What did people do before CPAP?

[Matty332]

G'day,

Got my data read today and my sleeping time is going up and up! Not quite up to 8 hours yet but getting there. I must say to anyone that thinks they can't use the machine - If I can use it anyone can. I suffer from OCD as well - didn't make using it easy. If you want to know 'how' the OCD affected me just ask and I will go into it.

I was talking to the CPAP dealer and she was saying not so long ago Sleep Apnea was hardly recognized. Chronic snoring was normal they said and if you were tired you weren't getting enough vitamins or exercise!

What the heck did people do then? OSA is debilitating! They know now it can cause cognitive dysfunction, minor brain damage over a long long period, heart problems and risk of stroke. How did they cope? - because I had a frigging nervous breakdown after just two years of OSA without treatment(just a note to people that also have mental illness as well as OSA - OSA can exacerbate it SO MUCH). I think I am just coming out of it now because the CPAP (knock on wood) is working after just 5 hours with the CPAP a night for the last few nights. You can actually read the anxiety and nervousness in my previous posts - all before CPAP (and initial use). It is worth the initial minor discomfort (although there isn't much after a while). I don't use the humidifier at the moment and I don't even get dry mouth like people report? Anyways, anyone that had OSA before the doc's knew that it was a problem?

[Sheriff Buford]

Probably not with the generation that is on this forum. It's probably "more" diagnosed now... than 30 years ago, but I suspect that pre-1970's, folks died of what we thought were natural causes. My mom died of a heart attack, but I remember her having all the symptoms of what I would term severe sleep apnea. I can't help but believe that we are adding years to our lives and making our lives more enjoyable and healthy. One of the wonderful benefits of sucessfully treating sleep apnea is having the thoughts that you are having.

Sheriff

[Komodo]

but I suspect that pre-1970's, folks died of what we thought were natural causes.

True enough.

Add in the fact that a large percentage (but not all) of OSA patients are over weight, and more often than not, their weight was considered as the underlying cause of their death, not OSA.

[Kairosgrammy]

I imagine a lot of people died early while doctors and families raised their hands in the air unable to understand why someone died so young. My mother died at the age of 49 due to heart disease. I have no doubt that she probably had undiagnosed sleep apnea but she died in 1981 before a lot was said or done about sleep apnea. I also have no doubt that if she had been treated, I would still have my mother to day. She'd be in her late 70s.

Even my brother might not have had all the health issues and died at the age of 50. In fact, had he not been diagnosed in his early 40s, I don't doubt that he would have died within months of being diagnosed. Bipap gave him 8 or 9 more years, anyway. He probably had sleep apnea even as a child, probably severe. He just snored a lot but noone realized that was a symptom of a much deeper problem or one so deadly. The damage of sleep apnea was too severe to overcome in the end.

G'day,

Got my data read today and my sleeping time is going up and up! Not quite up to 8 hours yet but getting there. I must say to anyone that thinks they can't use the machine - If I can use it anyone can. I suffer from OCD as well - didn't make using it easy. If you want to know 'how' the OCD affected me just ask and I will go into it.

I was talking to the CPAP dealer and she was saying not so long ago Sleep Apnea was hardly recognized. Chronic snoring was normal they said and if you were tired you weren't getting enough vitamins or exercise!

What the heck did people do then? OSA is debilitating! They know now it can cause cognitive dysfunction, minor brain damage over a long long period, heart problems and risk of stroke. How did they cope? - because I had a frigging nervous breakdown after just two years of OSA without treatment(just a note to people that also have mental illness as well as OSA - OSA can exacerbate it SO MUCH). I think I am just coming out of it now because the CPAP (knock on wood) is working after just 5 hours with the CPAP a night for the last few nights. You can actually read the anxiety and nervousness in my previous posts - all before CPAP (and initial use). It is worth the initial minor discomfort (although there isn't much after a while). I don't use the humidifier at the moment and I don't even get dry mouth like people report? Anyways, anyone that had OSA before the doc's knew that it was a problem?

[TalonNYC]

A very close friend of mine (the one who told me I needed to get a sleep study, actually) has had OSA since he was in his teens. That was about 30 years ago.

Prior to his diagnosis, they had him try to lose weight, that was about it. There wasn't much more they could do except a tracheostomy, and the docs didn't want to to do that - something he's quite happy about now =)

I have suffered with this since my early 20's, if anecdotal evidence counts ("You were shaking the windows!!!" was said more than once). I was tired all day and would have microsleep episodes where I'd just check out for a second or so. This was usually during a client meeting, so it was severely impacting my life and work.

Doctors tried vitamins, diet, etc. But until I specifically asked for a sleep study last year, not one suspected OSA. Even after explaining that I was snoring like a freight train, a sleep study wasn't something anyone brought up for me to try.

I'm thankful that I live in NYC and don't drive, otherwise I can only imagine what would have happened!

[Namlehse]

I used to commute 120 miles a day round trip in horrid traffic. Thankfully I was never one to nod off from it.

My great Grandmother had it pretty bad. To the point of Narcolepsy. They thought she was faking the nodding off, as well as the breathing problems. You can guess the rest of the story.. The Doctor's told her it was all in her head.

[msla]

My father turned to alcohol to self medicate himself to "sleep."

