[News] DANGER OF UNDIAGNOSED SLEEP APNEA

[srlevine1]

This story is pretty much a reason for you to encourage your family and friends who exhibit symptoms of sleep apnea to bite the bullet and see their physicians to get tested. The sooner the better.

Engineer in NJ Transit Crash Had Undiagnosed Sleep Apnea

"The engineer of a commuter train that slammed into a station going double the 10 mph speed limit, killing a woman, suffered from sleep apnea that had gone undiagnosed, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

One official said investigators are looking at it as a potential cause.
The officials, who were briefed on the investigation, spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter.

They said the engineer, 48-year-old Thomas Gallagher, was diagnosed with sleep apnea after the Sept. 29 crash in Hoboken, the officials said."

Considering the long-term health effects of undiagnosed sleep apnea is well worth the effort to ensure those you care about are as healthy as possible.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...leep-apnea

[Galactus]

The real shame is the people who should be diagnosing this are not doing their part to tell people about it, and or get them treatment. Despite how many times I would say I was tired no one told me anything about OSA. It took a total stranger to get me to seek treatment and name it to the Dr.

[sonicboom]

OSA is a major health issue and goes vastly under diagnosed both because doctors aren't checking for it and because people either aren't reporting it or titrating what they tell their doctor in an attempt to hide it to avoid the diagnosis and consequent therapy. Perhaps if the media did a better job in demystifying CPAP therapy (machines are quieter, portable, comfortable etc.. then they ever have been) more people wouldn't be afraid of it.

[holden4th]

My cardiologist diagnosed my OSA (because he couldn't find anything wrong with my heart and used that old Sherlock Holmes/Occam's Razor principle when everything thing else has been eliminated then what's left must be the cause).

[srlevine1]

My cardiologist diagnosed my OSA (because he couldn't find anything wrong with my heart and used that old Sherlock Holmes/Occam's Razor principle when everything thing else has been eliminated then what's left must be the cause).

Is he a multi-disciplinarian?
Did you have a confirmatory sleep test?
Did he also check your fluid status and thyroid -- both of which can be associated with heart issues?
Did he check pulmonary function (possible COPD) and do an echo cardiogram
And, did he monitor you for at least a week with a Zio Patch to catch any random arrhythmias?

What I am asking is, how thorough do you think he was or did he just decide because he couldn't find anything, it must be OSA?

Occam's Razor is such that, the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is or given two possible solutions, the simplest explanation is probably the right one. Unfortunately, it does not really apply to medicine when events are transient and/or random.

[srlevine1]

My cardiologist diagnosed my OSA (because he couldn't find anything wrong with my heart and used that old Sherlock Holmes/Occam's Razor principle when everything thing else has been eliminated then what's left must be the cause).

Is he a multi-disciplinarian?
Did you have a confirmatory sleep test?
Did he also check your fluid status and thyroid -- both of which can be associated with heart issues?
Did he check pulmonary function (possible COPD) and do an echo cardiogram
And, did he monitor you for at least a week with a Zio Patch to catch any random arrhythmias?

What I am asking is, how thorough do you think he was or did he just decide because he couldn't find anything, it must be OSA?

Occam's Razor is such that, the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is or given two possible solutions, the simplest explanation is probably the right one. Unfortunately, it does not really apply to medicine when events are transient and/or random.

[PaytonA]

My sleep apnea was first suspected by my cardiologist while spending a week in the hospital trying to find the cause of my atrial fibrillation. He could find no underlying cause for the afib coupled with the fact that I quit breathing while on the table awaiting shock treatment. Sent me for PSG and I became a known Sleep apneac. That was after several years of my complaining to my PCP that I was falling asleep during meetings and while watching TV. I had heard about sleep apnea and snoring but didn't think that was it because my wife and I had cured the snoring with a wedge pillow and judicious use of the "elbow alarm".

Medical events are not really random, they are just random to us humans.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[srlevine1]

My sleep apnea was first suspected by my cardiologist while spending a week in the hospital trying to find the cause of my atrial fibrillation. He could find no underlying cause for the afib coupled with the fact that I quit breathing while on the table awaiting shock treatment. Sent me for PSG and I became a known Sleep apneac. That was after several years of my complaining to my PCP that I was falling asleep during meetings and while watching TV. I had heard about sleep apnea and snoring but didn't think that was it because my wife and I had cured the snoring with a wedge pillow and judicious use of the "elbow alarm".

Medical events are not really random, they are just random to us humans.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

Great to hear you're on top of things.