What triggered your apnea??

[Claire]

My sleep doc told me that more ment have apnea than women up until menopause when women's numbers reach those of men.

I'm pretty sure that mine started with menopause, too.

And then there's just that ole aging thing.

[dllfo]

Oxycodone for pain will send me into 30 minute stretches of apnea and the machine has to breathe for me during those periods, hitting 30cmH2O.

Vocal Cord Dysfunction allegedly causes it.

GERD causes VCD and probably was the original cause.

There are other reasons, but I can't remember right now. My morphine used to cause it, but my body has adapted to it.

CCHS is in there somewhere, I just can't remember where. How about you?

[Lee2263]

I am of the same opinion about mine as well Slinky. I had so much in the way of muscle spasms and pain, and the internal support muscles would get so tight I had trouble breathing within weeks of the accident. Plus my neck curveture has changed, so that probably didn't help. My Pain doctor was actually surprised and not expecting my results of the sleep test. But I've never had a problem with snoring, breathing, working hard for long hours, getting out of breath before the accident. And like you, don't fit the profile. At all. It wasn't until I woke up in the midst of a bad dream and was totally paralyzed that the doc thought we should take a look at what is going on at night.

I never had a sleep problem UNTIL a car accident, whiplash and cervical bone chip. I don't give a rip what any doctor does or doesn't say about neck position no one will convince me that that whiplash didn't cause the start of my sleep apnea.

HOWEVER, I was also a smoker. And I now have COPD and THAT aggravates the situation. I can't say what caused YOUR sleep apnea but I would be willing to bet that your smoking adds to the problem.

Have you ever had a pulmonary function test? Or a spirometry or arterial blood gases?

And by the way: I am 60+ years old, 5'4", 13" neck circumference and have weighed 110-115 lbs since the age of 13. Occasionally 105 lbs. Only more than 115 lbs when pregnant.

[socknitster]

I have two theories on what caused my sleep apnea. First, I had a severe case of strep throat when I was in college. From that day forward my tonsils remained HUGE and cover the majority of my throat. Second, about 15 years ago I was in an accident that resulted in the curvacure of my cervical (neck) spine to go from the normal 26 degree curve to just 5 degrees. Basically the curve in my neck was no longer a curve...it was now almost straight. I believe that also contributed to the reduced airways I now have. I think I went undiagnosed for almost 20 years so those are the two factors that I believe contribute to my apnea. These are just therories on my part as I have never been told this by a doctor.

I am now slightly overweight but I used to be slim so I don't think my apnea can totally be attributed to weight.

SKJansen,

Last summer I had my super gigantic tonsils removed and my pressure required on my cpap has gone down from my original 16/12 to 10/6--far easier to tolerate! It wasn't the most pleasant surgery. It took about 2 weeks to recover and then about 6 weeks for the required pressure to decrease. Over time it has continued to improve as has my entire sleep profile. It is something you should definitely talk to your doctor about. It didn't cure me, but it made therapy far more tolerable.

As far as wellbutrin causing apnea. I think the string of events you describe are far more likely to cause your symptoms. Smoking is well known to be an anti-depressant and a stimulent and it also does damage to your airway. I think you didn't notice the damage that was being done until you stopped smoking and the antidepressant and stimulent effect was gone.

Perhaps wellbutrin just isn't a very effective antidepressant for you and that is why you feel so terrible. That is when the underlying sleep apnea becomes so apparent to you because you are so miserable. To me, this is a more plausible explanation than wellbutrin causing apnea. However, I will admit that anything is possible!

I was on wellbutrin when I was diagnosed with apnea--but I had symptoms going back 15 or more years, so i can't blame it on that drug--it was really just my doctors attempt to treat the "depression" that I was suffering from. I had been on nearly every antidepressant as well as combinations of them for most of my adult life. When I was a few weeks into cpap therapy I successfully stopped all antidepressants.

Jen