apnea and the eyes

[sleepyhead6867]

To Julie the anti smoker a phone screen is on the device I'm currently typing to you on. Think you call them cellphones where you are from. Feels like I'm arguing with my phone screen when someone like you is trying to get my goat from how ever many thousands of miles away you're from.Here to seek advice and offer it if need may be once i have a diagnosis and I'm a bit more educated.

[Julie]

I don't use a cell phone so don't think about the vocabulary used for one.

And I have no idea what else you're gibbering about!

[sleepyhead6867]

No i can't say i have any idea what you're on about sometimes i forgive you though after all we're only human

[Gasper62]

SH6867, I suggest that you try asking your questions on a vision forum, lot's of non-doctors there can also give you their guesses about your vision status. Then again....maybe just go to be examined by an actual eye doctor. Tough call !

[BlackSpinner]

So may i ask what you're doing on the same forum i joined to find support for the same condition you suffer from ?

We can help you adapt to cpap therapy.

We can't help you with eye problems.
We can't help you with chest pains either if you had them. We can't help you with an attack of gastritis.
With all those issues you will get the same answer GO AND SEE A DOCTOR.

[rick blaine]

sleepyhead 6867

I understand from your various posts that you smoke, and also have some history of COPD.

So far, you've only had an overnight pulse-ox. If this has shown low O2 sats (saturations), then - given your history - they could come from several things. So clearly, you need further investigation.

The guidelines from NICE (the UK National Institute for Care Excellence) say that you should be referred to an ENT specialist within two weeks if there's any suggestion of head and neck cancer. I'm assuming your GP (UK, general practitioner; US, primary care physican) has examined you and tentatively ruled those out.

The NICE guidelines also say you should be referred 'routinely' for a sleep study (poly-somno-graph, or PSG) if there's any question of OSA. 'Routinely' means 'you go on the waiting list'.

The NICE guidelines also say you should be referred 'urgently' - or 'fast-tracked' - that is, within four weeks - for either a PSG or a sleep lab test:

a. if you are a pilot or a bus or lorry (US, truck) driver.

b. if you have signs of respiratory failure or heart failure (you haven't mentioned either of those).

c. if you possibly have OSA and have previously-diagnosed COPD - at the same time.

From what you say, the latter does apply - and it looks like you have been fast-tracked. You will be seen pretty much within four weeks of handing in your pulse-ox test.

I suggest you be patient. Unless you want to go private.

[archangle]

Can apnea effect the eye's

There's no obvious connection between untreated apnea and the eyes.

Apnea can affect your health in general and that might affect the eyes. If you're sleeping poorly, that can affect the eyes. I find when I'm really tired, my eyes tend to hurt. Low blood O2 might have some effect. Apnea causes stress, which might affect the eyes and tear flow.

Be sure you don't suffer from what I call "apnea blindness," where you blame all your problems on apnea or CPAP. Don't forget that apneacs suffer from the same problems as normal people.

[kteague]

Did some reading on PubMed and came to no conclusions. Some of the studies were about eye pressures in general before, during and after sleep, some about patients with glaucoma, some without, with and without OSA, with and without CPAP. So many variables. Didn't go so far as to look up the technical term for broken vessels in the eye and search that term. If eye pressure is not at issue, then most of what I was reading wasn't relevant. An occasional broken vessel happens. I had it happen when my coughing fits were so intense. Had no other episodes whether with untreated or treated OSA. In many years of reading on here I don't remember reading of broken blood vessels being commonly reported enough to make an anecdotal connection. Probably gonna be unresolved until you see the eye doctor. BTW, you don't happen to take a lot of aspirin or blood thinners do you? My Mom's first indicator of needing her meds adjusted was bloody eyes.

[ChicagoGranny]

sleepyhead6867 wrote:
I've made an appointment to see an optician

I hope you just made a mistake in posting this. An optician is only qualified to prescribe and make eyeglasses and contact lenses.

You need to see an ophthalmologist which is a medical doctor.