01-06-2025, 01:14 AM
RE: Vagus nerve stimulation, central apneas, reflux and hiatal hernia could be related?
@SevereApnea, thanks for that link, it was an interesting show!
@weiss27md
I had recently become interested in a similar question to yours, because prior to my diagnosis with sleep apnea, I experienced a cacophony of symptoms for several weeks. Prior to experiencing most of the symptoms, I had (uncharacteristically for me) consumed a bag of candy that had been given to me over the course of 2 weeks. It was much more sugar than I normally ate in that form, and sugar is a trigger for my Gerd/reflux, which is caused by hiatal hernia.
I then began to experience repeated hypnagogic jerks and hypnic jerks (like muscle spasms during the transition between awake and asleep). This went on for over a week and a half until I realized that there might be a link to hiatal hernia. I then began to do the "heel drop" (you can find videos of how to do it easily with an internet search engine) and other stretches I found in online videos for hiatal hernia. This transformed the hypnic jerks from extremely scary feeling to more of just a normal muscle spasm feeling.
That got me thinking that there may be a connection to the vagus nerve.
You wrote: "I have read that that can stimulate the vagus nerve and cause a central sleep apnea." I am really interested to read about this, would you be willing to share the resource(s)?
My sleep study results showed only hypopneas, no central or obstructive events, although the doctor said my hypopneas were obstructive. He didn't offer any data to show it, but looking at my breathing data in OSCAR, it seems likely that at least some are obstructive.
- Z's wife (yes, now we both have apnea!)
@weiss27md
I had recently become interested in a similar question to yours, because prior to my diagnosis with sleep apnea, I experienced a cacophony of symptoms for several weeks. Prior to experiencing most of the symptoms, I had (uncharacteristically for me) consumed a bag of candy that had been given to me over the course of 2 weeks. It was much more sugar than I normally ate in that form, and sugar is a trigger for my Gerd/reflux, which is caused by hiatal hernia.
I then began to experience repeated hypnagogic jerks and hypnic jerks (like muscle spasms during the transition between awake and asleep). This went on for over a week and a half until I realized that there might be a link to hiatal hernia. I then began to do the "heel drop" (you can find videos of how to do it easily with an internet search engine) and other stretches I found in online videos for hiatal hernia. This transformed the hypnic jerks from extremely scary feeling to more of just a normal muscle spasm feeling.
That got me thinking that there may be a connection to the vagus nerve.
You wrote: "I have read that that can stimulate the vagus nerve and cause a central sleep apnea." I am really interested to read about this, would you be willing to share the resource(s)?
My sleep study results showed only hypopneas, no central or obstructive events, although the doctor said my hypopneas were obstructive. He didn't offer any data to show it, but looking at my breathing data in OSCAR, it seems likely that at least some are obstructive.
- Z's wife (yes, now we both have apnea!)
