CPAP after Cardiac surgery = Night Terrors?

[Metal Dad]

I've used CPAP for a couple of years and love it. I had major open heart surgery a week ago, and when I went back onto my own CPAP machine 4 days ago, I get a short sleep - up to one hour, then wake up flailing, can't breathe, terrified, confused - have to tear the mask off and get out of bed. Takes about an hour to calm down to dare to try and sleep again - and that's without the machine. I get the same, but reduced to the level of a bad dream, if I sleep without CPAP.

I'm ver tired and very weak and I don't think this is helping my recovery and is making me very afraid to sleep

Any thoughts, advice or suggestions would be gratefully received. I am already counting down the hours to nightfall...

Thanks,

Mike

[Fredxx]

It might be worth trying the trick for new users of having the machine on and wearing the mask for a while before it is time to sleep to get back used to it - get the brain accepting it as a normal part of life again.

Other than that, talk to the hospital and wee if they can do anything to help with meditation or hypnotherapy - it can't be helping your recovery having this problem, so you may be able to get help quickly

[Sparticus]

This doesnt surprise me, it seems that the slightest change to the body and a small spell off the cpap, you have to start again. After I stopped smoking 2 months ago Im now only just starting to wear it as normal again. I went the first month without it as I just couldnt wear it without problems. Strange how the body reacts to the slightest change.

[Tigers Fan]

Get well soon!

Hi Metal Dad

Sounds to me like you were using an APAP in hospital and now you can't get used to CPAP, probably with the pressure now wrong for you.

Your waking in a panic says apnoea - a a big one at that! - that your CPAP pressure just isn't touching. Do you adjust your machine or do you take it to a clinic - either way, sounds like you need to adjust urgently - or get a hold of an APAP, of course.

TF

[Metal Dad]

Update - Sunday

Thanks for the ideas here - very helpful.

The local sleep centre lent me an APAP machine for the weekend to see how I go and I can't get on with it. I drop off OK, but wake up with heart pounding, pulse racing, completely confused where I am, breathing fluttering and so on. Not the killer dreams, but feeling really shook up and rattlled. Takes 40 minutes or so to settle down again. I've tried little and often, a couple or three 30 minute naps each day with the machine, but the wake up is always the same. To be honest, I don't want to wake up in the night like that, as I can't always move very easily anyway.

Is this a normal transition from CPAP to APAP - or do you have any other ideas on cause etc.?

I'm not dreading the night now, but it's blurring a bit into a weary never fully awake and alert day or night. Then again, how much is simply by-products of reaction to the surgery or the anasthaetic - I just don't know.

I just know it's draining...

Best wishes,

Mike

[Richard]

Hi Mike,

If you had major open-heart surgery only a week ago, I think you're asking a lot of yourself to expect to be ready for CPAP or APAP so soon.

For one thing, it takes a week or so for the anaesthetic to be completely expelled from your body. I think TF is probably right about your pressure needing some adjustment, but you should recuperate fully from the op.first and then try again.

Hope it goes well.

Richard

[jackyk]

sorry youre having a hard time but you have just had major surgery as they say, might take a while to settle back down. good luck and hope you sort things out

[Berneta]

Surgery

Hi Mike, you just went through a major surgery, which will take a lot of time to recover from. Try to relax and just go with the flow. Sleep when you can--even if its a nap several times a day. If you are worried about not getting enough oxygen--ask the DR to put you on oxygen at home for a short time, since you are not sleeping well and are worried about not breathing enough (therefore not enough Oxygen). It might help you relax knowing you are getting extra oxygen, and make all the difference. It wouldn't hurt to ask him--and it wouldn't harm you to try it. It takes a lot of time for people to get over the stress that comes with a major change in life--whether it be a surgery, a divorce, separation from a loved one, or a death in the family. Learning to deal with a CPAP is a big deal--and every time we change, our bodies have to re-adjust to the changes. So its like starting out fresh with a breathing machine all over again. Good luck and I hope you recover fast! x Berneta