I have had foot and leg swelling, I take medicine for high blood pressure and a water pill already, just strange that the hand swelling started so recently

I worry about blood clots from having a good sleep. Without a cpap I would be moving around all night keeping the blood flowing. With cpap and sound sleep I may just lie still for hours allowing pooling. But then I am a glass half empty person.

I hope you solve the hand mystery.

I haven't slept more than a couple hours solid yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Past few nights my son has been waking up just about every hour.

Make sure your bed and pillow are comfortable and support you.
When you sleep with cpap you sleep deeper and move a lot less. My hips and neck felt really bad the first weeks until I added a mattress pad and two old quilts and a new pillow to make my bed more sleep friendly.

Totally off topic, but check out the book called "The Baby Whisperer". I used similar techniques and my youngest slept through the night at 8 weeks. A godsend! NO CRYING IT OUT, ever.

With apnea you need a good night's sleep to be present for your baby, and I'm here to tell you that the baby was MUCH happier, too, with adequate sleep. It's basically teaching your baby to self soothe himself to sleep by laying him down when he is full of breastmilk and alert but calm (it's hard, but don't let him fall asleep at the breast--I waited--if possible--to change diapers until she was falling asleep because that woke her up, and then I'd feed some more). I know it seems impossible (I did not use this technique on my first child and it was THREE YEARS before she slept through the night with great difficulty), but it truly works.

My twist on the technique was to smile broadly every time I laid my baby down and I told her how wonderful she was and how proud I was of her because she was learning to help herself go to sleep. She was the kid I could put to bed wide awake, kiss her goodnight, and leave the room without her screaming. Not a peep from her until morning. Bliss!

Ra101075 wrote:I haven't slept more than a couple hours solid yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Past few nights my son has been waking up just about every hour.

Your equipment profile isn't complete. What machine and settings are you using? If you're using an Auto in a range of pressures, maybe the pressure changes are waking you up. Sleep stages run in cycles of about 90 - 120 minutes and if you're entering a sleep stage and your breathing changes, that could be a trigger for the machine to increase pressures. Unfortunately, too many times the pressure changes can bump the person out of that needed sleep stage and into a lighter one or fully awake. That will leave the person feeling unrested at best.
On the other hand, if the awakenings are from "external" sources, there isn't much that can be done about that.


Den

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You could be sleeping differently. Either not moving around, lying in a different position, etc.

A lot of chemical changes happen to your body when you are being strangled with apnea all night long. Things change when you start CPAP and you may be "out of balance" because you're not having to adjust to apnea.

Do be careful about "apnea blindness." You tend to blame everything on apnea or CPAP. Even doctors tend to do this, but apneacs suffer most of the same problems as non-apneacs.

Funny you mention this, though. My arms tend to go to sleep while I'm sleeping, and it's been bothering me a lot more in the past few weeks. I don't think it's CPAP or apnea related, though.

Quite odd. Usually this kind of swelling is due to a fluid retention/distribution issue, but your diuretic should be taking care of that, unless the dose is too low. Def. consult your primary care physician ASAP, issues like this can be an indication of other possibly serious issues. Some health issues that people believe only happen during pregnancy can happen after giving birth and they are no less dangerous.