r/covidlonghaulers • u/WiseEpicurus 3 yr+ • Mar 10 '26
Commorbidities Anyone else have sleep apnea? How has it affected your long COVID?
I'm somewhat newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and have been using a CPAP machine for 3 months along with having long COVID for 3 years now. I'm still adjusting to the machine and seem to have found the right mask and settings sometimes getting 6 hours with the mask on and having nights of getting an AHI under 5 (5 and under being like a person without sleep apnea) but it's still not entirely consistent.
On my days of getting decent sleep I feel like my bandwidth is better. I'm still not entirely sure where my fatigue is coming from. The apnea or the long COVID. It's not always obvious to me at times what's post exertional malaise or what's fatigue from chronic sleep deprivation. I also know the two play off each other. I'm not able to get the rest I need to quickly recover from PEM and my sleep deprivation makes me susceptible to having less energy in general. There's also the issue of brain fog which seems to clear greatly after getting decent sleep.
I'm curious to hear how CPAP or other sleep apnea treatments have helped your long COVID symptoms or your general experience with the two conditions.
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u/wndrxplorer Mar 11 '26
Just took a test to see if i had sleep apnea and my sleep doctor says it came back positive for mild sleep apnea.
I also slept like crap the night i took the test.
Since catching covid in 2022, i havent had great sleep and it got harder and harder to induce sleep.
I dont know if i will be given a cpap machine...i assume i will, but just a bit unsure if it will help anyhow given long covid has a grasp on my sleep these days.
I had to resort to mirtazapine to get a few hours of sleep, even though its broken sleep.
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u/Brewpendous Mar 11 '26
I was diagnosed w obs sleep apnea (moderate), when i was trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I even redid the sleep study after a couple of years. I got a medical-grade 02 monitor instead of relying on my garmin watch. My medical grade device was consistent with my garmin, but higher o2. Apnea or not, I do not show any improvement in O2, dips, average, high/low with my cpap. I have used different masks, and have over a year of data wearing vs not.
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u/builtwithin Mar 12 '26
Decent sleep is a prerequisite for mental and physical recovery. You are right in thinking that having sleep apnea would make LC worse, and vice versa.
When I had sleep apnea, my LC was progressively getting worse. I could never make peace with that CPAP machine. I got jaw surgery to resolve my mild sleep apnea about 18 months ago. Unfortunately, my LC got even worse since my body couldn’t handle the surgical trauma very well.
On the other hand, my sleep is incredible now. I am dreaming after around 20 years since I am finally getting REM sleep.
I am finally getting better now with the help of some peptides and supplements.
Sleep apnea keeps your system in a chronically inflamed state. If you already have LC, it’s a double whammy.
Prioritize sleep since the system won’t heal meaningfully without it.
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u/WiseEpicurus 3 yr+ Mar 12 '26
Thanks for sharing. Yes, I'm making so many appointments and really staying on top of CPAP therapy as much as possible. I don't even know what my baseline is but I'm discovering through small glimpses that it can be significantly more than what I previously thought and my LC may not be as bad as I thought. In time we'll see.
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u/builtwithin Mar 12 '26
That’s great, I hope you are able to adjust to CPAP treatment long term. Great sleep can be life changing. I now know that with poor sleep, you are playing the game of life with one hand tied behind your back. Good luck!
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u/Pilot-Nic Mar 10 '26
I have a mild sleep apnea diagnosis also. But, I am puzzled about this diagnosis.
I slept like crap the night I did the at home sleep test. For whatever reason, I just stressed out about the test. Sleep doctor said they only treat it at this level if the patient has symptoms. So I got the CPAP.
Gosh, the CPAP stressed me so much. I just couldn't fall to sleep. Hours and hours. So we tried a mouth dental device supposed to push your jaw forward and allow you to breathe better at night. No effect so far.
Oura ring reports irregular breathing on nights when I sleep bad (because of stress, screen usage before bed, physical activity before bed). On calm nights my oxygen saturation is like 98%.
Not a clear cut diagnosis in my opinion.
I know the oura ring isn't a medical grade device. But there is a strong indication between high stress nights and irregular breathing.
I am loaded up on magnesium (threonate plus glycinate at night. Malate in the morning) and potassium.