RE: Anybody had depression/anxiety improve with CPap?
I think having sleep apnea aggravates anxiety. As to whether sleep apnea could actually be the cause of an anxiety disorder, well, that would be a difficult thing to determine.
I sometimes wonder about people who have had sleep apnea all their lives, or at least since adolescence. They would never have known anything different. I could see those people developing anxiety disorders. Depression, too.
Sleepster
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RE: Anybody had depression/anxiety improve with CPap?
I should add that cpap & better sleep is improving my anxiety because the source of that anxiety is all the time I've wasted due to the effects of untreated apnea, and all the things (like home maintenance for example) that I haven't kept up with. as my sleep improves, I'm becoming more productive, although so much down time left me terribly out of shape, so it'll take some time
RE: Anybody had depression/anxiety improve with CPap?
What became obvious to me after PAP therapy fully kicked in was that I was depressed, cognitively impaired but I'm not sure about the anxiety. My work colleagues backed this up for me by asking me what had changed. I wanted to know what change they had noticed and it was at this point I discovered what a grumpy and irrational old "####" I had become.
I then thought back to some of the decisions I had made in this period and felt truly ashamed. Some of them were mind bogglingly stupid!
So I am convinced that OSA causes depression, affects a persons ability to make rational decisions and I suppose it could lead to anxiety. I am so glad that those days are behind me.
RE: Anybody had depression/anxiety improve with CPap?
(09-25-2019, 08:22 PM)sheepless Wrote: I should add that cpap & better sleep is improving my anxiety because the source of that anxiety is all the time I've wasted due to the effects of untreated apnea, and all the things (like home maintenance for example) that I haven't kept up with. as my sleep improves, I'm becoming more productive, although so much down time left me terribly out of shape, so it'll take some time
I can totally relate to all of that! Also, while I was resistant to starting antidepressants also, I caved on that first (on the long journey to becoming a widower). I realized I had been trying to use coffee as an antidepressant for a long time, and started Wellbutrin. I don’t get along well with SSRIs.
Looking back, I think depression was an issue long before apnea, but both went untreated for far too long from being hard-headed. Between them, I wasted a lot of time ....
I don’t really care whether CPAP allows me to stop the Wellbutrin eventually. That would just be a bonus.
What I have discovered though is that CPAP is helping my joints and muscles, allowing me to be more active during the day, as well as being more alert and energetic. All good.
RE: Anybody had depression/anxiety improve with CPap?
(09-25-2019, 08:19 PM)Sleepster Wrote: I think having sleep apnea aggravates anxiety. As to whether sleep apnea could actually be the cause of an anxiety disorder, well, that would be a difficult thing to determine.
I sometimes wonder about people who have had sleep apnea all their lives, or at least since adolescence. They would never have known anything different. I could see those people developing anxiety disorders. Depression, too.
I am pretty sure that is me. Being on CPAP has greatly reduced my symptoms. I was off medication for a couple of years before getting worse again. I don't know if that is due to my sleep quality decreasing over time or something else. Before that I noticed that 2-3 nights of poor sleep brought the depression and axiety symptoms back to a noticeable extent.
