Is OSA inherited and other questions?

[OutaSync]

Does anybody know if OSA is inherited? I'm wondering because my grandson has been snoring loudly since he was tiny. I was just diagnosed three weeks ago after telling my Doctors for 30 years that I was tired and didn't sleep well. Finally I was sent to a Sleep Clinic and got a prescription for a CPAP with a pressure of 16. I have struggled with masks blowing out when I complained to the Sleep Clinic, they agreed to reduce my pressure to 12 and then to 10. I am now using a Hybrid that still has leak problems, but much better with the lower pressure.This week when I got my card read, it turns out that my AHIs have gone up instead of down. My sleep study indicated 20 AH. With the CPAP and the different pressures, my AHIs have ranged from 28 to 38. I wondered why I had to be experimenting with my pressure when there were machines available that would adjust my pressure as needed. Apparently insurance requires you start out with the straight CPAP. So now they have ordered a Auto for me. Does this sound right to all of you who have experience in these things?

[SisterShotgun]

Both of my parents have it (untreated they do not like the idea of using a CPAP) all of my siblings have it, two treated with CPAP therapy the other two refuse.

All of us have narrow airways, so in my case it could be inherited.

[AdmiralCougar]

My Dad has it as well, and refuses to treat it. Don't know that I'd deffinately say it's inherited, but I also know my mom's cousin had it she died because she stopped treatment. My Mom's mom may of had it, but it was it was not diagnosed. She passed away the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore year in High School. More of her siblings may of had it as well, but they passed before she did.


Christy

[Slinky]

OSA is one of those maladies that doesn't appear to be a genetic "disease" but does have strong indications of having a familial tendency in some families.

[papoose]

I understand that OSA can run in families if it is caused by certain anatomical features (short or receding chin, narrow airway, long palate, etc.). These features can be inherited just like other physical features.

All my siblings have OSA, as did my dad, and most likely his mother. We all share the same anatomical abnormalities.

[sharon1965]

from everything i've read, i understand that it's not normal for children under 10 to snore...
my daughter snored like a power tool till she was 7, when we had her tonsils (enormous) and adenoids out...no more snoring...since my diagnosis i'm especially glad we did it since i've also read that she probably won't develop OSA as an adult

[Julie]

I would (until any study is done) encourage the parents to help the baby sleep anywhere but on his back, which always makes things worse either for snoring or apnea.

[Nodzy]

OSA and other sleep disorders have for hundreds of years been misunderstood, under-diagnosed, under-treated and grossly underrated as prime causes or contributory factors in a wide range of other health maladies.

It is a field of medicine that is barely past infancy and far short of adolescent stage. Though, progress in understanding the broad spectrum of sleep disorders and their effects on health is being made at a much faster rate now.

Sadly, though, too few doctors, RT’s and EMT’s have a full grasp of the SDB phenomenon and how it relates to the myriad of other health problems that they address in a broad range of people routinely every day. It is often overlooked or ignored as a factor.

In large part, genetics plays a key role in many people in successive generations of families having it. My father had OSA, and died at 47 in 1962. My mother’s OSA didn’t become highly pronounced until she was in her late-70’s, and she recently died of her 22nd known stroke at 90-years-old. She had ninteen mini-strokes that I was intimately aware of between 1991 and 2007, and two significant strokes that each caused temporary physical limitation.

The 22nd stroke, her third major stroke, destroyed her swallowing ability -- which relates to loss of saliva and food control. As well as loss of breathing control. I kept her as healthy as possible and helped her recover from every stroke until she surpassed 90-years-old, and she was not bed-bound on Easter Morning… the day she had her 22nd and final stroke. Though that stroke did occur as she lay sleeping, and it woke her. Several times over the next twelve days it appeared as though she would recover. Though, finally, I had to make the decision to discontinue mechanical support. I believe that her OSA was a prime factor in the strokes, as did her most recent doctor.

At least six of eleven cousins on both sides of my family currently have some level of OSA and most of my deceased siblings, aunts and uncles, in looking back at their persistent snore-&-silence patterns, were obviously afflicted with it. Only two of my cousins are being actively treated for their OSA that I know of. The others are either in denial or their doctors are not proficient at understanding the ramifications of untreated OSA and SDB overall.

It is a malady far more widespread and family-ingrained than current Sleep Disordered Breathing population estimates indicate. A safe bet is that the 18-million people estimated to suffer one or more forms of Sleep Disordered Breathing is probably triple to quadruple that number.


Nodzy

[lilsheba]

Nodzy ....

Was your mother ever treated for her OSA? Were those strokes preventable?

Jeanine

[sharon1965]

Does anybody know if OSA is inherited? I'm wondering because my grandson has been snoring loudly since he was tiny.

if you're concerned about this you could do a search on here for a thread started by "socknitster"...she was having her son checked out not too long ago, and also had her own tonsils out recently (aug. i think)...she has done a lot of research on kids and osa, and is knowledgeable about how osa affects kids somewhat differently than adults

[sharon1965]

viewtopic.php?p=204852&highlight=#204852

here, i found it...good info

[papdaddy]

[quote="OutaSync"]Finally I was sent to a Sleep Clinic and got a prescription for a CPAP with a pressure of 16. I have struggled with masks blowing out when I complained to the Sleep Clinic, they agreed to reduce my pressure to 12 and then to 10. I am now using a Hybrid that still has leak problems, but much better with the lower pressure.This week when I got my card read, it turns out that my AHIs have gone up instead of down. My sleep study indicated 20 AH. With the CPAP and the different pressures, my AHIs have ranged from 28 to 38. I wondered why I had to be experimenting with my pressure when there were machines available that would adjust my pressure as needed. Apparently insurance requires you start out with the straight CPAP. So now they have ordered a Auto for me. Does this sound right to all of you who have experience in these things?

[Hunter1]

I have been on the hose for about 3 months. Recently went out of town to a family get together and discovered many of my extended family members have osa.

I, however, have a twin sister and she is fine. Do not know if osa runs in families or not but bring up the subject in a crowd of people and you will discover others have osa.

Hunter1

[Snoredog]

Grandson have a tiny neck like you?

I think the probability is pretty good it can be inherited.

Best thing to do is get an evaluation by an ENT. Throat could be crowded from overly sized tonsils and a small neck.

[Guest]

Hi,

Come to think of it (OSA).....my granny die of heart attack at 72, my father die of heart attact at teh age of 67, both were snorers, high bmi....and i can count my aunts (at least 2 of them) and now my brothers potentially. It must be in the family tree....I will start to observe on my littels ones as well.

"We inherites the good and the challenges" Amen.

Mckooi