sleep apnea and afib

Right now I am in persistent a fib. I have had insomnia for years. Many nights I will be awake for several hours in the middle of the night. My hospital sleep apnea test showed I had mild sleep apnea. (10.5) Most of the times when I have gone into a fib it has been either when I am getting up we’re going to sleep or in the middle of the night when I am awake. I rarely wake up in a fib. Anyway I have a sleep doc appointment today. I have had this cpap machine sitting here and I will either have to restart compliance or turn it in. I can’t see myself ever getting it to work and have only tried it during the day hours. I don’t know if my afib is really tied to the apnea and my insomnia I think is something else all together. But I wondered if anyone here had reduced their afib burden with cpap treatment... or with a dental appliance.

(ps I am working with EPs on the afib- had ablation scheduled 2 weeks ago but canceled because of the disappearing clot on a TEE.. in limbo at moment so just looking to see any apnea tie in people have experienced.)

I can't say I've helped my pretty good afib control, but apnea can have a lot of negative health consequences.

In this post, I have before and after taping my mouth during sleep of beat to beat heart rate. [www.afibbers.org] This is the whole thread on this discussion [www.afibbers.org]

I sometimes monitor my beat to beat heart rate overnight with a Polar H10 chest strap and a phone app that records the data and can download to my computer for future analysis. In this presentation, they'd recorded an ECG overnight and converted the data to a "tachogram." I get the same tachogram data from my app/chest strap. I observed I had the apnea pattern in my data. In the linked post I'd gone to sleep without mouth tape while recording. Then I woke up with a dry mouth and taped up and went back to sleep. You can see the huge difference in heart rate variability with and without mouth tape. A few people here have PM'd me to say mouth taping has made a big difference in their sleep.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2021 09:35AM by GeorgeN.

Thanks George. I have mouth tape here- it freaks me out a bit. but I am going to try it. I mean I would do the c-pap and power thru but I can't seem to get past doing it for around 30 min when awake. I have tried going to sleep with it. Ok you have me on a mission to try the mouth tape tonight. (And maybe I'll do another compliance run with the cpap since I have it.. I know they can be hard to get right now with the chip issue.)

Everyone is different, but here is my experience as of now. I began using a CPAP in August 2018. at that time I was having an AFIB event every 3 weeks. As of now, this past year I have had one 2 hour episode 8 months ago. I haven't missed a day of using the CPAP. I think in my case it has contributed to a better situation regarding AFIB . It is probably not the only factor but I believe it has helped. Also, It is not a quick fix.

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JDfiB
Everyone is different, but here is my experience as of now. I began using a CPAP in August 2018. at that time I was having an AFIB event every 3 weeks. As of now, this past year I have had one 2 hour episode 8 months ago. I haven't missed a day of using the CPAP. I think in my case it has contributed to a better situation regarding AFIB . It is probably not the only factor but I believe it has helped. Also, It is not a quick fix.

Thanks. I think I will try again to get used to it. appointment in 15 min to discuss that option with the PA. Curious did you have insomnia as well or "just" apnea? (not that apnea is a "just" condition). Do you mind saying if yours was mild, mod or severe? just curious... mine is mild ..

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bettylou4488
Ok you have me on a mission to try the mouth tape tonight.

I'd start by wearing it some during the day to get used to it. If you aren't used to breathing through your nose, that is something you can adjust to, but may be easier when you aren't trying to go to sleep.

I had severe OSA for years, probably through the last 8-10 years of my military career. Even back then my family bugged me to have a sleep study done and my standard reply was that if I'd wanted to wear a face mask I'd have been a fighter pilot. When my afib/flutter went persistent in 2016 I finally had a study done and the technician doing the study was amazed at how bad it was, stopping breathing more than 60X/hr. I got a BiPAP machine and, yes, it was a PITA to learn to use, but once I did so, took about a week, have used it regularly, every single night since. Dr. Natale told me sleep apnea was a big contributor to afib and I had my machine with me in Austin for both ablations. The machine has its own dedicated saddlebag on my motorcycle when I'm touring our beautiful country. Best of all, even out of NSR now I still get the best sleep of my life. I was a bloody fool to fight having a sleep study for all the years I did so.

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bettylou4488


Thanks. I think I will try again to get used to it. appointment in 15 min to discuss that option with the PA. Curious did you have insomnia as well or "just" apnea? (not that apnea is a "just" condition). Do you mind saying if yours was mild, mod or severe? just curious... mine is mild ..

My AHI test score was 11.9 so it was mild. But i really think they tested me on a good night as most other nights seemed much worse. I did not have insomnia but would always wake up in a sweat.

Thanks ya'll you have encouraged me to keep trying. I actually just had it on for half an hour while I read a book. (which was a little difficult since I wear glasses LOL! ). I had the sleep PA appointment and she was encouraging as well. I might have to do a secondary trial because I'm running out of time. But might as well give it a go

I was surprised when I got diagnosed with sleep apnea in early September with a low moderate AHI of 18. I typically am not a big snorer and also not a mouth breather, however the sleep study showed positive. I've been off Amiodarone for about two months and not on any other rhythm or rate control. I do have Flec for PIP use but have not had a need to use it yet. I've been using CPAP for about 6 weeks and have not gone into AFib. My events were always middle of the night. Last July I did go into AFib (while still on Amio) after a couple bad weeks of ectopics. Since then I've been on the standard supplements talked about on here.

The difference since my AFib episode last July are the supplements I'm taking and the CPAP. I think both are probably helping, but given that I failed the sleep apnea study, the CPAP may be most directly related to reducing the AFib. My Pulmonologist showed me areas during the study where I had an AHI and my spo2 was lowered and my heart rate spiked up to compensate. That would be a direct example of how AFib can be triggered. He also said alcohol would triple the sleep apnea effect.

Thanks bobsbeat. I wore it for about 90 min yesterday awake. Then tried for 45 min to fall asleep last night- actually longer I think b/c I gave up, went and had a snack and tried again. No go.. was 130 am when I gave up. I will keep trying until my time has run out for the trial. I do have an appointment for a dental appliance on the 22nd. I might try that... if I can't get this to work.

Well- last night I wore it for about 30 min before bed. Putzed around.. then put it on for bed. I have to get 4 hours a day. I looked when I woke and it was 3 hours and 34 m in. .. I hoped I would fall back asleep and I did!! Yippee!! got to 4 hours 10 min and ripped it off. that is a win in my book! I can't say I slept better with it when I had it on though. but I was able to sleep on my side which I prefer