Caused or Made Worse By Sleep Apnea?!

Cold feet, rosy and ruddy complexion, swollen eyes, broken blood vessels in my eyes and on my fave and chest, high morning blood sugars with lows throughout the day possibly due to higher lantus dosage in a struggle for normal morning readings, high blood pressure, binge eating, high blood lipids, weight gain, forgetfulness and irritability, forgetting words and struggling to choose words while I’m teaching, having a difficult time finding things and getting ready in the morning, feeling sleepy while driving, feeling guilty for not doing my best, being short with ppl I love, taking anti-anxiety meds that seem to have caused difficulty reaching orgasm and a lack of sex-drive (I’m 32 and engaged!), constant anxiety and pain and tension in muscles, and rare and random chest pains…I could go on. Could this all be linked to my apnea?! I can’t wait for answers…
Continuing the discussion from Sleep Apnea Diagnosis; So many questions!:

An accurate answer cannot be provided for such a large number and wide variety of symptoms as the ones you list. I do not believe the wisest physician in the world (if such a thing could be determined) would be able or willing to give you a simple yes or no answer to your question. I suspect untreated sleep apnea is only one of the possible causes of your multiple medical complaints…

Well, I get that but I’m just overwhelmed right now with the severity of the ox test results. I had no clue I wasn’t breathing when I’m asleep. I’m just reeling with questions and eager to get answers. In my reading, I’m realizing how serious sleep deprivation and oxygen deprivation can be. It has been linked to many conditions, and could possibly be intricately involved in overall health. I’m not looking for a scapegoat for my symptoms, but I wonder if this diagnosis could lead to improvement in areas of my life I’ve been so committed to change. I’m excited to begin treatment, but sure don’t expect it to be a fix-all. I’m diligent about my glucose control and diet. Perhaps I could reap the benefits of all my hard work, rather than continuing to see my health disintegrate.

i get anxiety and always have. the thing i do is try to look at the positive side of a situation to calm my anxiety. my husband just got a cpap machine and it is making a difference for him. his sleep apnea wasn’t severe, but he can definitely tell that he is not nodding off during the day watching TV. i also know someone who has had a cpap for sometime, and he said the increase in energy he got from it changed his life. so there is definitely reason for you to feel that 2016 is looking up for you.

some anxiety meds can also cause forgetfulness. if you try to go off them, look around on the internet to see the experiences of other people. i was taking gabapentin for hot flashes at a very low dose for a very short time, and when i tried to stop, i was throwing up and feeling awful for two days. so i am saying this not to increase your anxiety, just to give you a heads up because maybe getting a good night’s sleep will lead to you trying to cut out the anxiety meds. if i had cut down at a much slower pace, i would have been fine.

my hot flashes mean i can’t get a good night’s sleep 2 weeks out of every month. that’s what led me to take gabapentin. when i am sleep deprived, i have a very short fuse, have a much bigger appetite, forget easily, can’t express myself clearly, etc. sleep is a really big part of health and being mentally stable.

getting your sleep apnea treated is only going to be a positive for you. there are a bunch of different ways to get the air into you. my husband uses the one that pushes air into the nostrils (nasal pillows i think they are called?). the other person i know with a cpap has the one that looks like a pig nose. you basically have to give whatever kind your trying at least a week to see if you can get used to it. my husband had a bad first night, but after 3 days he felt a lot better.

I agree with @v_prediabetic, even though a new diagnosis always takes some adjusting to, I would see this as a positive one. Knowing and getting it treated is much better than not knowing and not getting treated. (I myself am a bit anxious about the idea of having it and not being treated, but my doctor says it’s fine, so I’ll go with that for now, but will probably seek a second opinion this year.)

