High daytime anxiety after using CPAP

[gwood225]

Hello All, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea 12 years ago, tried using a CPAP machine and was one of those 5% of people that just could not get used to it so I stopped. 12 years later I am trying again. I am happy to say that after 14 straight days I am quite happy with the results. More energy, no daytime naps or extreme sleepiness. Unfortunately, all is not good. A severe and unexpected side effect of using the CPAP has been high daytime anxiety. It is worse in the morning but does last all day. There are too many examples to give of what I am feeling but uncontrollable emotions are the worse. I have an appointment with my primary care physician next week and will meet with my sleep doctor in 2 weeks for my one month follow up. I have reached out to several mental health providers but they are ALL booked up and cant see me for months. I am looking for anybody with a similar perspective and maybe some guidance as to a resolution. I have no underlying medical problems. I have read that when you have sleep apnea and have an episode while you sleep that you body will emmit endorphines to shock body to start breathing again. Well, what happens if your body no longer needs to do that at night? After much reading this is the only thought that I have on this subject. My only hope is that my body will eventually adjust. Having this issue for the rest of my life is not something that I am looking forward to. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[nicholasjh1]

Not medical advise, but consider the tiredness and lack of sleep and damage from the hypoxia, plus possible night time adrenaline bursts were keeping any daytime anxiety masked. In addition without the nighttime adrenaline spikes it could feel like overactive adrenals during the day. If it's not too much I'd personally wait for it to stabilize, but I can't really give you that advice because I have no way of knowing how bad it is for you, or exactly how the anxiety is effecting you. I'd advise checking with your doctor, personally I would resist any initial meds for it if it's handleable in order to give your body some time to adjust to actually having normal energy levels though I can't say how long that should be. I know after I first started getting treated I got "wierd" adrenaline bursts for quite a while I still get them now, but they no longer seem like a shock just my normal coping mechanism if I'm spinning or taking the stairs really fast.