Sleep apnea and blood tests

The data from my CPAP machine for the past week or so has been very discouraging, showing several nights with 18-19 apneic events (most of them central), and no nights with the 0, 1 or 2 events that I normally have. What can be wrong?

My initial hypothesis was that there is something wrong with the mask, as it is reaching the end of its year. But there are no leaks being recorded so that's probably not the reason.

My second hypothesis is connected with evening medication. When we came back from Italy a month ago, I couldn't find the packets of two medicines in my special suitcase. I suspect that I hid them so well that I couldn't find them afterwards, and not that I forgot to pack them. So for the past month, I have been taking much smaller amounts of one drug that is the probable cause, amitriptyline, of which I take a small dose (25 mg) as a prophylactic against migraine. It is very effective at this, but it's also known to cause drowsiness. I posit that when I get a new prescription for this drug, the number of apneic events will swiftly decrease. Another drug that seemed to disappear is for blood pressure, although not taking it has not had any appreciable effect.

Another side effect of amitriptyline is weight gain. As it happens, since coming back from Italy, my weight has dropped by 2 kg! I now weigh 'only' 83.9 kg, which is the lowest for two and a half years. I have thought until now that this due to the fact that for the past few weeks I haven't been eating anything from after lunch until the next morning, thus restricting the hours during the day in which I eat to about 7 hours, with 17 hours fasting. Maybe the fact that I am not taking amitriptyline also has an effect on this; again, I'll know when I get the new prescription (next week). 

The biannual blood tests show improvements in almost everything:

Test	27/03/25	19/10/25	Remarks
Triglycerides	192	178	Lowered - good
Total cholesterol	177	168	Lowered - good
HDL	40	48	Raised - good
LDL	99	84	Lowered - good
LDL/HDL ratio	2.48	1.75	Lowered - good
Uric acid (gout)	7.1	6.7	Lowered - good
Haemoglobin	16.3	15.7	Almost unchanged
NEUT/LYM ratio	2.1	1.8	Lowered - good
HEMOGLOBIN A1C %	6.0	6.1	Raised - not good
Glucose	103	107	Raised - not good
Potassium	5.3	5.1	Lowered - good

The lipid (cholesterol) profile has definitely improved, as has the potassium level (important for me), but the values for glucose and HEMOGLOBIN A1C % (glucose over the past three months) are worse and that is worrying. I had the value 107 for glucose a few years ago, after which it dropped slightly. Obviously I'll have to cut down on the biscuits and chocolate again, even if I'm not eating them after lunch. I'll try again with bell peppers¹; I stopped because I thought that they were giving me stomach pains, but that pain may be due to something else.

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