Hi @Jennitar,

First, I am so sorry you are having health problems. These are no fun considering your T1 too.
Secondly, I know you mentioned you think you might have sleep apnea, I don’t have any experience with this, i’m sorry but I have A LOT of experience with thyroid issues.
Do you get your thyroid levels checked when you get blood draws at your endo’s? If you haven’t at all or haven’t in awhile, I would highly recommend that you do. Many of your symptoms could be explained by thyroid issues. Its worth a shot even if you also have sleep apnea.
It is widely known that autoimmune diagnoses walk hand in hand. Meaning that where one develops, other/s usually follow.
I have Hashimotos hypothyroidism and and T1, I have experienced many of the symptoms you have shared at certain times throughout my treatment.
Not discounting the sleep apnea, but saying you should also get your thyroid levels checked too. :slightly_smiling:

Busybee

I did my thyroid checked once last year and again last week and both looked normal. He said all my labs looked normal but my HbA1c was higher than usual. The oxygen saturation test was the one that he was concerned about. I’m wondering if some of my symptoms are caused by poor circulation, sleep deprivation and the apnea.

quote=“Jennitar, post:1, topic:50192”]
Cold feet, rosy and ruddy complexion, swollen eyes, broken blood vessels in my eyes and on my fave and chest, high morning blood sugars with lows throughout the day possibly due to higher lantus dosage in a struggle for normal morning readings, high blood pressure, binge eating, high blood lipids, weight gain, forgetfulness and irritability, forgetting words and struggling to choose words while I’m teaching, having a difficult time finding things and getting ready in the morning, feeling sleepy while driving,
[/quote]

That is a lot of symptoms. I can’t tell you which are directly caused by sleep apnea but some of these are clearly associated with apnea including

  • Insulin resistance
  • Darn Phenomenon leading to difficulty with morning blood sugars
  • High blood pressure
  • Weight gain
  • Feeling sleepy and fatigued
  • Cognitive difficulty
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Thanks for taking the time to answer so thoroughly! What about shortness of breath during the day?
I realize I listed a lot of symptoms, but what I’m wondering is…if I treat the apnea, perhaps the blood pressure problem could decrease a bit. Then if it could help me lose weight, I would see better glucose control and lower blood lipids and bp, less anxiety (I’ve always believed it’s physical–long back story) and perhaps lose the side effects I get from taking Effexor. Then what if the blood vessels breaking was caused by the stress of repeated apnea episodes over many years. I’ve got huge tonsils and have been a LOUD irregular snorer since I was a kid. I believe the binge eating is linked to sleep deprivation, so perhaps I’d have more will power and energy to deal with my unhealthy behavior (I also work in social services 65+ hours a week) and know that the binge eating is linked to that as well. I’m going to decrease my work load soon and treat the severe apnea and see what happens. I’ll keep improving my diet and exercise and maybe I can feel young again before I’m old. I’m just 32 and a very active and proactive person. I want to heal some of this. thanks for your help!

I wish I could tell you that getting a proper diagnosis of sleep apnea and treating it with a CPAP would fix all your problems. But it probably won’t. If you really have bad apnea like your description suggests then you should see some really amazing improvements. But it likely won’t make you a totally healthy person and you won’t feel absolutely perfect. You just need to have patience and have reasonable expectations. I know that you seem freaked over this diagnosis, but really you should think of this as a blessing. You found something that is wrong and you can treat it. You just need to look in the mirror and remind yourself that you are going to be ok.

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Haha, I’m ok, just easily excitable. I know I’ll be ok. Thanks very much!

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Well, I’m glad your thyroid is normal! :wink: One less other thing to potentially have.
I wish you the best in finding your diagnosis and treatment and/or cure.
Busybee

so after reading this should i get check for it ??. i have some of the symptoms that
Brian_BSC had on here.

It would be worth reviewing the symptoms of sleep apnea with your doctor to see if they suggest a high likelihood of sleep apnea. But I would tell you that many of the symptoms are general and can be caused by any number of things or just general “malaise.” But if you do have serious apnea you will likely find great relief in the symptoms once they are treated.