[jnk]

Hats off to those involved in the early research of the syndrome and its treatment in the years from 1976 to 1989:

"Guilleminault, Tilkian, and Dement published the first major review on The Sleep Apnea Syndromes in 1976. . . . Apart from . . . specialist research scientists, there was still very little knowledge in the community or among primary care physicians of the prevalence of these disorders, or the extent of their long-term effect on morbidity or mortality. University medical courses had little if any content on sleep and no teaching on breathing during sleep to alert primary care physicians . . . There was little interest among medical clinicians. . . . Sullivan’s applications for research grants . . . were repeatedly rejected . . . Sullivan was unsuccessful in several applications for . . . support for his apnea studies. . . . Sullivan’s next human mask development [involved a mask that] was glued over the nose with silicone adhesive. In the morning the whole mask was peeled off and cleaned for reuse. Three hundred and fifty patients were treated successfully with the glue-on mask." -- http://www.afandsleepapnea.com/epn/asse ... rigins.pdf

We've come a long way. But it seems to me that there is still a long, long way to go.

[BlackSpinner]

They died quietly in their sleep. "What a blessing"

[chunkyfrog]

A LOT of us would die much, much sooner; and have miserable, unproductive lives until that last gasp.
A hearty thanks to doctors Sullivan, Epworth, and all the others who have contributed to our hope for a longer, better life.

[Kairosgrammy]

I think things are getting better though at least some docs are. I was aware of sleep apnea because my brother and sister were both diagnosed before I was. When I started having symptoms, I went to my doc and asked for a sleep study. He ordered one at my request but his attitude was, I don't know why you have to have a sleep study. You should just be able to buy a cpap if you need one. I could tell he really didn't put a lot of stock in the whole issue.

Seven years later, at a check up, he asks how I'm doing and I said, I'm tired all the time. He asked me a few questions, said I'm going to check your thyroid. By the way, when was your last sleep study? When I said 7 or 8 years ago, he said, "We need to order another. It's possible your sleep apnea is worse." He went from a very blase attitude to one of, this is something we need to do. I like my doctor. He's willing to learn and change which is always a good thing. And he was very, very right. My sleep apnea was way worse. I never even considered that possibility. I kinda put it down to my weight and age.

A very close friend of mine (the one who told me I needed to get a sleep study, actually) has had OSA since he was in his teens. That was about 30 years ago.

Prior to his diagnosis, they had him try to lose weight, that was about it. There wasn't much more they could do except a tracheostomy, and the docs didn't want to to do that - something he's quite happy about now =)

I have suffered with this since my early 20's, if anecdotal evidence counts ("You were shaking the windows!!!" was said more than once). I was tired all day and would have microsleep episodes where I'd just check out for a second or so. This was usually during a client meeting, so it was severely impacting my life and work.

Doctors tried vitamins, diet, etc. But until I specifically asked for a sleep study last year, not one suspected OSA. Even after explaining that I was snoring like a freight train, a sleep study wasn't something anyone brought up for me to try.

I'm thankful that I live in NYC and don't drive, otherwise I can only imagine what would have happened!

[archangle]

They died.

Just like people with apnea who won't do CPAP do today.

[chunkyfrog]

Wouldn't it be interesting if the sellers of 'solutions' that DON'T work were held culpable?
--Or just liable?

[jnk]

The fact that OSA can cause death directly has been documented at least once, according to the following:

http://thorax.bmj.com/content/58/4/369.full

[VikingGnome]

Researchers say OSA has a genetic component. I have severe OSA (AHI=66.7) with a short but large diameter neck and very small airway. Half my throat is closed off by large tonsillar pillars (I never had my tonsils out).

My father snored like a freight train his entire life. He survived at least 7 myocardial infarctions and developed diabetes at age 55. He suffered severe congestion heart failure and chest pain the last few years of his life. He could hardly go grocery shopping. He died in his sleep at age 72 due to heart failure.

My 87-year-old mother has been on CPAP for six years. She is 100% compliant both at night and for daytime naps. (At 87, I think most folks have daytime naps.)

One of my sisters died at age 50 due to "cardiac hypertrophy" on autopsy. The hypothesis is that her enlarged heart caused a fatal arrhythmia. She snored so bad she and her husband slept in separate rooms after the kids went off to college. I think she suffered undiagnosed and untreated OSA for years and that's what enlarged her heart. She slept almost 24/7 and was always too sleepy to go anywhere to do anything the last few years.

My brother is on CPAP for OSA.

Another sister's husband was diagnosed with OSA but refused to try CPAP claiming claustrophobia. He opted for UPPP surgery 10 years ago. It was horrible. He had to learn how to swallow fluids and food differently after surgery or it would all come out his nose. He still snores and still has sleep apnea. So having half his throat carved out didn't help him one bit.

Another sister had a sudden cardiac arrest on Valentine's Day two years ago. She was technically DEAD for 20 minutes. Her husband is a dentist and did CPR until paramedics arrived. On their arrival she on no pulse and was blue in the face. They had to shock her twice to get heart restarted. They were unable to insert even a pediatric-sized endotrachial tube because extremely small airway. They had to do a tracheostomy to allow to breathe. She as in a coma for 7 days but came out of it and now has an implanted defibrillator in case she ever has another attack of lethal ventricular techycardia. She now wonders if she has OSA and should be on CPAP. (Her husband is on CPAP).