CPAP Causing Lightheadedness

This is my second night at home with my CPAP machine. When I did the in-office study with the CPAP mask to find out my ideal pressure, within the first 10 minutes of wearing the mask I began to feel light headed and “see stars.” I told the sleep tech, who said this was not normal, but perhaps I was hyperventilating and they would fix this with modifying the pressure. I’m a calm person and I was happy to try the CPAP machine, my breathing was regular, so I know I wasn’t hyperventilating by any technical definition of the word, so maybe the tech meant something else. Anyway, I completed the study and now I have the device at home, however, nothing has changed. Still light headed and dizzy after having it on for only a few minutes. After a night of sleep with it on, the lightheadedness is worse and I wake up with a headache. Does anyone have a technical explanation as to why this is happening?

So far, I’ve read and heard the “it’s your body adjusting to CPAP” explanations for the entire gamut of CPAP complications. I feel like that response is a cop out from providing a real, technical explanation. So if you have one, I would appreciate it!

What model of which machine do you have and what are your pressure settings? Do you know (or have a copy of) your test results? What your AHI was?

Hi Jax797,

You ask for "a real, technical explanation".

You may have the wrong idea about what hyperventilation is – ie, it always and only comes from panic, and it always and only comes from breathing faster than normal.

The reality is that for some people just increasing the tidal volume from 500cc to 750cc, and breathing like that for 30 minutes (and with no other changes, including in rate) is enough for there to be symptoms.

I was told that by Dr Claude Lum, who was, when he was alive, the world's expert on hyperventilation and hyperventilation syndrome.

Something in your present response to CPAP may mean that you are breathing off more CO2 than normal and thus changing the acid/ alkaline balance of your blood.

Which change leads to your symptoms.

If you search on-line, you can find a list of the symptoms which make up HVS.