Anyone else with both Sleep Apnea and PTSD?

[Kessy]

Hi.

I wonder if there is anyone else in here who have both sleep apnea and PTSD? I have gone through treatment (trauma therapy, including EMDR) for my PTSD and is much better (I rarely have any flashbacks and don't have nightmares often, and sleep better) but it's not possible for to ever get "rid" of it completely. (I have had it since childhood.)

I saw a video with a talk with Dr. Nishi Bhopal MD, an integrative psychiatrist and sleep medicine physican on YouTube and he talked about how most people with PTSD actually have Sleep Apnea, and that for people with PTSD the cpap-therapy can be a bit more challenging to get to work for them.

So: if there are any of my fellow ptsd-survivors out there we could possibly share how we make it work with CPAP and could encourage each other? 

Right now I have made it work with CPAP for me reasonably well, and had a great night last night. But am still in the learning-phase and it's not all smooth sailing yet. Dr. Nishi Bhopal said that most of the time bilevel machine is the best choice for people with PTSD.. But I'm on a Resmed Airsense 11. (And I don't think my provider will agree, at least not yet, for me to try a bileval machine.)

Ps. Not sure if it's allowed to share the video I saw on youtube, so won't do it right now. But can share in a message if anyone is interested.

[THEVGE]

I do not have PTSD, I have read the relation between UARS and PTSD before (Dr. Barry Krakow).

Myself having UARS, I know from experience that if I have my settings wrong I can induce nightmares and panic attacks. I never had those before in my life. So yes I totally believe there is a link. And even more complete, I believe it is strongly linked to breathing (CO2/O2 balance). Anxiety, PTSD, UARS, sleep apnea.....they all interact with breathing a lot. Breath work during the day helps me more than I ever believed. It is also recommended for anxiety (I do not know about PTSD and if breath work helps but I would expect so).

And what do people use for UARS? Bi-level........so if you struggle too long on CPAP, consider bi-level. It has helped me a lot.

[Kessy]

I do not have PTSD, I have read the relation between UARS and PTSD before (Dr. Barry Krakow).

Myself having UARS, I know from experience that if I have my settings wrong I can induce nightmares and panic attacks.

Thank you. I'm trying to look into that too; if I might be helped with doing breath work during the day; and if some other techniques too can help. (I'm doing some yoga and feldenkreis-movements, and it seems as if it helps sometimes if I do it before bed- but then I have to actually make my self DO IT too..  ) There really is an interesting link between sleep and breathing/dreams/anxiety/stress, I'm also looking into inflammation too as a driving force. (Have started to fast from 8 PM to at least 8 AM in the mornings too; and eating more healthy.)

I wish I could try a bileval, but I can't afford to buy one out of pocket and I don't think my provider would consider me a candidate at the moment (my numbers are "too good"; in their eyes). I've heard of Dr. Barry Krakow, it seems intereresting, will look more at what he's saying. (I've been wondering if I have UARS sometimes, but looking closer at my breathing and numbers with events, even the one
s not qualifying being called oas, during the nights right now I don't think so.)

[THEVGE]

Share some CPAP data using Oscar and we can probably tell you if UARS is a potential candidate for you.

As for inflammation, also here I believe breathing is key. Chronic unhealthy breathing, like we do, breaks your body in the long run. I tried "everything" but in the end of the day I always come back to breathing, meaning 2 things. First, proper setup of your OSA/UARS therapy for night breathing and secondly, work on proper breathing during the day. This is calm nose breathing (I like the books of Patrick McKeown for this) in general but also breath work that helps you. Breath work depends a lot on "your issue", not everything works. My current focus is on Buteyko breathing for example (increase blood CO2), for a long time if was more about calming breathing for my nervous system (my nervous system "feels" calm now). Breath work is a powerful thing but you need to keep it up before you notice.

[Kessy]

Share some CPAP data using Oscar and we can probably tell you if UARS is a potential candidate for you.

As for inflammation, also here I believe breathing is key. Chronic unhealthy breathing, like we do, breaks your body in the long run. I tried "everything" but in the end of the day I always come back to breathing, meaning 2 things. First, proper setup of your OSA/UARS therapy for night breathing and secondly, work on proper breathing during the day. This is calm nose breathing (I like the books of Patrick McKeown for this) in general but also breath work that helps you. Breath work depends a lot on "your issue", not everything works. My current focus is on Buteyko breathing for example (increase blood CO2), for a long time if was more about calming breathing for my nervous system (my nervous system "feels" calm now). Breath work is a powerful thing but you need to keep it up before you notice.

Thank you for the tips on things to look up and encouragement. I don't think I should share my sleep data from OSCAR here; since I have a "therapy thread" where I share and deal with the everyday life with cpap and all the issues. (I've been told to not start new threads when I want to discuss those things) I started this thread just in case I could find any fellow ptsd people and discuss more broadly what issues and trix there could be for us with cpap-therapy.

I will keep trying to learn stuff and try to deal with what I can to make my health better, and try to work more with the relaxing-parts: for example breathing. You can be correct that this a very powerful "tool".