11-14-2021, 10:18 AM
Apnea mystery: Cycles of normal, healthy sleep and apnea 'flare-up' periods
Hey all,
I'm trying to figure out the cause of my sleep apnea. For me, it doesn't seem to fit the bill as conventional obstructive apnea. For the better part of this past year I've been wearing a pulse ox/oximeter at night to track my oxygen saturation levels. I'm noticing a recurring trend, which seems to point to something other than conventional obstructive apnea. I was using CPAP for a while, but tried going without it for a while and was fine without it. It seems like I don't have a 'normal' case of sleep apnea. Here's a description of what I'm experiencing:
For weeks on-end, I will have normal, very low-apnea index nights of sleep. Most recently, I had about 3 and a half to 4 weeks straight of oxygen saturations in the high 90s, with an occasional desaturation here and there. Then, and here's the important part, for about two days I will begin to develop a headache and will also have some odd aches and pains in my body, and I will enter what I like to now call a 'flare-up', where my oxygen desaturations/AHI will increase significantly, and I will have some shortness of breath during the day and at night. The soles of my feet also have a weird buzzing sensation -- not pain, but feels like a cell phone is going off in my feet. I will also feel pressure behind my left eye when I wake up during these flare-ups. Usually I have to blink several times upon waking to gain vision into my left eye while I'm in the midst of one of these flare-ups. It's only the left eye -- odd. I have also checked my blood pressure during the days, and it is usually low -- like 95 to 105 over 60 to 70.
Sometimes, one of the more severe symptoms I'll have is that about an hour after falling asleep, I will wake up and it will feel like I can't force my body to breathe. It's hard to describe, but it's terrifying -- I wake up, can't force myself to breathe and I try to stand up and focus on breathing. Then sometimes when I stand up, I will collapse on all fours because it seems like my body isn't getting enough of what it needs to to sustain itself. My legs/arms/body just feels heavy during those acute symptoms. In time though, my body will sort of self-correct and I'll be able to fall asleep. I've attached a few screenshots of my pulse ox readings on the mobile app -- two are from periods where I'm fine, and one is during the flare-up (from last night, in fact).
At one point, however, this experience was so severe that I ended up getting a ride to the ER. My blood pressure was high, about 160 over 110 at that time (generally it falls a bit on the lower side - 110 over 70), I was pale as a ghost, and shaking because of the adrenaline. A scary experience. I've since then learned to recognize when that is happening and have generally been able to become more patient as my body corrects itself somehow.
Has anyone experienced something similar to what I'm describing? I've done a lot of checking in with Dr. Google and looked at things like Multiple Sclerosis, auto-immune diseases, COPD, central sleep apnea, heart failure and the like... Obviously I need to go see a doctor about this, and I will - just have to get a new job and health insurance first which should be soon. Tests I've previously had done: Brain MRI, Brain CT (clear on both), carotid duplex ultrasound (normal -- although one artery had about half the max flow-speed of the other?).
It's a shot in the dark, but has anyone else experienced something similar? I'm still relatively young male in my 30s, don't drink anymore, don't do any drugs, and yet here I am having these flare-ups, trying to figure out what's going on. In general, during the day, I feel ok and am not super fatigued. What scares me however, is that hypoxia/hypoxemia is terrible for your organs and to have this recurring over the longhaul makes me susceptible to some bad things for sure. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading - any input would be greatly appreciated.
I'm trying to figure out the cause of my sleep apnea. For me, it doesn't seem to fit the bill as conventional obstructive apnea. For the better part of this past year I've been wearing a pulse ox/oximeter at night to track my oxygen saturation levels. I'm noticing a recurring trend, which seems to point to something other than conventional obstructive apnea. I was using CPAP for a while, but tried going without it for a while and was fine without it. It seems like I don't have a 'normal' case of sleep apnea. Here's a description of what I'm experiencing:
For weeks on-end, I will have normal, very low-apnea index nights of sleep. Most recently, I had about 3 and a half to 4 weeks straight of oxygen saturations in the high 90s, with an occasional desaturation here and there. Then, and here's the important part, for about two days I will begin to develop a headache and will also have some odd aches and pains in my body, and I will enter what I like to now call a 'flare-up', where my oxygen desaturations/AHI will increase significantly, and I will have some shortness of breath during the day and at night. The soles of my feet also have a weird buzzing sensation -- not pain, but feels like a cell phone is going off in my feet. I will also feel pressure behind my left eye when I wake up during these flare-ups. Usually I have to blink several times upon waking to gain vision into my left eye while I'm in the midst of one of these flare-ups. It's only the left eye -- odd. I have also checked my blood pressure during the days, and it is usually low -- like 95 to 105 over 60 to 70.
Sometimes, one of the more severe symptoms I'll have is that about an hour after falling asleep, I will wake up and it will feel like I can't force my body to breathe. It's hard to describe, but it's terrifying -- I wake up, can't force myself to breathe and I try to stand up and focus on breathing. Then sometimes when I stand up, I will collapse on all fours because it seems like my body isn't getting enough of what it needs to to sustain itself. My legs/arms/body just feels heavy during those acute symptoms. In time though, my body will sort of self-correct and I'll be able to fall asleep. I've attached a few screenshots of my pulse ox readings on the mobile app -- two are from periods where I'm fine, and one is during the flare-up (from last night, in fact).
At one point, however, this experience was so severe that I ended up getting a ride to the ER. My blood pressure was high, about 160 over 110 at that time (generally it falls a bit on the lower side - 110 over 70), I was pale as a ghost, and shaking because of the adrenaline. A scary experience. I've since then learned to recognize when that is happening and have generally been able to become more patient as my body corrects itself somehow.
Has anyone experienced something similar to what I'm describing? I've done a lot of checking in with Dr. Google and looked at things like Multiple Sclerosis, auto-immune diseases, COPD, central sleep apnea, heart failure and the like... Obviously I need to go see a doctor about this, and I will - just have to get a new job and health insurance first which should be soon. Tests I've previously had done: Brain MRI, Brain CT (clear on both), carotid duplex ultrasound (normal -- although one artery had about half the max flow-speed of the other?).
It's a shot in the dark, but has anyone else experienced something similar? I'm still relatively young male in my 30s, don't drink anymore, don't do any drugs, and yet here I am having these flare-ups, trying to figure out what's going on. In general, during the day, I feel ok and am not super fatigued. What scares me however, is that hypoxia/hypoxemia is terrible for your organs and to have this recurring over the longhaul makes me susceptible to some bad things for sure. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading - any input would be greatly appreciated.
