Sleep Apnea (CPAP Therapy)

[traderwithpois]

Years ago after complaining to my doctor i got a formal Sleep Study done (expensive and very uncomfortable to do). After several more tries of the same Sleep Study over several years i finally got a formal Diagnosis of Sleep Apnea in 2017.  I was prescribed a CPAP machine to use while sleeping.  It provides air pressure into my air pathway at night to ensure i breathe properly.

Breathing properly at night means better sleep.  Better sleep means you wake feeling rested, refreshes, energized, and have sex drive. 

As my therapy progressed with the machine, my doctor increased my pressure a lot gradually over a year. While i am still trying to get my nightly apneas lower, i can no longer go without my CPAP ever.  When i go without, i feel terrible (way more fatigued, sleepy, headaches, irritable, etc). 

I believe strongly that good sleep is crucial to sex drive, recovery time from ejaculation, and feeling good and healthy and energized overall

I am not sure what exactly the connection between sleep or sleep apnea and POIS might be, but i highly encourage everyone to ask your doctor about getting a Sleep Study done to test for Sleep Apnea

[Hopeoneday]

I have a chronically closed nose.
It's a very irritating condition, with pois, it's a disaster.
And guess what, my nose knows when I'm going to bed,
 well, and just then it closes completely, just before bedtime.
I don't know if I'm breathing at night at all


I hear this can endanger human health.

[demografx]

Years ago after complaining to my doctor i got a formal Sleep Study done (expensive and very uncomfortable to do). After several more tries of the same Sleep Study over several years i finally got a formal Diagnosis of Sleep Apnea in 2017.  I was prescribed a CPAP machine to use while sleeping.  It provides air pressure into my air pathway at night to ensure i breathe properly.

Breathing properly at night means better sleep.  Better sleep means you wake feeling rested, refreshes, energized, and have sex drive. 

As my therapy progressed with the machine, my doctor increased my pressure a lot gradually over a year. While i am still trying to get my nightly apneas lower, i can no longer go without my CPAP ever.  When i go without, i feel terrible (way more fatigued, sleepy, headaches, irritable, etc). 

I believe strongly that good sleep is crucial to sex drive, recovery time from ejaculation, and feeling good and healthy and energized overall

I am not sure what exactly the connection between sleep or sleep apnea and POIS might be, but i highly encourage everyone to ask your doctor about getting a Sleep Study done to test for Sleep Apnea

I did the Sleep Study, have significant sleep apnea, but I just can’t adjust to using the CPAP machine! I hope the sleep apnea doesn’t kill me

[Vandemolen]

I will have a sleep study too. Because of corona the hospital is busy so I might have to wait 2 to 3 months. Because I always have a stuffy nose I will get a scan too. I do not think this will solve my POIS, but at least maybe less worse symptoms.

[millstone]

I did the Sleep Study, have significant sleep apnea, but I just can’t adjust to using the CPAP machine! I hope the sleep apnea doesn’t kill me

Have you tried one of the mouth guards? They aren't as "effective" as a CPAP, but they can still help open the airways for a better night's sleep.

There are cheap over-the-counter ones like SnoreRx for $50 that you can try before you go all-in on a prescription option. I tried this one myself and it does seem to help me. I have an overbite that I think constricts my throat airway when I sleep at certain angles.

https://www.snorerx.com/snorerx

I will have a sleep study too. Because of corona the hospital is busy so I might have to wait 2 to 3 months. Because I always have a stuffy nose I will get a scan too. I do not think this will solve my POIS, but at least maybe less worse symptoms.

Last month my doc set me up with an "at-home" sleep study.

They will mail you the equipment and sensors. You wear them for a few days, then mail them back.

They are a few weeks backordered because of Covid-19, but its another option rather than sleeping in a lab, which is probably impossible right now because of quarantine conditions.

In the meantime I just went ahead and ordered an Oura Ring to better understand my own sleep cycles.

https://ouraring.com

Just focusing on this has helped me sleep a whole lot better. It pushes you reminders to your phone on optimal bedtime, when to start winding down, when to get up and exercise, etc. Kind of pricy at $300 but has been a great addition to my overall health regimen.

[drop247]

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea after a sleep study. But I am not convinced it isn't caused by nasal congestion instead of just airway collapse. CPAP actually seems to hurt my sleep. Every few months I give another go. It's hard to tell what helps because sleep deprivation actually helps my anxiety.

[Vandemolen]

Yes Millstone, I will get a sleep study at home. They will setup af few wires at the hospital, then I can sleep at home. The next day I have to return to the hospital so they can remove all the materials.

[Vandemolen]

I will have a sleep study too. Because of corona the hospital is busy so I might have to wait 2 to 3 months. Because I always have a stuffy nose I will get a scan too. I do not think this will solve my POIS, but at least maybe less worse symptoms.

I got test results. I do. I do not have sleep apnea. But I do have a very bad sleep. So the doctor has sended me to a neurologist. The scan of my sinus was ok. The doctor said that I use my mouth a lot for breating and maybe that is because I have a dry mouth and problems with the nose.

[Vandemolen]

The neurologist could not help me. He said that I had 6 hours of sleep. But that my sleep was a bit restless and I might had nightmares.

