saw someone have an apnoea

I was at work (nursing) yesterday and noticed one of the patients (an outpatient) snoring. Twice his breathing softened to nothing till he startled with a snort but remained asleep. This happened twice. Then he stopped breathing, but his chest was heaving. The amount of effort he was putting into trying to breathe was immense. He woke just as I moved towards him to wake him.

The guy is a retired doctor. I said "you just had an apnoea". He said, "I know. It happens about every six months.". I said, "It's the third one you've had in a minute. I've been watching you". He said, Oh no, they only wake me up every six months or so.

We discussed sleep apnoea a bit, he had no idea that they could disrupt sleep and not wake you up (he is retired and sick, and may have forgotten some stuff). Anyway, he is seeing his cardiologist this week and will discuss it with him. I told him to ask for a sleep study, but doubt they will go ahead as he already has so many co-morbidities (could they be a result of the sleep apnoea? This guy is lean, not large).

He was under the impression that cpap is very uncomfortable, too uncomfortable to endure. I doubt anything I said changed his mind.

Anyway, whatever he and his cardiologist decide, I was shocked to see what the body goes through in a full on apnoea.

Di

You know, these Doctors are so hard headed aren't they? My Step-Dad is a Doctor and has suffered a bad heart attack and had open heart surgery... Since I had a sleep study a few months ago, My Mom has told me that he always quits breathing so I talked to him about getting a sleep study and he laughs and totally refuses.. Now I know for a fact that the sleep apnea in him over many years is mainly what caused him to have the heart attack because for about 4 years now, I have had rapid heart beat, palpatations that get so severe I actually feel blood rushing down my legs and my entire body moves from the rapid pounding of my heart, I have to run and lay down before I fall down, also had whole body sweats ... All of these symptoms have disappered since I have been on cpap, It's absoutly amazing to me at what the hose is capable of, I was literally dying... Thank You for posting, I found this post to be very interesting...

Moby, I'm so grateful that we have board members with experience that goes beyond just their personal SA, and are willing to share. Regards

Any chance of filming an event and posting it on you tube or this site? It would be a valuable tool to convince people to get a sleep study. An IR camera used filming the person to be convinced would be best. Has anyone tried this at home?