I've been on CPAP for almost two months. DX'd severe OSA with AHI 44.3. Resmed Autoset 10 seems to have controlled the OSA events, with the OSA events per hour on CPAP pretty much always < 1.
My question/ concern is around the central events. When I first started CPAP I started getting some blocks of central events per hour hovering around 3 - 5 for a week or so. Then they dropped down to < 1, but seem to be coming back, increasing every night for the last few nights. Total AHI was 5.9 last night. I've also noticed hypopneas increasing, but obstructives are still low.
Don't know if this is related but I'm a shallow breather/ breath holder during the day, due to stress/ anxiety. Often when trying to fall asleep I notice that I just stop breathing during the transition from wake to sleep, which of course wakes me all the way back up, and the vicious cycle begins. I'm pretty anxious about my sleep in general so I'm sure I carry that to bed.
I'm also now waking frequently thru the night; not sure if that is due to anxiety about the whole thing or possibly due to these central events simply waking me up to breathe, since from what I understand the CPAP doesn't control the centrals.
So with all of that as background, would anyone have any insights on these questions:
- Wondering if my shallow breathing "habit" during the day could be causing the stoppage while falling asleep, like I've trained my brain to instruct my lungs not to breathe due to the feeling of stress surrounding getting to sleep
- I've read that treatment emergent central apnea usually happens right after starting treatment (which it did), and usually resolves (which it did), but can it show up again two months into treatment? No other health or medical changes that I am aware of.
Thank you