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what is the danger of falling to sleep with out CPAP ?
I'd like to know the danger of falling a sleep with out my CPAP on ? I do this quite offten. At times I awake gasping for breath,feel like I've been running,asking God please don't let me die.
Most of the time if I don't have it on I sleep o.k.
Please let me know the danger. Thanks
Views: 4352
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Teresa Hoehn on
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The danger is the same as it was before you started CPAP. What ever problems you had before starting CPAP will not change on the nights you do not use the machine. So, if you woke up gasping for air before you started therapy you will do the same on the nights you do not use therapy. I do not know how severe you are, however please check out the list of indicator for use of CPAP. To avoid these conditions use your therapy everynight.
Cardia arrythmias
Heart attack
Strokes
High blood pressure
Depression
Weight gain and Obesity
Joint and muscle pain
Swelling of hands and feet also known as congestive heart failure
Waking gasping for breath
Coughing and chocking in sleep
Witnessed holding of your breath in your sleep
Excessive fatigue
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If your oxygen levels drop low enough, you could possibly have a heart attack or stroke.
Best to wear it to sleep.
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Permalink Reply by Mack D Jones, MD, SAAN on
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Juanita,
Looks like you question has has answered pretty well, but in case you still haven't gotten the concept, read my book, "Deadly Sleep." If this doesn't scare you into using your PAP machine faithfully, 100%, then nothing will.
BTW, feel free to e-mail me (jonesmd3@gmail.com) your criticisms or comments.
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This is a good reminder for me. For the last few nights I have fallen asleep for a few hours without my mask on. I inevitably wake up within 2 hours or so and put the mask on then. I need to remember to just put it on when I get into bed for the night. Since I have a pretty low profile mask, it isn't much of an issue if I want to read or watch tv before falling asleep.
Chuck Ostrander said:I have had this same problem and have had to discipline myself that whenever there is a possibility I may fall asleep I put my mask on. I know it is no convenient if you are watching television or something else but consider the alternatives.
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Permalink Reply by assholes showing my profile when on
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In my professional opinion, one cannot die directly from sleep apnea. I have not heard of any known case nor have I seen it happen in our area with all the patients I have seen. Site a case and i would be happy to acknowledge it as a correlation. Usually Sleep Apnea is a sign that something else is going on, a complication of another disease like heart disease. There are other risk factors like, the majority of patients that come my way wth sleep apnea have other condition like heart disease , they are over weight since 54% of Americans are overweight when they are 45-50 years of age.
Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain fails to transmit signals to your breathing muscles. Central sleep apnea can be caused by a number of conditions that affect the ability of your brainstem — which links your brain to your spinal cord and controls many functions such as heart rate and breathing — to control your breathing. The cause varies with the type of central sleep apnea you have.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea: usually over weight patients have this problem. So being over weight is the issue not the sleep apnea. Work on the weight and the sleep apnea will lessen!
The point is everyone is blaming Sleep Apnea when in fact it is the condition that creates sleep apnea the complication of being overweight or having a large neck, hypertension, diabetes, and yes even the drugs you are on. I wonder how many people here are using drugs whether legal or illegal, they all have an effect on brain signals that trigger muscles to relax.
I could go on and on about the causes. I am not overweight but I present with medications for a severe injury that I sustained, Addisons disease, numerous surgical interventions through the anterior neck and spondylolisthesis and compression fractures of the vertebra. All these issues can casue sleep apnea. I have not used a C-PAP and I have yet to die ten year later. Patients need to look at the root cause of their breathing difficulties. I have seen so many mis-diagnosis in my field and at times I will intervene and take charge. Advising a patinet that presents with the symptoms of sleep apnea are treated with a C-PAP and the underlying real medical issues are ignored and that is why morbidity occurs.
I can only recommend those with suspected sleep apnea or those who are diagnosed after a thorough exam and testing be further evaluated for conditions that can cause sleep apnea like Cardiomyopathy and other heart failures, Have your EJ checked; that is your ejection fraction of your heart. Have your airway examined by a ENT for obstructions or possible muscular irregularities/ narrowing. Hypertension, Diabetes, Brain signals, EXCESSIVE WEIGHT, truthful statement regarding drugs one is taking, dont tell you then risk becomming a fatality and dont blame it on sleep apnea!
