You can't die from Sleep Apnea

Julie wrote:They don't die because the airway closes up and stays shut, but because of extremely high blood pressure brought on by apnea over many nights. The BP doesn't just drop because you do or do not use Cpap at some time - there's a lot more to it, but NOT using Cpap properly and consistently does allow it to rise and stay high

Also (partially) correct. Other factors are also likely to be involved.

split_city wrote:

tomjax wrote:I do not think it is possible for a persons aiirway to collapse and then die because it would not open. Something else must happen.

correct

So that is kind'a like saying you can't die from a gunshot to the head ... you die of the trauma and blood loss caused by the gunshot.

... or do you die of the complications caused by the trauma and blood loss?

... or do you die of the effects of the complications?

... or do you die of the results of the effects?

... or do you die of the consequences of the results?

... or maybe we never really die?

sent a messge to both links; thanks for posting them and for bringing attention to this ignorant and irresponsible comment

Saw that this morning and was shocked.

Then I remembered it was NG... surely no one really takes her seriously.

I was telling my dad, and he joked, "well no one with untreated apnea could probably stay awake through her show anyway."


Dawn

I don't watch her show, but if she made that statement as part of a comment on the effects of taking illegal steroids, then it wouldn't necessarily be incorrect in that context.

She would be just as accurate in saying that nobody dies from hypertension. But we all know that a result of untreated hypertension -- a stroke, for example -- may be death.

Just my .02 worth.

OCO

My point is(was) that this was an iggorant comment.

As for as aguging over if sleep apnea kills someone or not.... that is pointless. If sleep apnea brought on the events that killed the patient, long term or short, the differance is the same in the end. Either way, SLEEP APNEA is what KILLED the patient.

Anonymous wrote:My point is(was) that this was an iggorant comment.

As for as aguging over if sleep apnea kills someone or not.... that is pointless. If sleep apnea brought on the events that killed the patient, long term or short, the differance is the same in the end. Either way, SLEEP APNEA is what KILLED the patient.

I agree. It's also like you'll never see Diabetes on a death certificate as the cause of death, but death results from the secondary diseases (heart disease, etc.) that Diabetes causes. We need an advocate for Sleep Apnea like Diabetes has in Mary Tyler Moore.

Thanks for posting the links. I will send my views in!

I have no idea who Nancy Grace is and I don't care. I imagine there are few doctors in her audience (I am guessing that she has a TV show).

You are wasting energy sending emails to her, when there are thousands of doctors who don't take sleep apnea seriously.

As far as sleep apnea not killing you, it reminds me of a true story from my youth. At the age of 20, I was working the graveyard shift in a small factory while on summer break from college. There were only about 10 of us in the factory at night and one of them was out of jail on bail awaiting trial for a second-degree murder charge. He was a big guy and he had a fist fight with a smaller guy in the parking lot of a bar one night. The smaller guy died at the scene.

The big guy told me at work one night that he knew he would be found innocent because he had seen the death certificate and it said the little guy died from a heart attack not from the fight. I never disagreed with him.

Most of the time we wake up due to the effects of the rising CO2 levels-and while one may insist on strict criteria for proof---I'd say one could die from sleep apnea. If the rising CO2 leads to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia---I'm dead. Is it the cardiac arrhythmia or the apnea that caused it? I'd say the first thing that starts the domino effect--that would mean if the sleep apnea could be traced to something else-that would be the cause of death.

But alas dead is dead--and if I'm the one involved I'm not going to be caring much what caused it.

DreamStalker wrote:

split_city wrote:

tomjax wrote:I do not think it is possible for a persons aiirway to collapse and then die because it would not open. Something else must happen.

correct

So that is kind'a like saying you can't die from a gunshot to the head ... you die of the trauma and blood loss caused by the gunshot.

... or do you die of the complications caused by the trauma and blood loss?

... or do you die of the effects of the complications?

... or do you die of the results of the effects?

... or do you die of the consequences of the results?

... or maybe we never really die?

Dang, ya beat me too it...

I was going to say that no one ever dies from a gun either....its the bullet and blood loss that usually gets you.

Whats CNN?

I don't even have cable.

DreamStalker wrote:

split_city wrote:

tomjax wrote:I do not think it is possible for a persons aiirway to collapse and then die because it would not open. Something else must happen.

correct

So that is kind'a like saying you can't die from a gunshot to the head ... you die of the trauma and blood loss caused by the gunshot.

... or do you die of the complications caused by the trauma and blood loss?

... or do you die of the effects of the complications?

... or do you die of the results of the effects?

... or do you die of the consequences of the results?

... or maybe we never really die?

I guess the difference is what is/are the primary and the secondary effect/s.

Nevertheless, the point I was trying to make (and quite rightly pointed out to the person who I quoted) is that you don't die from the actual collapsed airway event (primary event). It's the secondary effects of OSA that can cause death

krousseau wrote:Most of the time we wake up due to the effects of the rising CO2 levels-and while one may insist on strict criteria for proof

Hi there. Could you please provide me with some links/references for that. Thanks

CO2 rises naturally during sleep, yet we don't automtically wake up.

There have been a few studies looking at the arousal threshold i.e. what causes you to wake up. There was a paper a few years back which looked at the effect of increased CO2, hypoxia and breathing during resistive loads (time when it's a bit harder to breathe due to extra resistance) on the arousal threshold. This group also had an esophageal catheter down their subjects to measure pressure swings. This measured how much 'effort' the individual was making to breathe. The group then occluded the breathing circuit when the subjects were asleep. This siumulated an obstructive apnea. This group found that despite the environmental conditions i.e. increased CO2, hypoxia or resistive loads, the subjects woke up at the same esophageal pressure during the "apnea," indicating that chemical stimuli was not the cause for the arousal.

Consequently, this is perhaps how an arousal is triggered during obstructive apneas i.e. when a certain suction pressure is generated.

tomjax wrote:The sequalea of apnea- htn, diabetes, stroke, chf, will be the eventual proximate cause of death although it was brought on by apnea.

You say these co-morbidities were brought upon by apnea. How do you know they weren't simply brought on by obesity? There are many obese individuals who don't suffer OSA but have these co-morbidities.

wabmorgan,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention! I posted a comment on the CNN website and hope others will too.

Connie