My First Thirty Days

[quiescence at last]

@bluehorseshoe - I ran across the study #labrat refers to a couple weeks ago, or one similar. I will try to locate it.

UPDATE:

most likely it was Figure 3 of this publication, and use of CPAP less than one hour a day is a non-scientific approximation to non-treated.
this discusses a case study of moderate to severe diagnosed OSA patients of which 40% survived after 84 months (7 years) [if they did not use the CPAP treatement]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727690/

[lab rat]

I was given those stats in Melbourne in 1998.

[lab rat]

And about 2 years later I went to a seminar run by the local Sleep Clinic where they told us the average life expectancy of somebody with Obstructive Sleep Apnea is 7 years if untreated. The build up of sleep and oxygen deprivation as well as stress on the heart and lungs to gasp for air and keep breathing leads to degeneration of both as well as a 100% chance of stroke and/or heart attack.

So yeah... lol

Thank you LabRat (and everyone) for your comments and helpful tips. Now if I can just fix the bridge of my nose.... lol.

I think I've probably gone ten years before getting treatment and I'm still here and except for the hypertension (which is now going down) I'm in pretty good shape. I've had two echocardiograms and three EKGs in the last year or so (cuz doctors get paid now by ordering tests.) Having said all that, I should have taken care of it a long time ago. But better late than never.

Thing is, the longer it goes untreated the more things start going wrong with your body. Some irreversible.

[quiescence at last]

My sleep practitioner told me, based on surveys of new patients, it takes an average of approximately 8 years after first symptoms (mostly snoring) before a person seeks medical help. The previously quoted study says most of the diagnosed patients that do not use CPAP regularly die within 7 yrs. Combining the two, a good estimate of how long the OSA-->damage-->death cycle takes is 15 yrs.

[DariaVader]

My sleep practitioner told me, based on surveys of new patients, it takes an average of approximately 8 years after first symptoms (mostly snoring) before a person seeks medical help. The previously quoted study says most of the diagnosed patients that do not use CPAP regularly die within 7 yrs. Combining the two, a good estimate of how long the OSA-->damage-->death cycle takes is 15 yrs.

I am 56 and have had apnea my whole life - or at least since I can't prove that for lack of a study, some very compelling symptoms have existed my whole life. I finally got a sleep study last october and a cpap in november. How fast it kills you may have a considerable number of other variables

[quiescence at last]

yep. this forum is chock full of 1%'ers. We are all fortunate to be alive.

[Terry]

Thank you! I did download the sleepyhead software, and it doesn't read the data as far as I can tell. It's not a popular machine, it seems. But as I said, if I run up against the limits of what I can do, I'll sell it and get a better one.

Compared to living in NYC, a new APAP machine that Sleepyhead can read, is very inexpensive (generally ~$600-$700 online).

You'll probably be ahead of the game to just figure the cost of your first machine as a "test" (in reality, it was probably a lot less expensive than a sleep study).

[herbm]

Another big difference in survival would be if the effects of the OSA were well-treated or not.

E.g., in my case, presuming the issue with AFIB and near heart failure was OSA related, I survived that [easily?] due to good treatment of THOSE issues.

A lot of these other issues, may or may not be caused by OSA, may or may not be exacerbated by OSA etc.

Also, what were the survival rates for a control group of similar age, etc. without OSA?

[BlueHorseshoe]

@bluehorseshoe - I ran across the study #labrat refers to a couple weeks ago, or one similar. I will try to locate it.

UPDATE:

most likely it was Figure 3 of this publication, and use of CPAP less than one hour a day is a non-scientific approximation to non-treated.
this discusses a case study of moderate to severe diagnosed OSA patients of which 40% survived after 84 months (7 years) [if they did not use the CPAP treatement]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727690/

Thank you so much for the article sitation, I will read it over the weekend for comprehension. Like many of us here, I believe I have had some form of sleep apnea for many years and have had most of the risk factors too. Happy New Year to all. Dan

[quiescence at last]

... what were the survival rates for a control group of similar age, etc. without OSA?

The study does supply the results and compares against other pop groups. It is an awesome study for what it meant to accomplish. It does compare the OSA treated and untreated to non-OSA pop. It also describes some epidemiology and nice charts of progression.

Glad you got the treatment for those issues.