Just How Deadly is Untreated Sleep Apnea really ?

[ShelaghDB]

In my case, untreated OSA almost killed me, and would have killed me had it continued untreated. People need to remember, CPAP is a 'treatment', not a cure. If I stop using my machine, I will surely die at a much younger age than if I continue to use it.

How important/deadly OSA is honestly comes down to each person, how high their untreated AHI is, and how it effects them.

I may be way off by thinking this but when I first heard Joan Rivers had been rushed to hospital and had stopped breathing and then suffered a heart attack, I wondered at the time whether or not she had Sleep Apnea.
Yes I know operations can kill anyone but it was hearing that she stopped breathing that made me question it, but I am not a doctor and could be way off...

If anyone can suggest why that thought was definitely wrong or even plausibly correct, I'd be interested in hearing...........

[ShelaghDB]

I would first buy/borrow a recording Oximeter and verify that I do not get any bad desats at night - as that is just asking to kill brain cells, and stress other organs.

And if you had one, would it be necessary to use nightly, and/or if not, how often must one use them to test for this?
I ask as I am awaiting one to arrive within the next few weeks.......

My husband was tested and told he had borderline apnoea (6) and told he didn't need a machine but the hubby insisted on one and although given a machine last November, has refused to wear it after all. The big baby tried once and I forgot to start it off slowly and he jumped out of his chair feeling very claustrophobic.........

I am going to open this thread on his iPad first thing tomorrow morning and make him read it. A recent hospital operation had his oxygen drop so low they had to keep him over night and he was extremely uncomfortable from it and fears another operation because of it.
He's got the brick.
Since mine is auto-set although i use it in CPAP mode, I am setting up the brick tomorrow and I will use it for a few nights with my settings, and i am setting mine up at his pressure of 6 and testing him out and will do so again as soon as I get this Oximeter..and make sure i start him on a ramp time of 10 min. when i do this for him

(Mr Flappy is gone~!)

if your flappy is gone, I am a bit confused as to why you would still have Sleep Apnoea. My understanding is that the flappy does not open and you stop breathing.........the machine pushes the air though. So if so, why then would a removed one still cause problems?

All my recently medical tests show it is working. My glucose is back to normal, my liver is slowly healing, and my lipids are normalizing

Thrown by your liver problems. Were you drinking? Have Hep C or Anything that could explain away the liver problems?
Only asking as i have not yet heard anyone else say their liver was affected??!!


Although I am a lot healthier here than many on this board and don't have all the other medical problems, I AM convinced and I sleep with it every night and don't have any problem about doing so but I do understand why many talk themselves out of CPAP

Spoke to a woman earlier today that asked me about selling her husbands machines etc. She told me he had been misdiagnosed so she wanted to get rid of them.
I could tell from her reaction that she did not want her husband anywhere near a CPAP diagnosis and for about 2 seconds formulated what I was going to say to her in response but by the 3rd second knew it wouldn't alter a thing.........I suspect he wasn't misdiagnosed but talked out of it by his wife who felt it was beneath them to have such a diagnosis..... /sighs

[herbm]

It's deadly.

Sometimes killing quickly like in the auto crashes.

Other times killing more slowly, such as by contributing to AFib and Cardiomyopathy (I had that and now I am fully recovered/treated.)

Sometimes even slower, by general organ deterioration -- you'll never know but you might die at 75 instead of 85 with untreated sleep apnea.

Sometimes it just messes up your HEALTH or your QUALITY of life and doesn't bother to kill you in any way that can be measured.

Pretty much the last is pretty easy to prove individually and the other three are all well documented.

Just do it. If you know "a friend" who isn't getting treatment, then find the articles and research and work on some way to get through to "that friend."

For me, I just ACTIVELY ENJOY my mask each night WHILE SLEEPING so I would wear it anyway even without the other advantages.

[Peter_C]

I too am at the point that I *want* my mask on all the time, it's a big signal to my brain it's time to sleep.

As for the Oximeter - good nights, bad nights - you want to use it enough to catch your version of a bad night and see how many minutes you are under the magic 88% mark. I am usually 2-3 minutes under every night - but I also have lung scarring from PEs - my Doctor is pleased with my numbers (for me). basically everyone drops at night. The question is how much and for how long.

I may spike down to the mid 70s, but it's only for a few seconds (could even be garbage data), but I always run below 90 - not great, nothing to brag on, and I do need to watch it.

[Ghost1958]

New as I am to this it is sort of strange that my total face mask has become as much a part of going to sleep as closing my eyes.

