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One theory is that apnea isn't more prevalent, it's just diagnosed more often.

One question that we get a lot from the angry CPAP deniers/medical conspiracy crowd is

Q: What happened to all the people with apnea before we had CPAP machines?
A: They "died quietly in their sleep."

I listened to my dad snoring and stopping breathing in his sleep for 40 years or so before he got CPAP in 2006 or so. Goodness knows how this affected his health and quality of life over that time. How many of his contemporaries died or had severe health problems that were diagnosed as heart trouble, stroke, etc. without anyone making the apnea connection?

However, obesity and other things may well contribute. Let's just not go all environmental whacko and blame it on high fructose corn syrup, cell phone radiation, or plastic shopping bags without solid evidence.

archangle wrote:One theory is that apnea isn't more prevalent, it's just diagnosed more often.

One question that we get a lot from the angry CPAP deniers/medical conspiracy crowd is

Q: What happened to all the people with apnea before we had CPAP machines?
A: They "died quietly in their sleep."

don't you mean, they died noisily in their sleep?

ShelaghDB wrote:Ok well I suppose we all just put the tonsil theory to rest as it appears some have, like myself, their tonsils still and yet others don't so its likely other reasons but I just never knew until reading this forum at how young some were and then reading about the connection to possible SIDs


CanadianJesus:

I have to admit i am quite fascinated as to why you believe that opiate addiction would cause Sleep Apnea, let alone methadone?
I know that methadone, along with other opiates can create higher spikes for Clear Airway Apnea than Obstructive Apnea, and sometimes those using such drugs cannot actually get treated properly with CPAP and have to change to BIPAP I believe it is???

So how can the opiate and methadone create Sleep Apnea if you have had it explained to you? Ive never heard that before which isn't to say you are wrong, I haven't any idea if you are right or not but i am just not aware of this theory......so curious to hear why?

Well, both my methadone doctor, and personal GP explained it that way to me. They said it has to do with a combination of the opiates supressing the respiratory system, relaxing throat muscles, and also, narcotic drugs do terrible things to the brain, which probably caused the central element to my apnea.

Here is a copy and paste from Wikipedia on mixed sleep apnea:

Mixed apnea and complex sleep apnea

Some people with sleep apnea have a combination of both types. When obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is severe and longstanding, episodes of central apnea sometimes develop. The exact mechanism of the loss of central respiratory drive during sleep in OSA is unknown but is most commonly related to acid–base and CO2 feedback malfunctions stemming from heart failure. There is a constellation of diseases and symptoms relating to body mass, cardiovascular, respiratory, and occasionally, neurological dysfunction that have a synergistic effect in sleep-disordered breathing. In some cases, a side effect from the lack of sleep is a mild case of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) where the subject has had minimal sleep and this extreme fatigue over time takes its toll on the subject. The presence of central sleep apnea without an obstructive component is a common result of chronic opiate use (or abuse) owing to the characteristic respiratory depression caused by large doses of narcotics.


The thing with me is, that I do not have central apnea without the obstructive part, the obstructive part to my apnea is just less prominent than the central. I was actually toying with the idea this week of talking to my doctor about bi-pap therapy. The thing is, my CPAP works well enough. This weekend I'm going to try and buy an oximeter to find out forsure..

Canadian_Jesus wrote:Well, both my methadone doctor, and personal GP explained it that way to me. They said it has to do with a combination of the opiates supressing the respiratory system, relaxing throat muscles, and also, narcotic drugs do terrible things to the brain, which probably caused the central element to my apnea.

You know, I hadn't thought about it much before, but there's a certain amount of brain involvement in obstructive apnea, as well as central apnea. Otherwise, why would so many people have higher AHI during REM, etc.?

I wonder if lead poisoning might have something to do with it. There was a lot of lead sprayed around during the leaded gasoline era. There's even been some legitimate debate on whether lead from leaded gasoline has an effect on crime rates.

Sadly, I found out about a kid who had sleep difficulties at 3 weeks but the concerns were ignored by the pediatrician. Somehow, the kid ended up being diagnosed with schizophrenia and put on antipsychotics. It looks no one did a history of this kid's sleep difficulties even though there have been studies that show when people are sleep deprived for too long, they can develop symptoms that looke schizophrenia but aren't.
I was extremely disgusted but sadly not surprised since the issue of sleep continues to be minimized in the medical community, particularly when it comes to kids.

49er

And it's also possible that the schizophrenia affected, if not caused, the apnea or apnea-like problems. I'd be more interested in finding out about a lead connection, never mind cell-phone one, or plastics, or...

Julie wrote:And it's also possible that the schizophrenia affected, if not caused, the apnea or apnea-like problems. I'd be more interested in finding out about a lead connection, never mind cell-phone one, or plastics, or...

You could be right but unfortunately, but unfortunately, too many doctors don't look at the total picture and jump to the conclusion that the mental health issues are the main problem without looking at the previous history.

On an off topic note, on another blog, a very enlightened psychiatrist wrote about dealing with a patient who was diagnosed with first episode of schizophrenia in her 50s which was quite unusual. He greatly doubted the diagnosis which is another post.

My point is that while I don't doubt the diagnosis is legitimate in a minority of people, it is way overdiagnosed. So if I heard of an issue of sleep in a kid which is greatly minimized by the medical profession and they end up getting a mental health diagnosis, that would cause me to be very suspicious.

49er