shallow breath and heavy chest the morning after

I just started using cpap and I'm having trouble adjusting. I know it will take time and I'll stick with it, but so far I'm not seeing an upside. I wake up with a headache, my chest feels like I have pneumonia and my breathing is quite shallow during the day, plus, I find myself not breathing several times a day while awake. Trying to breathe with the mask on is like trying to breathe with my head out the car window. My blood pressure has gone from 96/60 to 117/78 with my pulse steady at 60 before and after. I was sleeping 7hrs. a night, now I'm lucky if I get 4. I wear a bite splint that keeps me from closing my mouth, so I was fitted with a nasal/ oral mask, and I can't sleep on my belly. I have GERD, so belly, or side sleeping has been my norm for decades. I'll look into the special pillows. Does anybody have some advice? The doc has me on 7-20 pressure?

Wow, the therapy should not cause those dramatic problems. I would consider talking with my primary care physician as it could be you are in need of a second opinion (that is, a second sleep study to verify prescription). This can fall into the insurance trap but I think that when your sleep quality is so bad and you are getting headaches AND blood pressure going up, this is a medical issue and not an adjustment issue.

I think that might be my best option. Studying apnea on my own makes me realize that my sleep doc. only asked the questions that would allow him to put me on cpap. He never asked if I ever "forget" to breathe, without obstruction. He never got a medical history that would have thrown several red flags. I have a difficulty swallowing, palsy, muscle weakness, numbness in the extremities, ataxia, voice changes and vocabulary malfunction. I've been seeing a neurologist for 6 years biannually. I have a long family history of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, autism, M.S., Lewy's bodies dementia, Sundowners and brain cancers. This "sleep Doc." never asked a single question that would rule out Central Apnea. He did mention the oral device, but when I showed interest, he ignored me and railroaded me into the cpap machine. I just saw my neurologist yesterday, and he has suggested we update my MRI as it has been 4 years since the last, which did show white matter abnormality. I'm feeling kind of disgusted about the whole thing right now.

Specialists can get myoptic and can't or wont' view a patient in a holistic manner. Perhaps that is what I had in mind when I suggested your PCP. With your medical history, changes in your health probably are not best interpreted by a sleep doc. Best get a range of general health advice from doctors who are able to see a broader picture then look at your sleep study yourself. It discusses central apneas as well as OSA and you make your mind up which therapy you think would best serve your druthers. You should talk with your PCP or even your neurologist about which avenue of treatment for apnea of any sort would be most beneficial. If you ask the sleep doc, perhaps you will just go back into the circular trap of another sleep study with PAP therapy as the only way out; perhaps contributing medical issues should be better understood first and I will say without hesitation, you would be best off to get on top of this issue to make the best decisions possible as you are the most effected. Good luck!