Is CPAP making my sleep apnea worse when I don't use it?

Hello all.

Background: I am a normal weight person diagnosed recently with moderate sleep apnea. I didn't really have any observable symptoms from the sleep apnea (ie I wasn't tired). I only randomly decied to do the in-home sleep test and was diagnosed. I have been using the resmed airsense 10. I have found that using the nasal pillows I am fine with the machine (after a lot of getting used to it). I also find I feel more energetic when I've slept with the machine, so it does seem to be working. It looks like the machine ramps from a pressure level of 4 to about 11-12 at peak.

Issue: I find now when I DON'T use the CPAP I wake up more frequently gasping for air. I am wondering if somehow using the CPAP machine is making my body 'require' it more. Alternatively, am I just now noticing symptoms that were there before that I had just gotten used to.

Hypothesis: I am slightly worried that my apnea is due to very early alzheimer's. It almost feels like I am 'forgetting' to breath. I am wondering if somehow the CPAP is telling my brain "don't worry you don't have to breath" and therefore making it worse, not better. All of this is complete speculation. ANyone have thoughts?

kirk9000 wrote:Issue: I find now when I DON'T use the CPAP I wake up more frequently gasping for air. I am wondering if somehow using the CPAP machine is making my body 'require' it more. Alternatively, am I just now noticing symptoms that were there before that I had just gotten used to.

no, no more than wearing glasses makes your vision worse and more dependent on the glasses.

kirk9000 wrote:Hypothesis: I am slightly worried that my apnea is due to very early alzheimer's. It almost feels like I am 'forgetting' to breath. I am wondering if somehow the CPAP is telling my brain "don't worry you don't have to breath" and therefore making it worse, not better. All of this is complete speculation. ANyone have thoughts?

and completely wrong. that's not how breathing, or alzheimers, if it did, people with alzheimers would forget to breath, and all die.

Haha! Indeed. Well - I know it sounds idiotic but there is at least some speculation that early stage alzheimer's causes sleep apnea, rather than the other way around. So there is some potential 'brain stem' cause of sleep apnea - specifically when sleeping.

Any thought on why I might be waking up gasping for air suddenly now in the absence of the CPAP machine? Is this normal?

kirk9000 wrote:Hypothesis: I am slightly worried that my apnea is due to very early alzheimer's. It almost feels like I am 'forgetting' to breath. I am wondering if somehow the CPAP is telling my brain "don't worry you don't have to breath" and therefore making it worse, not better. All of this is complete speculation. ANyone have thoughts?

and completely wrong. that's not how breathing, or alzheimers, if it did, people with alzheimers would forget to breath, and all die.[/quote]

There's a reason it sounds idiotic, because it is. Your body requires O2, it's begging for it. Stopping the use of XPAP deprives your body of O2. It wants it back! Jim

YOU, are making your Apnea worse by not using XPAP every time you sleep or nap!

kirk9000 wrote:Haha! Indeed. Well - I know it sounds idiotic but there is at least some speculation that early stage alzheimer's causes sleep apnea, rather than the other way around. So there is some potential 'brain stem' cause of sleep apnea - specifically when sleeping.

there's all sorts of speculation... doesn't mean it's factual.

kirk9000 wrote:Any thought on why I might be waking up gasping for air suddenly now in the absence of the CPAP machine? Is this normal?

because you have sleep apnea.

just wear the frigging mask.

kirk9000 wrote:Issue: I find now when I DON'T use the CPAP I wake up more frequently gasping for air. I am wondering if somehow using the CPAP machine is making my body 'require' it more. Alternatively, am I just now noticing symptoms that were there before that I had just gotten used to.

I can tell you now that sleeping without xPAP definitely seems to leave me worse off than when I had no treatment at all. It does feel like it. Maybe it's part perception and part acclimatization to living with untreated Apnea. Many of us followed a similar progression where we compensated for the sleep deprivation while not fully realizing how severe it really was, in my case for many years. The old frog in the boiling water vs frog bathing in the warm water - now I jump out of the boiling the first chance I get. Of course I can count on one hand the number of nights I've gone without xPAP in the last 2-3 years and my memory could be deceiving me.

It sort of reminds me of an old Stevie Ray Vaughn concert I saw a long time ago ... but I can't remember because my OSA gave me early and frequent Alzheimer''s.

You say you didn't have symptoms prior to testing, but has it occurred to you that you were in the very early stages of apnea and while you used Cpap you were OK, but your OSA progressed and so now when you don't use Cpap you feel worse? Not saying your condition will continue to get much worse over a short time, not if you keep using Cpap, but stop using it and you will feel lousy. Or to put it another way, your question is completely irrational.

Once your parachute had opened, ride it all the way to earth.
Really dumb to cut the lines.

I feel pretty certain that CPAP will not make your apnea worse, once you become accustomed to getting enough sleep and oxygen you will notice not having them. So you will notice the feeling more.

You were gasping for air before, you just didn't notice it until you got used to CPAP.

Not using CPAP can cause throat and sinus irritation which indeed can make your apnea worse!

Also, not using CPAP puts you at risk for the complications of Sleep Apnea, That includes heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and glaucoma.

Julie wrote:You say you didn't have symptoms prior to testing, but has it occurred to you that you were in the very early stages of apnea and while you used Cpap you were OK, but your OSA progressed and so now when you don't use Cpap you feel worse? Not saying your condition will continue to get much worse over a short time, not if you keep using Cpap, but stop using it and you will feel lousy. Or to put it another way, your question is completely irrational.

It was a question - I'm not sure how it can be irrational. It is at least physically conceivable that CPAP makes sleep apnea work if you don't sleep without a mask? Your theory could be correct too. I don't understand why it's an irrational question. I didn't presuppose the answer in asking it.

kirk9000 wrote: It is at least physically conceivable that CPAP makes sleep apnea work(sic) if you don't sleep without a mask?

no.

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I appreciate everyone's comments. I'm not sure why everyone seems so grumpy here!