"please keep me updated about oximeters "
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Sleep Apnea in stroke patients
A close friend of mine had a stroke 1.5 years ago. In the past few months she has been tired and putting on weight. She started having what she called 'spells' where she lost track of what she was doing. Last Monday I stopped to see her at her work. I know I'm not a motivational speaker, but she looked like she was falling asleep every time I sopke for more than a minute or so. I talked about sleep apnea to her, but she wasn't buying it. I've only been treating for 3 weeks so I'm certainly no expert. She finally went to her doctor last Wednesday and the doc ordered a MRI to see if she was having mini-strokes. Thursday morning she went by ambulance to the hospital. Her CO2 levels were in the 90%+ range. She had to be sedated and placed on a ventilater to get oxygen back in her blood stream. She is very lucky to be alive. She had undiagnosed, severe sleep apnea. It seems to me that sleep apnea is dismissed as no big deal, so you snore - lots of people do.
Has anyone else had this experience? If she had died I would have felt very complicit for not pushing her harder to seek treatment.
C.Thomas
Views: 40
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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I deal with the denial part of apnea quite a bit. It sounds like you are a true friend.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Z on
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Chris, you spoke with her about it, that's all you can do. It's unfortunate it got as bad as it did, but sometimes the more we insist someone do something, the more resistant they become in particular about health. It does sound like she may be having more than one thing going on, perhaps TIAs as well as sleep apnea. It sounds like a miracle she went to the doctor at all. You did what any good friend could do, shared your experience and encouraged her to get checked out, I think it's a shame she got so sick, but in no way would blame you.
Rock, why would the CO2 levels get so high, is that what happens in sleep apnea, the shallow breathing and missed breaths cause our CO2 to rise? I remember with pt's with copd you had to be careful giving O2, because CO2 rising in the blood is the stimulus to breathe, hypoxic drive. Do I still have that right?
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Permalink Reply by Chris Thomas on
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Thanks Rock and Mary. They had to wean her off the ventilator slowly and as of last night she has the nasal tubes. I think you are right about the CO2 triggering the breathing. She's going to have both a MRI and a MRA shortly. My apnea technician was concerned about my oxygen levels going down to 86% when I sleep. I'm amazed she was able to function at all with that level of CO2.
Mary Z said:Chris, you spoke with her about it, that's all you can do. It's unfortunate it got as bad as it did, but sometimes the more we insist someone do something, the more resistant they become in particular about health. It does sound like she may be having more than one thing going on, perhaps TIAs as well as sleep apnea. It sounds like a miracle she went to the doctor at all. You did what any good friend could do, shared your experience and encouraged her to get checked out, I think it's a shame she got so sick, but in no way would blame you.
Rock, why would the CO2 levels get so high, is that what happens in sleep apnea, the shallow breathing and missed breaths cause our CO2 to rise? I remember with pt's with copd you had to be careful giving O2, because CO2 rising in the blood is the stimulus to breathe, hypoxic drive. Do I still have that right?
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