[Galactus]

I agree with retired guy on this one, and with all you guys. It's debilitating and it will eventually get you one way or the other. It's like asking how deadly is cigarette smoking.

[Peter_C]

I forgot to answer - Mr Flappy being gone is a help, but only a help - I do not know medical terms well and it was a long time ago (I would think its better now)

They removed my flappy (why not just shorten it?)
They microwaved the base of my tongue (doc's words)
They removed a lot of soft tissue from the back of my throat.

This lowered my overall pressure about 5 points - which does help daily (lower pressure makes life easier overall) - this was done long before CPAPs were data capable. I love and would do my nose surgery again in a heartbeat. Am not sure about the throat as I* do not see real benefits from it, and with the flappy gone, it is much easier to aspirate food while eating - not fun.

I was supposed to go back in six weeks so they could nuke my tongue base some more and I decided not to do it. Maybe wrong on my part - but I'd sooner replace a knee than do the throat surgery again - it was a tough long recovery.

But, I am also a great case study for why OSA must be explored and treated. Even today - if I am dumb enough to go one night without my machine (power failure and was too tired to fire up the genny, etc - turned into a three day power failure - anyhow, one night without my CPAP took me back in time, and was really not good)

I am one of those rare people that see a night and day difference on the first day of treatment. Even my 'bad' nights on my machine are still great compared to no CPAP usage at all.

That's the point I am wanting to hammer here - each of us is different - in time we will all be harmed in some fashion by quitting - frankly (docs have said this to my wife), I will die within one year of stopping usage - for one reason or the other - I turn blue at night - we'[re taling blood O2 dropping into the low 60s and staying that way for minutes at a time - hence the major heart damage, and the fact I never could eat food within four hours of waking, my body was too tired to handle food.

So, I have (now) multiple backup machines, gear, inverters, generators, etc

[me50]

About Joan Rivers, I suppose it is possible she had OSA. What happened to her is that she was having an endoscopy and her heart stopped.

I am one of those that when I have an endoscopy I have issues with breathing but when I have the colonoscopy, I have no problems with the anesthetic.

[Paralel]

All my recently medical tests show it is working. My glucose is back to normal, my liver is slowly healing, and my lipids are normalizing

Thrown by your liver problems. Were you drinking? Have Hep C or Anything that could explain away the liver problems?
Only asking as i have not yet heard anyone else say their liver was affected??!!

It has been well established over the last 15 years or so that OSA can cause cumulative hypoxic liver injury. I myself wasn't aware of this until recently, but the research is quite convincing, even to a skeptic. Anyone that has high liver enzyme levels on routine bloodwork and every possible cause has been ruled out, get a sleep study, you may very well be suffocating your liver every night, and I can tell you, it won't appreciate it.

[Labrat0116]

I may be way off by thinking this but when I first heard Joan Rivers had been rushed to hospital and had stopped breathing and then suffered a heart attack, I wondered at the time whether or not she had Sleep Apnea.
Yes I know operations can kill anyone but it was hearing that she stopped breathing that made me question it, but I am not a doctor and could be way off...

If anyone can suggest why that thought was definitely wrong or even plausibly correct, I'd be interested in hearing...........

Well, coincidentally, I'm just returning back to this thread after researching my Complex (with Central) Sleep apnea.

I just finished reading the paragraph (in quotes) below and came to the SAME thought about Joan Rivers as you mentioned.

Read this and see what conclusions you think.

Copied off this website -->> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_sleep_apnea

Any individual, no matter how healthy, who is given enough of a central respiratory depressant drug will develop apnea on a central basis. Generally, drugs that are central respiratory depressants also have sedative effects, and so the individual taking a toxic dose of such a drug is likely to be asleep, or at least in an altered state of consciousness, when breathing becomes irregular. Alcohol is such a central respiratory depressant in large doses; so are opiates, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and many other tranquilizers. Some individuals have abnormalities that predispose them to central sleep apnea. The treatment for the condition depends on its specific cause.

Similarly, in any person who has some form of sleep apnea (including obstructive sleep apnea), breathing irregularities during sleep can be dangerously aggravated by taking one of these drugs. Quantities that are normally considered safe may cause the person with chronic sleep apnea to stop breathing altogether. Should these individuals have general anesthesia, for example, they require prolonged monitoring after initial recovery, as compared to a person with no history of sleep apnea, because apnea is likely to occur with even low levels of the drugs in their system.