Sleep apnea and daytime shortness of breath

Hello
I wanted to ask those of you with sleep apnea about how you felt during the day before treatment. I always have a mild background shortness of breath feeling but the weird thing is that my O2 levels are normal. And it's more like a discomfort between my sternum and upper abdomen. Sometimes my mid back muscles are tight. I was wondering if untreated sleep apnea can make your breathing muscles fatigued or irritated. It's just a constant discomfort. Does anyone else experience the same?

I can appreciate your breathing problem. I’ve been treated for sleep apnea but I don’t have “obstructive sleep apnea”. My breathing problem seems to stem from my breathing related muscles just stop working in the middle of the night. I resume breathing when a big shot of adrenaline is initiated from the resulting low oxy level. And yes, my rib muscles at times tighten up and sometimes my back muscles, for what reason? One relief I’ve found from this Mayo website, is full deep breathing exercise. Before going to sleep, I’ll breathe full and deeply for 10 minutes or so. This seems to help a lot as I don’t wake as much in the middle of the night. I’ll even do the breathing exercise in the middle of the night if I’m really wide awake. While this may not be direct to your problem, the breathing exercise may well give you good relief. Do however, do get fully tested for a sleep problem, and hopefully a resolve will be found. ///

I have similar tightness/rigidity of the chest symptoms and I use a CPAP. In the process of trying to figure out why. It's combined with back pain from the neck down to the SI joint which is more painful when pressure is applied to the back - like when sleeping.

Working with an ortho doc to try to figure it out, but it may be a neurological issue.

I do the deep breathing exercises as well as try to walk when the weather allows.

How about during the day? Do you feel like your breathing muscles are tired or do you have a slight shortness of breath during the day?

How about during the day? Do your breathing muscles feel fatigued or tired? Before being treated with CPAP did you have any odd symptoms during the day like an irritated feeling in your lungs or lower airway?

I've posted this in the sleep forum but wanted to expand my search. Before being treated for sleep apnea, has anyone experienced irritation in the lungs or airway that caused a mild shortness of breath throughout the day? Did it improve with CPAP? Thank you

@noendinsight. i have sleep apnea. i've had it for the last five years. it started like you. just seemed like i couldn't get deep breaths. was not able to walk long without breathing properly. i've had a CPAP for about 4 years and 8 months. it definitely has helped with the breathing. the sleep for me has been the deep sleep you'd normally have if you didn't have the apnea. and the dreams are more normal. so for me, i'd say it has improved a lot. so definitely go and get treated. it's really worth it. danny 💙💙.

I’ve had a Resmed Airsense 11 cpap for about 5 years. Had to wait 1 year to get it because all Philips cpap owners were switching to Resmed because of Philips death trap. I now own it outright after using it for a few years.

Now I have grown to hate it. Medicare paid for it not me. All supplies come automatically according to a schedule free of charges. I’m waking up with disabling headaches.
I have to go to my pulmonologist by the end of the week and I have to bring it with me. It’s Bluetooth so I have no idea why he wants me to bring it in unless I also has a card. He will know that i haven’t used it in months. Why?
I’ve developed a right vocal cord paralysis. It is paralyzed shut. Won’t budge.
Missing a vocal cord means you’re only getting 50% of oxygen and I lost my ability to talk without coming up for air mid sentence. Sometimes I’m down to a whisper and I’m pretty much getting ignored at the dinner table.
2 esophagus surgeries may have helped I don’t know. Because the pain of my vocal cord being paralyzed. I only have 50% of breathing and swallowing.

I’m due for a choice of surgery coming up. But having a shrinking esophagus didn’t help.
So I have stopped using it because I end up with too much air trying to work through 1 vocal cord so I started out using it only for a few hours a night.
My cpap shows 0.1 sleep study. Almost like I’ve been cured. I have COPD so I should probably use it with less force. It starts out at 4 and 30 minutes later I’m at 10 and 10 chocked me and wakes me up and remove it from my face. It has a medium nose pillow.
I am no longer getting complaints that I snore since I have stop using n
It. Am I cured? I don’t sleep better when on or off it’s the same. But I’m starting to think that when I see my pulmonologist at the end of the week I should tell him because I’m so tired on the next day and now need a cane to support me.
So for me I have not seen a change in symptoms. So if he doesn’t change my numbers I will put it in the closet as a heavy paperweight.

Yes, the tightness in the ribs, difficulty breathing, muscle fatigue and shortness of breath occur during the day as well and were preceded my getting the CPAP. I don't feel any irritation in my lungs, nor rattling or wheezing - they appear fine per scans/tests.

Thanks for your response.