Many people don't think of snoring as a sign of something potentially serious, and not everyone who has sleep apnea snores. Ask your doctor about any sleep problem that leaves you chronically fatigued, sleepy and irritable. Excessive daytime drowsiness (hypersomnia) may be due to other disorders, such as narcolepsy.
Guess what I was having the same issue, extremely sleepy during the day could not make it home. Guess what I had>>>>>>>>>> Addisons Disease NOT sleep apnea!
Remember, central sleep apnea usually is the result, rather than the cause, of heart disease. Remember this statement. Its not mine it comes from many medical societies and even the Mayo clinic makes this statement.
For those who state that heart disease, hypertension, weight gain, strokes, fatigue, obesity, gasping for breath, depression, cardiac arrythmias, swelling of hands and feet is caused by sleep apnea are mis-spoken and there are no valid studies suggesting such that I am aware of. If there are by a reputable medical society, or group, please forward the web page to me. Be careful of web sites that are not reputable or have no connection with medical affiliations.
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Here is a good one, patient presents with difficulty breathing. They are tired during the day snore at night. A test reveals sleep apnea, obstructive in diagnosis. This is from aprevious physician. Well the CPAP wasn't working. Hum wonder why. A year went by when this patient presented to me. I immediately sent them for a chest x-ray and guess what, it was remarkable. I had diagnosed this patient with??????????? NOT sleep apnea but Pleural malignant mesothelioma, which affects the tissue that surrounds the lungs and is the most common form of mesothelioma. He also had pulmonary hypertension and no what, no one ever looked into why he presented with hypertension. His arterial veins were clear as a bell post angio. This patient was mis-diagnosed with sleep apnea. It was the easy way out and easier to diagnose rather than treating the patient. After several questions regarding his work and leisure it was discovered he had worked for a power company where asbestos was plentiful. His exposure prior to regulations affected thier health since incubation period for asbestosis is 20-30 years. Just something for everyone to think about when it comes to their own health. Look at everything. Get tests for other underlying issues, heart, and an EKG is not and full proof effective means of detecting heart conditions. An echo, angio may be necessary. If you are overweight, get on a program.
richard rydza said:In my professional opinion, one cannot die directly from sleep apnea. I have not heard of any known case nor have I seen it happen in our area with all the patients I have seen. Site a case and i would be happy to acknowledge it as a correlation. Usually Sleep Apnea is a sign that something else is going on, a complication of another disease like heart disease. There are other risk factors like, the majority of patients that come my way wth sleep apnea have other condition like heart disease , they are over weight since 54% of Americans are overweight when they are 45-50 years of age.
Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain fails to transmit signals to your breathing muscles. Central sleep apnea can be caused by a number of conditions that affect the ability of your brainstem — which links your brain to your spinal cord and controls many functions such as heart rate and breathing — to control your breathing. The cause varies with the type of central sleep apnea you have.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea: usually over weight patients have this problem. So being over weight is the issue not the sleep apnea. Work on the weight and the sleep apnea will lessen!
The point is everyone is blaming Sleep Apnea when in fact it is the condition that creates sleep apnea the complication of being overweight or having a large neck, hypertension, diabetes, and yes even the drugs you are on. I wonder how many people here are using drugs whether legal or illegal, they all have an effect on brain signals that trigger muscles to relax.
I could go on and on about the causes. I am not overweight but I present with medications for a severe injury that I sustained, Addisons disease, numerous surgical interventions through the anterior neck and spondylolisthesis and compression fractures of the vertebra. All these issues can casue sleep apnea. I have not used a C-PAP and I have yet to die ten year later. Patients need to look at the root cause of their breathing difficulties. I have seen so many mis-diagnosis in my field and at times I will intervene and take charge. Advising a patinet that presents with the symptoms of sleep apnea are treated with a C-PAP and the underlying real medical issues are ignored and that is why morbidity occurs.
