CPAP for Serious Health Repercussions?

I think I sleep pretty well so am not convinced the ordeal of trying to adjust to cpap would be worth it on that point. However, the dire predictions of more serious health effects does get my attention.

Is the connection between sleep apnea and stroke/heart problems, proven or suspected? Would appreciate cites to peer-reviewed studies.

Many thanks

enso wrote:I think I sleep pretty well so am not convinced the ordeal of trying to adjust to cpap would be worth it on that point. However, the dire predictions of more serious health effects does get my attention.

Is the connection between sleep apnea and stroke/heart problems, proven or suspected? Would appreciate cites to peer-reviewed studies.

Many thanks

How about you yourself using google scholar to search for those peer reviewed citations?

Here's an example of a search.
hypertension +"sleep apnea" +cpap

You could also try:"atrial fibrilation" +"sleep apnea" +cpap

And the you can choose which papers you consider worth reading.

O.

It is most definately proven. I am sure you can google peer reviews yourself. Thinking you sleep well is all in your head. When you wake up during apneas, you don't reach consciousness so you don't remember it. People with apnea tend to sleep more and be tired because their bodies are desperatly trying to GET enough sleep.

People with apnea will often have dreams that revolve around suffocation. You are underwater and can't breath, you are in a wind tunnel and can't catch your breathe, etc. This is your minds way of incorporating your real life struggle for air into your dream world the same way sometimes your alarm can go off and you insert it into your dreams as a doorbell or something. This is if you even dream much anymore. Many people with Apnea almost stop dreaming because they can't enter into deep enough sleep to achieve it. Others sometimes wake up gasping for air. That just means that you had an apnea bad enough that you woke fully to get air rather than the mini awakings all the time that you don't remember.

I will try google and my alum access thru ebsco. If anyone has any cites handy, I'd appreciate it. I'm pretty sure my doc said it wasn't a proven link, but I could have mis-heard.

Um, isn't everything we think "all in our heads" by definition? I'm basing my assessment on how I feel during the day.

I don't have dreams around suffocation, I don't take naps, and I don't feel on most days - either upon waking up or later in the day - overly tired. Most of my waking at night I attribute to the pain in my shoulders or hips. Do you know a way to isolate that possible cause from sleep apnea? That would be really useful information to me!

I do have consistent bedtimes and wake times, practice good sleep hygiene, and get between 7-8 hours of sleep most nights.

Most of my waking at night I attribute to the pain in my shoulders or hips. Do you know a way to isolate that possible cause from sleep apnea? That would be really useful information to me!

The sleep study you had tracked your EEG- and an EEG analysis can distinguish arousals cause by pain from arousals caused by - and correlated with - breathing disruptions. Your sleep study found you had 70 arousal's per hour caused by breathing problems -- that's disticnt from arousals caused by pain.

I don't know what your oxygen saturation was during the sleep study (PSG) - but I know some members on the forum whose pain was much worse because of their disrupted sleep, and desaturations, and got better with cpap therapy.

O.

enso wrote:I had a couple scary incidents of waking in the middle of the night cause it felt like I couldn't breathe. In general, I wake many times a night. Often it's to change my position in bed; I have problems with my shoulders hurting. I sleep on my side mostly. Probably a couple nights a month, I'm up at 2 or 3 or 4 am and can't easily get back to sleep. I don't have extreme fatigue, some afternoons may feel a little "low energy" but that's about it.

This is what you said in the other thread. But here you say you "sleep pretty well". Does that really sound like you "sleep pretty well?" Because it certainly doesn't to me.

I used to wake up many times during the night to turn over and almost always got up at least once to pee. Now I normally wake up one time a night and turn onto my other side and go right back to sleep. I am sleeping so well that it is sometimes hard to remember if I did turn over during the night but the fact that I am on my other side confirms it. That, to me, is sleeping "pretty well".

People deal with the sleep deprivation differently. I rarely felt tired either but I have a LOT more energy now and generally feel better. I guarantee that if you get going on CPAP, get your AHI in line and stay compliant, you will realize just how badly you were sleeping.

Here are some citations, to get you started:
http://www.resmed.com/us/clinicians/abo ... clinicians
http://www.resmed.com/us/dealers/medica ... clinicians
http://www.resmed.com/us/dealers/medica ... clinicians
http://www.resmed.com/us/dealers/medica ... clinicians
http://www.resmed.com/us/dealers/medica ... clinicians
http://www.resmed.com/us/dealers/medica ... clinicians

An AHI of 70 says you are not just waking up 70 times per hour, but that you are having restriction in your breathing 70 times per hour, varing from 50-90% of your breath being stopped, every time. That is more than once per minute. Your body needs oxygen, but is not getting it.

enso wrote:I think I sleep pretty well so am not convinced the ordeal of trying to adjust to cpap would be worth it on that point. However, the dire predictions of more serious health effects does get my attention.
Is the connection between sleep apnea and stroke/heart problems, proven or suspected? Would appreciate cites to peer-reviewed studies.
Many thanks

Just like heart attacks - one sign of OSA is 'Denial'. YOU have to get over that hurdle before you can move on. I know, I had to.

So step right over that hurdle and ask yourself (better if you time yourself) "Just how long CAN you hold your breath"? Now do that 70 times/hr while you are awake. A dollar says you can't do it 70 times/hr while you are awake.

I told my sleep tech I didn't have a problem either. Turns out I didn't know what good sleep was.
Well you know you better than us. Prob don't have any other health problems either.

.
enso,

I went down the road you are on . . . and I paid the PRICE

Four years ago I had my first sleep lab in which I was diagnosed with Mild Sleep Apnea. Stupidly, I did NOTHING about it (I was convinced I was sleeping "pretty well", and I didn't want to use a CPAP mask as a single woman. ) My primary care doctor at the time heard a lot of excuses from me. Two years later I had a mini-stroke. I was on one blood pressure medication at the time.

Two years after that (four years after my first sleep study) I FINALLY got some sense and had another sleep study! In the interim, my untreated Mild OSA had become SEVERE and I was having to take FOUR blood pressure medications in addition to having had the mini-stroke.

Now I'm HAPPILY on CPAP and doing very well. My blood pressure has gone progressively down, and my physician now has me on only two BP meds . . . I look forward to improving even more! I am a very fortunate gal that I didn't have repeated mini-strokes or full-fledged strokes during the time I made excuses to myself why I didn't need CPAP.

I only wish now that I had been smart enough when my OSA was Mild to have gone on CPAP immediately. There's no question in my mind that, had I started CPAP treatment four years ago, I would still be on ONE BP Med (or none) and wouldn't have had the mini-stroke. My new physician heartily agrees!

Joy