Some treatments, particularly CPAP, tend to prompt changes immediately, but others may take up to a few weeks, says Sarathi Bhattacharyya, MD, a pulmonologist, sleep medicine specialist, and the medical director of MemorialCare’s Sleep Disorders Center at Long Beach Medical Center in California. Either way, sometimes it’s easy to miss the signs that your sleep apnea treatment has led to beneficial changes, he says.
Here are five signs that your sleep apnea treatment is working.
1. You Dream More and Wake Up Less
2. You Feel More Focused
3. Your Energy Levels and Mood Are Steady
When you’re getting solid sleep, with fewer episodes of waking up and more ease falling asleep, it can have positive effects throughout the day, says Madeleine Basist, MD, a pulmonologist at Northwell Health’s Health Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
“You’ll tend to have improved daytime alertness and energy levels when sleep apnea is adequately treated,” she says. “Some people also notice improvements in mood.”
This may be a subtle shift in some cases, says Dr. Basist. You may notice that if your sleep apnea treatment is working, you’re less reactive to stress than usual, for example, or that you get upset less often.
4. You Have Fewer Headaches
Waking up with a headache is a common effect of sleep apnea, and these headaches usually feel like a dull ache on both sides of the head, says Chafen Hart, MD, a sleep medicine specialist at National Jewish Health in Denver. And they may occur for several reasons.
“The [morning] headache can be associated with the low or variable oxygen levels which come with obstructive sleep apnea, or with the changes in [blood vessels] in the brain which occur when there are swings in blood pressure,” says Dr. Hart. Another possible reason is that untreated sleep apnea leads to systemic inflammation and oxidative stress —an imbalance in antioxidants and free radicals in the body that can damage cells and tissues — which may cause or worsen headaches, she says. And the interruptions in deep sleep caused by the frequent reawakenings of untreated apnea “can [also] lead to morning headaches.”
5. You Can Breathe Better
“When sleep apnea is treated effectively, it can improve pulmonary hypertension,” she says. “You’ll usually breathe better, both in general and during exertion.”
If you’re not experiencing signs like the ones above, that doesn’t mean sleep apnea treatment isn’t a fit for you, says Bhattacharyya; it simply implies that you may need to pivot to another option.
“It’s important to recognize whether your sleep apnea treatment feels ineffective, because that should lead to a discussion with your doctor about adjustments to your therapy,” he says. “It could also prompt a review of coexisting medical conditions or medications that may be causing sleep apnea treatment to be less effective.”
If you’ve been using a treatment option like CPAP or an oral device for at least a few weeks and you’re still struggling with issues like frequent waking and daytime sleepiness, talk with your doctor about possible next steps.
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