[CPAP] Racing heart beat and ringing in ears.

[Kelseyharry7557]

I hope someone can help me. I am fairly new to cpap and have struggled learning to use the machine and mask. It started off promising but went downhill. I have gotten the hang of the mask etc but For some unexplained reason I can only sleep an hour or an hour and a half. At that point I have sudden wake ups that include a racing heart and loud ringing in the ears. The mask is on tight and I’m doing fine right up to the wake up. The ringing can stay for a day or two before I get a break. 

If I’m lucky I’ll go back to sleep three or four times repeating some variation of this unpleasant cycle. I use Afrin sparingly or sometimes an antihistamine to keep my nose clear. I have a resmed air sense 11. Pressure 5-15. My apnea count is generally low or zero. It’s impossible to tell what causes the wake up but often I feel like I’m in dream state. I’m hoping someone has experienced this or know someone who has. 

[Crimson Nape]

You need to do a few things, so we may help.

1. You may have your mask too tight.  Please read the Wiki Mask Primer: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ask_Primer
   
2. Download a copy of OSCAR for your computer type. The download link is in the name and in the black ribbon at the top of every page here.
   
3. Make sure you have a good SD card, 2 GB to 256 GB in size.  The smaller sizes will provide a year or more of data.
   
4. Read the Installation Wiki: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...stallation
   
5. Read the links in my signature to help you get going.
   
6. Make sure the SD card is in your CPAP when you are using it.  In order to get the detailed sleep data, the SD card HAS to be in the CPAP.
   

Finally, many users find using their CPAP while awake and watching TV or reading, helps in getting use to it.

- Red

[Kelseyharry7557]

Thanks for the feedback. 
I don't think I have a problem using the machine or the mask but ill check the tightness. I'll also get the sd card in there. The experience I have may or may not be an apnea event. Usually, my apnea scores are 0 or 1 or 2. It feels like something is causing my heart to race and the racing heart blows the tinnitus up to loud. I use a separate device with an app called snore lab. Before i explode I'm in a good rhythm. The mystery is what triggers the sudden wake-ups. It's almost like someone has flipped a switch. I cannot find any consistent reason I don't keep sleeping.

[mesenteria]

Hi.  Unfortunately, heart arrhythmias, or tachycardias, and sleep apnea are two peas in a pod.  My own atrial fibrillation was eventually linked to sleep apnea, the severe category.  I had developed AF near the end of a run in June, 2017. After multiple tests, the last test was an overnight polysomnography.  That test revealed severe obstructive sleep apnea. 

An irregular heartbeat is going to be atrial fibrillation, possibly atrial flutter, but the latter is generally asymptomatic for many people.  They simply don't know about it until a health professional takes their pulse and looks up in surprise.  The other heart condition is going to be a 'rate' problem, and that can be too slow (bradycardia) or too fast, tachycardia. In fact, and I won't go on at length here to spare you, but either your atria, your ventricle, or both, can go too fast.  When it's just the atria, it is called 'supra-ventricular tachycardia'.  When just the major pump below, the ventricle, it is ventricular tachycardia.  VTach is not good.  You want that treated, or at least controlled, ASAP.  SVT, the supra-ventricular kind, is pretty much what happens during AF...atrial fibrillation and flutter.

It sounds like you need to have a Holter Monitor issued to you, if that is possible through your family doctor or a referred cardiologist.  You wear the Holter that evening, and to bed, and you record significant events on a form.  You'll shut it off at some point and return it to the issuing agency.  It will get read, and your GP/cardio will get back to you within days.

You need to deal with this as early as possible so that you don't progress through the stages of evolution of heart arrhythmia too quickly.  The earlier this is treated, the better in the long run.  So get on it right away.