I can only recommend those with suspected sleep apnea or those who are diagnosed after a thorough exam and testing be further evaluated for conditions that can cause sleep apnea like Cardiomyopathy and other heart failures, Have your EJ checked; that is your ejection fraction of your heart. Have your airway examined by a ENT for obstructions or possible muscular irregularities/ narrowing. Hypertension, Diabetes, Brain signals, EXCESSIVE WEIGHT, truthful statement regarding drugs one is taking, dont tell you then risk becomming a fatality and dont blame it on sleep apnea!
Many people don't think of snoring as a sign of something potentially serious, and not everyone who has sleep apnea snores. Ask your doctor about any sleep problem that leaves you chronically fatigued, sleepy and irritable. Excessive daytime drowsiness (hypersomnia) may be due to other disorders, such as narcolepsy.
Guess what I was having the same issue, extremely sleepy during the day could not make it home. Guess what I had>>>>>>>>>> Addisons Disease NOT sleep apnea!
Remember, central sleep apnea usually is the result, rather than the cause, of heart disease. Remember this statement. Its not mine it comes from many medical societies and even the Mayo clinic makes this statement.
For those who state that heart disease, hypertension, weight gain, strokes, fatigue, obesity, gasping for breath, depression, cardiac arrythmias, swelling of hands and feet is caused by sleep apnea are mis-spoken and there are no valid studies suggesting such that I am aware of. If there are by a reputable medical society, or group, please forward the web page to me. Be careful of web sites that are not reputable or have no connection with medical affiliations.
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There are a lot of very good replies posted. Regular use of your CPAP comes with practice and a fair amount of discipline. Once you get it, you get it. It is self-reinforcing. As to dangers. . .well, it isn't often that you will see "Sleep Apnea" as the cause of death on a death certificate. What you will see is cardiac arrest, CVA (stroke) or more likely. . .congestive heart failure, complications due to high blood pressure (kidney failure, stroke, heart attack). . . all of which are "complications" of untreated OSA. Let's face it, you had OSA for quite a while before the sleep study and you aren't dead. . .miserable maybe, but not dead. One of two things led to to the study - the "gasping for breath" or high blood pressure, depression, fatigue, diabetes. . .You have a choice: wear it or accept the consequences of no treatment. That said, it can take folks a while to adapt. We, in the 'industry' tend to shake our fingers and preach (as I have just done!), but the reality is that a good percentage of patients can take up to 6 months or more to be able to wear it all night, every night. You MUST hold your home equipment company responsible to help you find the right mask, the right fit, AND to act as an advocate for you. As a therapist, I will often request an order for a pressure reduction for my patients. It's easier to tolerate a pressure of 7 than a pressure of 15. If I can get you compliant at 7, then over a month or two, I can titrate you gently up to 15. Now, what I often find is that obtaining compliance info during this time and looking at treatment efficacy, many patients don't need the higher pressure! A sleep study is a 'photograph' or snap shot of one night out of 365. How tired were you that night? How much sleep debt did you have going into the study? What have you had to eat or drink in the last 48 hours? Many, many variables. Well, that's enough for now. . .sleep well.
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Permalink Reply by RL on
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Response to: Richard Ryda's 2 posts on this thread
Hi Richard,
I am reading your posts here carefully, and I do think you make some good points. I can not tell from your profile if you are an M.D., which I take to be the case from your posts. I also did a brief review of Addisons Disease on wikipedia, since I am not familiar with that. Also, I am not in the medical field at all, so please take my comments accordingly. Also, I have not reviewed all of your other posts to discover any other personal info that might be relevant.
First, I am wondering what led you to assuming you did or did not have sleep apnea, as it appears you did not have a PSG or other specific test to give specifics on this. If you are an M.D., then I would assume you may be able to write your own Rx for the CPAP. I cannot tell from your statements if you are familiar with the different types of xPAPs and why they may give different results depending on a patient's needs as in your own results or lack thereof. I also assume that as a normal human being that you are subject to the same types of challenges most others face in using xPAP therapy, and I don't see any indication that you tried to understand what was or was not working for you in that regard. Of course, if your condition was actually Addisons Disease and not Sleep Apnea at all (there are a few similar symptoms) then it would make sense that CPAP therapy would not solve your health issues.
