Sleep Apnea and IQ

Yes, go to a neurologist, or a doctor who specializes in memory problems.

Hopefully, he will send you for diagnosis by a psychoneurologist, who will run test that will pinpoint your memory propblems - and indicate a path for treatment.

Meanwhile, share some more of you therapy results with us. A low AHI isn't everything. You may be losing treatment air through your mouth, you may be leaking badly from the mask

Some people don't sleep well when their machines are on auto mode - the pressure changes cause disruptions,

All of the above can keep you from refreshing sleep, contirbute to you insomnia, and to your sub-par IQ test results.

O.

I was organizing the cluter on my desktop and stumbled on the following article about how xPAP helps recover memory. If in doubt it's pretty good reading, confirming what has been said here.

Interestingly, the article associates memory recovery with compliance, yet states compliance generally sucks. The last numbers i read were about 50% for CPAP vs over 70% for APAP. I can't understand why APAP is not the machine of choice for first time users.

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Memory Improves After Sleep Apnea Therapy
15 Dec 2006

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may improve their memory by using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). A new study published in the December issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that the majority of patients with OSA, who were memory-impaired prior to treatment, demonstrated normal memory performance after 3 months of optimal CPAP use. The study also showed that memory improvement varied based on CPAP adherence. Patients who used CPAP for at least 6 hours a night were nearly eight times as likely to demonstrate normal memory abilities compared with patients who used CPAP for 2 or fewer hours a night.

"Patients with OSA often complain of daily forgetfulness, eg, losing their keys, forgetting phone numbers, or forgetting to complete daily tasks," said senior study author Mark S. Aloia, PhD, National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, CO, who conducted his research while at Brown University Medical School, Providence, RI. "Where memory is concerned, we may have the ability to reverse some of the impairments by providing effective and consistent use of CPAP treatment."

Dr. Aloia and colleagues examined the degree to which varying levels of CPAP adherence improved memory in 58 memory-impaired patients with clinically diagnosed OSA. All patients underwent cognitive evaluation involving verbal memory testing prior to initiation of CPAP and at a 3-month follow-up visit. Patients were prescribed CPAP machines, and adherence was covertly monitored using internal microprocessors within each device. After treatment, patients were divided into three groups based on their 3-month CPAP adherence: (1) poor users (n=14), patients who averaged fewer than 2 hours/night of CPAP use; (2) moderate users (n=25), patients who averaged 2 to 6 hours/night of CPAP use; and (3) optimal users (n=19), patients who averaged more than 6 hours/night of CPAP use.

At baseline, all patients were found equally impaired in verbal memory, with the average verbal memory score being approximately 2 SD below the mean for all participants. Following 3 months of CPAP treatment, 21 percent of poor users, 44 percent of moderate users, and 68 percent of optimal users demonstrated normal memory performance. Compared with poor users, optimal users of CPAP were nearly eight times as likely to demonstrate normal memory abilities. Overall, the average verbal memory score for all patients improved approximately 1 SD.

"Moderate use of CPAP may help, but it might not allow patients to reach their full potential recovery where memory is concerned, especially if memory is impaired at baseline," said Dr. Aloia. "For patients with OSA, the more regularly and consistently they use CPAP, the better off they will be." Dr. Aloia believes that getting patients to use CPAP at least 6 hours a night could be a challenge for physicians. "Our findings also suggest that this optimal level of CPAP adherence is uncommon following 3 months of treatment," said Dr. Aloia. "We need to find ways of encouraging patients to use their treatment all night, every night in order to optimize treatment response."

"CPAP has proven to be an effective treatment for patients with OSA, yet adherence to treatment remains poor," said Mark J. Rosen, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians. "Physicians should educate their patients with OSA about the importance of using CPAP consistently and discuss ways to overcome obstacles to adherence."

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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CHEST is a peer-reviewed journal published by the ACCP. It is available online each month at http://www.chestjournal.org/. The ACCP represents 16,500 members who provide clinical respiratory, sleep, critical care, and cardiothoracic patient care in the United States and throughout the world. The ACCP's mission is to promote the prevention and treatment of diseases of the chest through leadership, education, research, and communication. For more information about the ACCP, please visit the ACCP Web site at http://www.chestnet.org/.

Contact: Jennifer Stawarz
American College of Chest Physicians

Thank you for this very helpfull insight. I added this thread to my favorite list of sites on the web.

OldLincoln wrote:...........
........ yet states compliance generally sucks. The last numbers i read were about 50% for CPAP vs over 70% for APAP. I can't understand why APAP is not the machine of choice for first time users.

Increase compliance rates may have little to do with the comfort or effectiveness of APAP over CPAP. A high percentage of new patients are prescribed cpap initially. Of this group, some subset will aggressively pursue their therapy and eventually obtain an apap machine.

So in the set of people using apap machines you have a higher proportion of people who aggressively approach their therapy than in the set of people using cpap. It then follows that the higher compliance rates for apap users may well be due to the user's attitude instead of the difference in machines.

All things work together for good! I don't know why I came down with this malady, but the positive attitudes help a lot. (I've had OSA for 4 yr.) I try as best I can to give thanks for the many things God has given me, and when I look around, I see that there are many worse afflictions that are taking a toll. There is also a lot of power in prayer!

I don't remember ever having an IQ test, but I'm sure mine has lowered a lot. I try to wake up every day, meditate, do my Sudoku puzzle to get my brain working, drink about 4 cups of coffee, and then I'm ready for what comes. (I'll be 70 in 6 days). I try to stay active and learn new things, just like I'm doing by reading posts on this forum. Heck, I'm still working on a part-time basis. Retiring and just sitting around was not for me.

Also, thank you sleepdoll for that info on encehpolytus. That was helpful.
Jay

Hey, packitin, you might want to rethink those 4 cups of coffee! I've just been watching a PBS show with Dr Amen - Change your Brain, Change your life.

He said that more than 1 cup of coffee a day reduces blood flow to the brain which is *bad*. Also, he noted that untreated sleep apnea dramatically increases our risk of developing Alzheimer's!

Mindy

Anonymous wrote:Hey, packitin, you might want to rethink those 4 cups of coffee! I've just been watching a PBS show with Dr Amen - Change your Brain, Change your life.

He said that more than 1 cup of coffee a day reduces blood flow to the brain which is *bad*. .........
Mindy

True story, my wife read in the newspaper this morning that caffeine lowers blood pressue and reduces suicide risk. So my attitude is drink coffee, be stupid and live a long time.