forgetting to breath suddenly (yikes-help?)

I'm trying to adjust to cpap. I noticed when I am starting to fall sleep I am forgetting to breath. It is scary and has never happened to me before trying the cpap. My sleep study had no central apnea--all obstructive. But this is not obstruction. It is a pause in breath like my brain forgets and then I startle awake. It happens when I take the mask off too. It's freaking me out.
My low setting is 7 but I'm on auto. I've never seen it above 10.

sbgrace wrote:I'm trying to adjust to cpap. I noticed when I am starting to fall sleep I am forgetting to breath. It is scary and has never happened to me before trying the cpap. My sleep study had no central apnea--all obstructive. But this is not obstruction. It is a pause in breath like my brain forgets and then I startle awake. It happens when I take the mask off too. It's freaking me out.
My low setting is 7 but I'm on auto. I've never seen it above 10.

That used to happen to me before I got on CPAP and for a little while after until my anxiety was mostly gone. I was sure worried I had central sleep apnea. My study showed nothing of the sort though. And I have pretty good AHI numbers on my machine. It still happens to me during the day though when I have a lot of anxiety.

That used to happen to me a lot, but mostly before I started CPAP. It only happened when I was conscious of the way I was breathing, thinking about it. I also noticed it when I started CPAP as I was going to sleep, but, again, I think it was because the CPAP make me conscious of how I was breathing, maybe trying to breathe in a certain rhythm, and when I think, "okay, I got it" I'll seemingly forget to breathe.

I didn't worry about it since I knew why it was happening with me. It's like walking or running -- if I lose focus on "the whole" and concentrate too much on each step I take as I take it, invariably I will mess up my stride and sometimes even trip over my own feet.

I experienced that for about 6 months or so when I started PAP therapy. I think that when you are 'switching gears' between 'awake' and 'asleep,' or between some sleep stages, it is considered normal to have little pauses in breathing. I also understand that when we breathe differently at night, it alters the way we breathe during the day a little, too. That can make for some yawning and even some little pauses in breathing during the day for a while as the body/brain adjusts and sort of 'resets' itself. So, what you describe may be natural and fairly common.

I had that for years before cpap. I would worry that I'd die in my sleep. Each morning I woke up with a grin.

You could be experiencing anxiety attacks - one sign of anxiety is gasping to breath - you mind is not used to something on your face, with higher air presure. As you fall asleep and your awake mind shuts off your subconscious parts start to scream "Oh MY GODS there is something on our face wake up!!"

forgetting to breathe, with or without a CPAP is common for stress and anxiety sufferers, happens when distracted or concentrating hard on something
can bring on a panic attack as body sets off emergency alarm....
so remind yourself to always keep breathing

I dont think its usually from central apnea

It is not uncommon for people to experience Central apneas at sleep onset (called sleep onset centrals).
It is also not uncommon to have a 'central event' without having the condition called Central Apnea (CA).

Some examples of a central occurring normally are at sleep onset, when yawning or turning over in bed.
Anxiety can also trigger some central events.

Good luck

DSM

I used to do that a LOT. Even when awake. Don't notice it so much any more - still tend to pause a very long time when focued on doing something, but haven't noticed the sleep times in ages. A few centrals showed on my titrations but not on my diagostic sleep studies, but I think it was just the changes. If it continues after you adjust to cpap, it wouldn't hurt to bring it up to your doctor.

It happened to me the first few weeks of therapy. Then it stopped. Yours will too.

I Hello,

I did that before treatment at work at lunchtime. And mate had shakje me up to make breath agian