My fatigue and depression and getting worse. Could it really be from my mild OSA?HELP

[allistairt]

Back in Oct 2021 I did a home sleep study called Watchpat One from Lofta. https://imgur.com/a/63xYgTc (results)
My AHI is 5.6 and RDI is 16. I am turning 30 soon. I'm fairly fit, and I'm thin. My symptoms. I wake up feeling unrested everyday. I occasionally will dream I'm drowning and wake up gasping for air (rare), fatigue, malaise, anhedonia. Depression. Anxiety. Social anxiety. I understand some of these aren't related to OSA but they could be. Occasional headache. My nose is conjested often even though no mucus comes out.

My insurance is not good. So my option is to buy a cpap with mask off of Lofta for a total of $970. I don't have a lot in my savings but I'm getting desperate. What if the cpap helps me and I feel human again or what if the cpap doesn't help and I am out a thousand dollars?!

I wear a fitbit Charge 4. Is the sp02 meter reliable? Says most nights I'm at 95.

[staceyburke]

Look at craig’s list and [DME Link Removed] dotmed.  Com. You can find a good used Cpap for 500 or less.

You want a ResMed s10 (or 11 but they are just out so they want be that cheap). You need to go to YouTube and see how to find the run time. It is given in hours so divide by 8 to get days and try to stay under one year.

You want a ResMed S10 AUTOSET. be sure it is an autoset. It is like buying a ford - there are ford trucks, sport cars and tractors so autoset is important.

You can get other supplies from Amazon or a company on our suppliers list (at the top of the site) which ever is the lowest price.

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[StevesSp]

An AHI of 5.6 isn't terrible and usually wouldn't explain your problems unless you are experiencing lengthy events. That said, I'm not familiar with the Watchpat One so it might be an unreliable guide.

If you can track down a cheapish used Resmed Airsense Autoset, the folks in this forum would help you to set it up and, if it turns out you actually don't need CPAP, you can sell it for close to what you paid and not be out of pocket too much. Just bear in mind that getting used to a facepump is not easy and will take you a while, probably six months or more to adapt to it, find the right mask for you, sleep with it and get somewhere close to optimum settings.

In the meantime, you should look at all the other reasons you might be fatigued. Is your 'sleep hygiene' good? Are you getting enough actual sleep, and not too much (which can be almost as bad)? Do you get out in the sunshine and fresh air every day? Do you exercise regularly and eat well? What drugs are you taking (legal or otherwise)? Is you bed and bedroom conducive to sleep, i.e. dark enough, good temp and not noisy?

Finally, as a sufferer myself, be aware that depression can cause fatigue and yet simultaneously ruin your sleep. It's very easy to fall into a pit of exhaustion where you feel tired, so don't exercise or eat well, which makes you feel even more tired ... Also, depression can masquerade as tiredness, driving you to bed too early and leading to yet another vicious circle of too much 'bad sleep', then feeling like cr*p, so going to bed earlier and earlier, etc. It's what I call the Worry-go-round.

Focus on what you CAN do, not what you can't. Make little improvements to things like your fitness, diet and personal situation. Even tidying the house or washing the car can feel like success, especially if you had to fight with yourself to do it!

[Geer1]

Before I dive into this more I am curious if you have digestive IBS like symptoms (bloating, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, abdominal tenderness)?

[allistairt]

Before I dive into this more I am curious if you have digestive IBS like symptoms (bloating, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, abdominal tenderness)?

I used to have these symptoms a lot a few years ago. I seem to get gas/ a little bloated easily. I can't burp. I don't get D or C. No tenderness. Not sure if I experience reflux. But years ago I thought I had ibs as I'd have stomach upset quite often. I have peppermint tea, gas x and pepto still from that time lol.

[allistairt]

An AHI of 5.6 isn't terrible and usually wouldn't explain your problems unless you are experiencing lengthy events. That said, I'm not familiar with the Watchpat One so it might be an unreliable guide.

If you can track down a cheapish used Resmed Airsense Autoset, the folks in this forum would help you to set it up and, if it turns out you actually don't need CPAP, you can sell it for close to what you paid and not be out of pocket too much. Just bear in mind that getting used to a facepump is not easy and will take you a while, probably six months or more to adapt to it, find the right mask for you, sleep with it and get somewhere close to optimum settings.

