[Symptoms] Not sure if sleep apnea/insomnia/anxiety

[AJ87]

For the past month, I've had trouble staying asleep. I wake up with a racing heart. I'm not gasping for air (that I remember) and my husband says when I do sleep my breathing is pretty normal. Initially I'd wake up once a night and then it worsened to the point where I was waking every hour and a half. I've been suffering from anxiety and stress while waiting for an unrelated medical diagnosis. I am getting more and more exhausted during the day as this continues. I have daily headaches too. My heart rate has also increased throughout the day. I've also had a low grade fever. The thing is, I don't have trouble falling asleep I have trouble staying asleep. Recently I've been able to get up to four hours uninterrupted sleep before waking up. I'm still exhausted though. Is this sleep apnea? Or bad anxiety?

[Ockrocket]

It sounds like you started off with a bit of an anxiety concern with your upcoming medical diagnosis.

Subsequently the stress and anxiety have started feeding on themselves and thus worsening the sleeplessness (been there, done that myself), once it starts it can be hard to psychologically control.

My suggestion is that you go back to your GP/Family doctor and explain the problem and the symptoms, you may get either medications to help the stress and anxiety (not my personal preferred option when I have this kind of problem), or perhaps a referral to a psychologist who might be able to help you develop mental strategies to divert the stress and anxiety. 

There are other wiser and more knowledgeable people on this forum that will also have suggestions I'm sure, so see what comes up in the replies and try to go from there. 

Meanwhile, in the words of Bobby McFerrin... "Don't worry, be happy"  (easier said than done some days though) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

[49er]

For the past month, I've had trouble staying asleep. I wake up with a racing heart. I'm not gasping for air (that I remember) and my husband says when I do sleep my breathing is pretty normal. Initially I'd wake up once a night and then it worsened to the point where I was waking every hour and a half. I've been suffering from anxiety and stress while waiting for an unrelated medical diagnosis. I am getting more and more exhausted during the day as this continues. I have daily headaches too. My heart rate has also increased throughout the day. I've also had a low grade fever. The thing is, I don't have trouble falling asleep I have trouble staying asleep. Recently I've been able to get up to four hours uninterrupted sleep before waking up. I'm still exhausted though. Is this sleep apnea? Or bad anxiety?

AJ87,

I am so sorry to hear about your issues.   As one who has also gotten anxiety due to an unknown medical condition, I definitely can relate to your situation.

Regarding sleep apnea, do you have a family history of it?   When I wondered if I had it several years ago, I didn't think I met the criteria but I decided to seek a diagnosis because of that.   Sure enough, I had moderate apnea.

Not that this is foolproof but you might want to google the Epworth Sleepingness Scale, fill it out and see if it tells you that you might have apnea.  If it does, bring that to your PCP and ask for a referral for a sleep study.

But even if it doesn't indicate you have sleep apnea, if your gut tells you that you may have it, raise the issue with your PCP.   

Best of luck.

49er

[Rcgop]

For the past month, I've had trouble staying asleep. I wake up with a racing heart. I'm not gasping for air (that I remember) and my husband says when I do sleep my breathing is pretty normal. Initially I'd wake up once a night and then it worsened to the point where I was waking every hour and a half. I've been suffering from anxiety and stress while waiting for an unrelated medical diagnosis. I am getting more and more exhausted during the day as this continues. I have daily headaches too. My heart rate has also increased throughout the day. I've also had a low grade fever. The thing is, I don't have trouble falling asleep I have trouble staying asleep. Recently I've been able to get up to four hours uninterrupted sleep before waking up. I'm still exhausted though. Is this sleep apnea? Or bad anxiety?

This is exactly how I started my journey down the CPAP path. 
I retired 4years ago and should be ok monetarily. But, I AM a worry wart. First 2 years I slept like a baby and then, well, you can re-read your comments. (Except for the fever)

My advice, get a sleep test and rule out sleep apnea. Most insurance will cover the in home test and in my case was good enough. Mine was mild but bad enough to ruin my days. Now, I look forward to bedtime again. 

Good luck and keep us posted. 

[trish6hundred]

Hi AJ87,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
You could get a sleep study to see what is going on with your sleep.
I wish you good luck and I hope you are able to find out about your other condition, soon.
Hang in there for more responses to your post.