Certainly any type of Disordered Sleep, and especially OSA & CSA have related health conditions and diseases associated with them in most cases, and are part of a complex of health issues unique to each patient. I believe most members of SG are aware of that and I have read that treating any underlying conditions is the first and primary concern for treating sleep apnea conditions. From all that I have read so far, it is also apparent that for people that do have sleep apnea, treatment with xPAPs makes a significant difference in the treatment of any underlying condition as well. Many of these conditions may not be fully treatable without the successful treatment of the sleep apnea condition, leading to further deterioration on the said underlying condition. So, while treating Sleep Apnea alone would only be sufficient in cases that were caught early enough to prevent advancement of additional potential related conditions, it is more often the case that a patient may have some negative effect from untreated Sleep Apnea that must be addressed concurrently. Failure to treat the diagnosed Sleep Apnea would in most cases have a negative accumulative effect on a given patient's health which would evolve to various serious conditions as noted in other posts in this thread, if not already present, and certainly contribute to and in some cases lead to premature death from the "co-conditiion". Thus, the correlation between specific diseases and Sleep Apnea is an important one and in my opinion does have a direct correlation to premature death.
Your encouragement for people to pursue correct diagnosis and treatment is appreciated and I hope you are successful with your own diagnosis and treatment, being that Addisons Disease is very different from Sleep Apnea.
I also hope that your comments do not discourage anyone from pursuing appropriate diagnosis and treatment for any and all conditions they may have, including Sleep Apnea which we focus on here.
My opinions here are respectfully offered to patients and medical professionals for consideration. I hope you (as an M.D. if that is correct) do not disregard sleep apnea as an important component of any of your own patient's health if it is determined to be present, along with any other conditions.
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Permalink Reply by susan mccord on
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David, lol !!!
David Bruskin said:And the odds of getting hit by a bus while you're sleeping with a CPAP are even less, so that's another argument for wearing it....
Eric James Bennett said:If you have it use it.. I do the same thing and my wife's best friend is a nurse and she is all over me all of the time because there is the chance you may not wake up.. Of course you may get hit by a bus today also but, heck why not lessen the odds. good luck..
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Permalink Reply by M'Lady Wench on
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I know for me, my body doesn't rest at all. I am always tired and snore terribly. I was getting sick more frequently and for longer periods of time. Because my body is basically on constant adrenalin, it won't settle into deep sleep. If I weren't to use my cpap, I would eventually cause my body more damage as it wouldn't have the rest it needs to repair itself. I would rather wear my mask and use my cpap and be able to keep up with my kids and animals than to be tired all the time and possibly end up in the hospital. Just my 2 cents. To each their own. You have to decide what you wish to do for yourself. Take care darlin!
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The advice given to you here is very good. Juanita you now know the dangers of falling asleep without using cpap therapy and now its your choice of treating your sleep apnea or not. Are you having trouble tolerating cpap? If so contact your provider not your Dr. for help. If its just a matter of putting on your cpap my advice to you is to make cpap therapy priority one, take responsibilty for your own health. Especially if you dont like adverse symptoms that stresses you heart and other organs that can lead to a poor quality of life.
Take Responsibility, Use your cpap your body will love you for it. Sleep well.
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Just to be clear professionally, I never heard of heart disease being a complication of OSA??? Never seen it on a COD, never read it in any medical book or paper. The facts states that heart disease comes first OSA is a complication of a more serious issue in all cases. OSA if it is obstructive is just that, obstructive. The root cause is not the OSA but it is the muscles, brain wave functions that controls the muscles, the narrowing of the esophogus, all these are the first trigger. The first trigger may also be weight gain, fatty tissue build up in the esophogus, large neck circumfrance. These are the first triggers or the root causes you cannot have OSA without these occurring first. Again think, work on the root cause, correct the root casue and you can throw your CPAP away. I ask the question again, why do swimmers who hold thier breaths for more than a minute at time not have the same medical issues as those diagnosed with sleep apnea? Becasue they are not dignosed with any other underlying medical conditions. I am not saying do not wear your Cpap if it helps. I am saying it appears to be the underlying medical conditions have not been resolved that are causing the sleep apnea.
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