Increased palpitations during the day

[pkonin]

I just started using an AirSense 10 APAP last week, and have noticed an increase in heart palpitations during the day recently.  It feels like anxiety.  I've probably been dealing with moderate OSA for at least 6 years and was finally diagnosed recently.  I felt better almost immediately after starting treatment, but wonder if this is just my body getting used to getting actual sleep.  

Has anybody else experienced this?  Thanks in advance.

[SarcasticDave94]

pkonin,

Although your health status and my own likely differ greatly, I have palpitations daily as well. My doctors and I are trying to track down the cause, though we haven't got the answer just yet.

I suffered from apneas untreated for an estimated 14 years, with them getting progressively worse. Within the past 3.5 years, I have developed palpitations among a few other complications. ASV treatment has not made this palpitation issue worse or better, as in no perceived influence. And I have been on successful apnea therapy with the ASV for 4 months, and only within the past month have I started waking up feeling less tired than going to bed.

PS if you are waking up feeling less tired, that's a good sign CPAP is helping.

[pkonin]

I'm definitely doing a lot better.  I guess I have to see how things go as my body gets used to gets used to this.

[SarcasticDave94]

Yes, give it some time and you should get better as it goes forward. Some start feeling better almost immediately, while others take a little bit longer to see the positive results. If you need assistance on adjusting the CPAP, you can use the links at the top of the website to get the clinical manual for your machine. From there, you can get the SleepyHead reporting software to track the results of your CPAP therapy. Also, you can check the wiki articles for info as well HERE.

Don't hesitate to ask questions.

[Sleep2Snore]

I had these when I first started CPAP, they settled down quite quickly, however, I still had the odd flutter, but I was checked out and they found nothing. They put it down to my body getting used to doing things I had slowed down doing.
If I ran it was quite bad at times, but I am still here 20 yrs later.
If it keeps happening get yourself checked out, you can never be to careful.

I very rarely get them these days.

[HalfAsleep]

Priority: check in with your PCP about the palpitations because there aren't any physicians on duty at this forum.

-Make sure you're drinking enough water.
-See what happens if you cut back on caffeine.
-If you sit at the computer a lot, you're likely scrunching your lungs. Make sure the front (pects, etc.) and back muscles get stretched, even the intercostal stuff, and worked so your lungs have full capacity.
             I once messed up exactly like this (I actually almost gave myself a heart attack and had to go to the ER) while on a recumbent bike (my hands were on bpm sensors); I scrunched my lungs; now I have to stretch every day; if I stop scrunching on the bike, the bpm immediately go down (I can see this right on the screen), and the palpitations abate.
-Post your SleepyHead charts here to make sure the pressure is optimized. It's possible the bottom number is too low and it's agitating you, and then carries over to day time. 

[trish6hundred]

Hi pkonin, WELCOME! to the forum.!
Good luck with CPAP therapy and hang in there for more responses to your post.

[tasboy111]

Hi pkonin,
How are you now after two years?

I am not a senior CPAPer, and my response below is just based on my experience these days (sound of my body with CPAP around four weeks: I am still listening to my body now). Thus, just don't take my opinion seriously.

Simply speaking, if you don't any heart problems and blood pressure problems before using CPAP, this might be caused by the reduced blood pressure after using CPAP (which is actually a good thing for many people those blood pressures are higher than normal before using CPAP), especially when the pressure setting of CPAP is not optimal (could be too high at the beginning for your body).

In my case, I used a auto pressure 5 - 20 at the beginning of two weeks, and felt obvious (though endurable) head dizziness, walking grogginess, foggy brain, slight difference in heart beating from before using CPAP. Before using CPAP, I never had these problems.

Then I visited the therapist in a routine appointment, they set my pressure to a fixed high value 14, I used this for another two weeks. Head dizziness and walking grogginess seemed to have disappeared (maybe not 100%), and this happened from the first day I used this fixed value of 14. This made me related head dizziness and walking grogginess to the large variation of the CPAP pressure from 5 to 20 (mostly large fluctuations between 10 to 17 during night, one cycle followed by another). Senior members, could you please comment on this?

But with a high fixed pressure of 14, brain fogginess were still there, and I also experienced two slight palpitations. This worried me, and I went to my GP, and GP gave me ECG and measured blood pressure, and thought all were good. He also let me to do a chest X-ray and Holter monitor. I will update the information after the consultation with my GP next week. In this week's consultation, my GP said this does not worry him (though he took everything serious from the patient's perspective), and thought this might be caused by the reduced blood pressure. My GP also suggested me to tune down the pressure to 12.

I used the lower pressure (12) for five days now, and brain fogginess seemed to be disappearing (exactly, my brain almost came back to normal- still slight foggy sometimes), and this happened from the first day (actually the night before) I used this lower pressure of 12. So far, with the pressure of 12, I don't have any palpitations, and hope everything will go well in the future.  Senior members, could you please comment on this?

From my experience, you can see the pressure setting of CPAP machine is very important. I will keep listening the sound of my body and working with the senior members  in this forum to further optimise the pressure setting of my machine.

To make everything safe, I also suggest visiting your GP to rule out other possible health problems through e.g. blood test, X-ray, ECG, and Holter monitor, etc. 

All the best,
Tasboy111

[Crimson Nape]

tasboy111 - pkonin's last visit was February of 2018. Please don't expect a reply.