Anxiety during the day after using CPAP

Had a rough as expected first night on CPAP Friday night and was admittedly very tired yesterday. Didn't want to take a nap yesterday because I wanted to be able to get to sleep sooner last night. So, yesterday in the afternoon, I run some errands and get back in my car and I start having anxiety. I start crying but only for about a minute. I get home and I have these episodes multiple times over a few hours. The last one I really broke down. I don't understand why this happened, I am staying positive about starting this and I'm not anxious when I have the mask on. The usage my first night was 7.0 hours and last night was 7.8, of course I didn't sleep that long but I did sleep more. Now this morning, after being up a couple hours, I'm getting these anxious feelings again. I should note that I've never had these feelings before and it's freaking me out. I should also note that I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and started taking Levothyroxine for it over a week ago.

Has anyone had this happen to them? What I've read is that the anxiety for most people come when they actually have the mask on. I also wonder if it's the medication doing this to me and has nothing to do with my CPAP treatment. The Dr. Put me on a lower dosage of Levo(75 ) so I don't know. Thanks for any input.

Josh

I think I would be calling the doctor, sounds more like meds than cpap.

Ditto to what Nan said. Anxiety symptoms during the day such as you describe are not something that we would normally see with cpap use. Especially since you just recently changed the dosage of the thyroid medication. Just how much of a change was this?

Pugsy, this is the initial dosage, 75 mg. I just started it like 8-9 days ago. I thought the anxiety might be from the meds but I didn't have anxiety until after I used the CPAP so I'm not sure.

Josh,

I would have to also agree with Nan and Pugsy that it is possibly medication. I would agree with you that anxiety would be more likely to happen just before going to bed or after putting on the mask. I guess there could always be exceptions, but your new medication still is most suspect.

I was almost brought to tears a couple of times right after starting treatment for OSA, but for me it was out of the relief and gratitude to finally be on the road to feeling almost human again... ok, and maybe a little frustration too. Frustration with myself for wasting 15 years trying to get some 'sleep' each night because I didn't have Sleep Apnea, no matter what my wife or family said!

The only thing that makes this harder to figure out is that you started two new treatments, CPAP and Levothyroxine, so essentially anything new could be causing the problem. It is a reminder to me to take small steps and when possible isolate changes in my therapy to make it easier to 'trouble shoot' the negative ones in my treatment.

I wish you good luck in your journey! You will find help and understanding here!!

John

Here is a list of side effects from taking levothyroxine. http://www.drugs.com/sfx/levothyroxine- ... fects.html

Sorry I misunderstood. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealt ... ideEffects

It may be possible that the blood level is just now built up in your system. It takes a few days for blood levels to get high enough to be therapeutic . See link above for side effects.....nervousness is a known side effect.

I suppose you could stop it for a few days...let it get completely out of your system...see what happens and then restart it...or talk to your doctor or just wait and see if the feelings subside because they may with some time. If it were me I would be talking with the doctor and see what he suggests. I strongly suspect it is the meds that is responsible. Cpap use is just air...

Sleeping properly will affect medication. The clearest example of this is caffeine use. Most people cannot take any caffeine except early in the morning.

Thyroid issues will also affect things like anxiety and depression and it takes several weeks (up to 6) for the thyroid medication to kick in fully. It is too bad you are doing both at the same time, however I would ride it out. You need both. You may want to ask for some temporary meds to get past these issues.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to call my doctor tomorrow if this anxiety/shortness of breath continues. It comes and goes.

How long are you using CPAP?
Remember that using a mask attached to your face pushing pressure to your lungs disturbs your sleep too.
It gets time to your body and your brain to get used to it.
CPAP free your body from apnea, but at least your body has been used to it untill now.

In my titration study with Cpap I had far more arousals than my first study with a AHI=40.

Derek, I have only used my CPAP the last two nights.

When everything comes together and if you are still taking the same brand of pills. When you receive a refill and it's not the exact same brand, it will take a couple of days to get use to the medication. Most of the time I receive my meds from the VA and everything is okay.
But if they change manufacturers or I get them from a local pharmacy it takes a few days to get use to them again. It's nothing serious
you will notice a difference. In my case I would describe the feeling as being anxious. Sometimes in the morning after taking the pill I have
the same feeling.
Everyone is correct in saying let your Doctor know.

Definitely run this by your doctor.
Even though you've only been on the machine a short while, your blood chemistry could be changing already.
You may be experiencing higher oxygen and lower adrenaline, etc. levels in your system due to cpap.
This might change your response to meds.
Simply starting treatment can be a lot of new stress, emotional as well as physical.
It will get better, but keeping your physician involved is a very good plan.

I called my doctor and the on call doctor called back and I explained my situation. He told me to skip today's dose, too late took it this morning, and to take half a pill tomorrow. If I have these episodes after that, I'm supposed to schedule an appointment this week. Thanks for everyone's input, this really sucks and I'm struggling. My heart goes out to anyone that deals with anxiety all the time.

Another thing to be aware of is that breathing out on cpap is harder work for your chest muscles. Some people find the first week or so uncomfortable during the day - it can feel like you can't breathe. Some people end up in ER because of chest pains - always a good thing to do in case of chest pains. Basically your muscles are getting a workout and like all other muscles they complain.
This maybe contributing to the anxiety feelings.