[Journey]

On poiscenter.net there's an idea apnea>hypoxia>less oxygenation>worse postO recovery>POIS. And apnea can cause thick blood, some POISers had thick blood.

[drop247]

I was also diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea and given a CPAP but after many many trials and masks found it hurts my sleep not helps it. I suspect nasal congestion is the real issue. I sometimes take an anti-histamine before bed and that seems to help keep me clear. Recently I discovered taking 500 mg of Taurine before bed also greatly reduced my nasal congestion. Perhaps even more so than anti-histamines. And the Taurine seems to work longer. I'm still experimenting. I'm also mouth taping now that my nose remains clear overnight with Taurine, this forces proper nasal breathing. Give Taurine a trial and see if it helps your breathing. I'd be interested to know if it has the same effect on others.

[aswinpras06]

Really great find.  Do you take taurine with food or on empty stomach before sleep?
This if works will be very helpful for me because even I have tried Cpap and had lot of problems forcing me to stop using.

[aswinpras06]

I was also diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea and given a CPAP but after many many trials and masks found it hurts my sleep not helps it. I suspect nasal congestion is the real issue. I sometimes take an anti-histamine before bed and that seems to help keep me clear. Recently I discovered taking 500 mg of Taurine before bed also greatly reduced my nasal congestion. Perhaps even more so than anti-histamines. And the Taurine seems to work longer. I'm still experimenting. I'm also mouth taping now that my nose remains clear overnight with Taurine, this forces proper nasal breathing. Give Taurine a trial and see if it helps your breathing. I'd be interested to know if it has the same effect on others.

Hi Drop247

Does taurine still works for you,  Also please clarify you take it with food or empty stomach.  Many our members have sinus problems and it will be of immense help to thus.

[drop247]

500 mg on an empty stomach. The sinus drainage effect is not immediate. Takes maybe 30 min-1 hour to happen. But once your nose clears it stays clear all night for me.

[aswinpras06]

500 mg on an empty stomach. The sinus drainage effect is not immediate. Takes maybe 30 min-1 hour to happen. But once your nose clears it stays clear all night for me.

Thanks a lot.  Hope this will be helpful  to many others in our forum

[berlin1984]

Since demo mentioned some days ago that he has sleep apnea, I got very intrigued into this topic. My family doctor (who does not know about POIS) mentioned this as one possibilty for my daytime fatigue. So I have a check for this scheduled at a ENT doctor soon. I finally have the guts to visit a doctor again, after being always very hesitant to go there.
(I'm not a big snorer, but that's not a mandatory criterium)

Some things from researching this topic, no particular order

From Wikipedia:
Sleep apnea may be either obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), in which breathing is interrupted by a blockage of air flow, central sleep apnea (CSA), in which regular unconscious breath simply stops, or a combination of the two
Doesn't the latter one sound a bit like an autonomic dysfunction?

MDMA consumption (I did this quite a few times in my 20ies, not so much anymore in my 30ies):
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19955499/
"Conclusions: These findings suggest that prior recreational methylenedioxymethamphetamine use increases the risk for obstructive sleep apnea and lend support to the notion that brain serotonin neuronal dysfunction plays a role in the pathophysiology of sleep apnea. "
Could overmasturbation combined with stressful life/events cause something like that too?

Many POISers have digestion problems.
Sleep apnea is associated with it too.

Allergies / clogged noses / biofilm in nose / etc have been mentiond quite often too.

When It’s Not All ME/CFS/FM: How a Sleep Study Turned One Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patient’s Life Around

There's ton of threads on this forum about breathing and/or meditation.

On poiscenter.net there's an idea apnea>hypoxia>less oxygenation>worse postO recovery>POIS. And apnea can cause thick blood, some POISers had thick blood.

Sounds very interesting too. During sports, proper breathing helps with lactic acid clearance.

[berlin1984]

There is also a thing called UARS = Upper airway resistance syndrome.
Which is considered a variant of sleep apnea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_airway_resistance_syndrome

We have one thread about it where a nose surgery might have fixed his POIS:
https://poiscenter.com/forums/index.php?topic=1088
(And he before helped himself by unblocking the nose, e.g. with loratidin)

[berlin1984]

I got a sleep study done with a take-home device (sensors at finger, nose, breast, belly).

Doctor says I have a bit of snoring, but no sleep apnea.

I now think my daytime fatigue comes (also) from a genetic mutation => https://poiscenter.com/forums/index.php?topic=3694.msg42200#msg42200

[berlin1984]

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Is Associated With Low Testosterone Levels in Severely Obese Men
(Body Mass Index (BMI) > 35 kg/m2)
low free and total testosterone
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8350060/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28254252

Not sure if this would also apply with lower BMI maybe in lower grade?

[demografx]

Sleep study last night. As expected (this was my 2nd study), I showed severe sleep apnea

Improved POIS symptom relief (took regular dose of 6mg testosterone & Tylenol PM - - includes 50mg Benadryl - - right before study)

Slept better than in YEARS. Mood lifted. Chronic fatigue lifted as well.

Resisted mask wearing for years. Now ready to wear it!!