In the meantime, you should look at all the other reasons you might be fatigued. Is your 'sleep hygiene' good? Are you getting enough actual sleep, and not too much (which can be almost as bad)? Do you get out in the sunshine and fresh air every day? Do you exercise regularly and eat well? What drugs are you taking (legal or otherwise)? Is you bed and bedroom conducive to sleep, i.e. dark enough, good temp and not noisy?

Finally, as a sufferer myself, be aware that depression can cause fatigue and yet simultaneously ruin your sleep. It's very easy to fall into a pit of exhaustion where you feel tired, so don't exercise or eat well, which makes you feel even more tired ... Also, depression can masquerade as tiredness, driving you to bed too early and leading to yet another vicious circle of too much 'bad sleep', then feeling like cr*p, so going to bed earlier and earlier, etc. It's what I call the Worry-go-round.

Focus on what you CAN do, not what you can't. Make little improvements to things like your fitness, diet and personal situation. Even tidying the house or washing the car can feel like success, especially if you had to fight with yourself to do it!

I have done 2 home sleep studies so far. The first one was called the ApneaLink Air I think. It showed an AHI of 1. I wasn't satisfied so I tried the watchpat one and showed RDI of 16 and AHI of 5.6. I've been told by others on the sleep apnea subreddit that "mild" sleep apnea could easily cause the symptoms I'm experiencing. But I'm still so hesitant to buy a new cpap machine. 

https://imgur.com/a/Nfh5GsF this is my fitbit Charge 4 sleep for last week. I don't think my sleep hygiene is that bad. I admit I'm addicted to my phone. I browse it on the dim and yellow light setting before bed. But I get really into whatever is on my phone before I feel I should force myself to put it down to sleep. I'm always on the internet at work or on my phone... My room is at 65F, it's dark and I have white noise. I do sleep with my dog and 2 cats that come and go throughout the night. 

Can depression get so bad due to loneliness and touch starvation that it causes physical malaise and fatigue?! I have been going go the gym for the first time tbis past week. I'm on day 5 now and it's tough. I feel kinda extra bad after I lift weights.

[desaturator]

Can depression get so bad due to loneliness and touch starvation that it causes physical malaise and fatigue?!

Heck, yes! But, sadly, so can about a gazillion other things. Some of these, like iron deficiency and vitamin D deficiency, are easy to fix. Most require fairly specialized tests to diagnose.

This is a sleep apnea forum and so, naturally, people tend to think in terms of sleep disorders. However,  there are many other reasons for malaise and fatigue -- particular if Covid might be involved.

I'm in a similar position to you, in that I'm trying CPAP in the hope that it might help, and with little reason to think that it will (I'm still not sure). I bought my equipment second-hand, but I was able to hire it first, which was pretty inexpensive for a few weeks. Sadly, a few weeks is nowhere near long enough to know whether it will work or not.

Still, you shouldn't overlook problems that might be completely unrelated to sleep.

Best wishes, DS

[Geer1]

Depression and anxiety literally alter your brain chemistry and hormones and yes they can significantly effect energy levels, fatigue etc. As StevesSP mentioned it also acts as a double edged sword by affecting sleep quality which can of course make tiredness and fatigue worse. Whether or not you have apnea taking steps to treat/improve depression and anxiety will give positive results whether that be by counselling, medication, more social activity or even reading and learning about depression, anxiety and how they affect you physically etc.

Health issues like apnea (and a million other things) can also cause fatigue and make depression and anxiety worse. Your AHI isn't bad, your RDI is a bit higher and you are very close to what is considered UARS rather than apnea. One interesting thing about UARS is that it does have more of a fatigue effect whereas apnea is often predominantly a tired effect. My recommendation to try apnea/UARS treatment, since this would be out of pocket, would be to try and find a decent deal on a used machine and then you could always sell it for roughly what you paid if you don't find it helpful. You want a decent machine like the Resmed model mentioned.

The reason I asked about digestive issues is because of your comment on nasal congestion and having noticed that many people with congestion also have digestive issues. I am/was one of these people and I found out that treating my digestive issues pretty much made my nasal congestion improve drastically (by finding out I was intolerant to dairy). Since you don't have obvious digestive issues it would be hard to investigate and try to improve them though.