Most people who have sleep apnea don’t know it?

While I was growing up I knew that my father had some kind of sleeping problem, besides loud snoring. He would snore alright but then he would abruptly stop with a snort then go back to snoring, this pattern would go on night after night. (I don’t know how my mother put up with it!) Of course now this is the common symptoms of sleep apnea, which I have as well.  Back then I can’t remember anyone ever using the term sleep apnea unlike now where sleep apnea as well as many other sleep disorders are being treated everywhere.  So it was a big surprise to see that in a recent study only a small number of folks knew that they had sleep apnea.

According to a study done by Phillips Electronics in the Netherlands only 22 percent of the participants who were determined to have sleep apnea actually knew already that they suffered from this sleep disorder. This is really amazing to think that close to 80 percent of the folks who have sleep apnea didn’t know it. I guess it shows that there is still is room for more public information on the matter.

Another possible reason is that some people might just think that they are light sleepers or maybe their only real problem is snoring. That is why it is so important to contact a doctor who specializes in sleep problems especially sleep apnea.

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Women with sleep apnea have a greater chance of brain damage

 

Sleep apnea can be the cause of a great many health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and emotional problems. One other problem that may occur due to sleep apnea is brain damage. In a previous post I wrote the following about the connection.

“According to a study done by the UCLA School of medicine, sleep apnea patients have smaller Mammillary glands than people without sleep disorders. Mammillary glands are located underneath the brain and they are associated with memory. Alcohol abuse can also lead to damage of the Mammillary glands. But it also seems that being born with smaller Mammillary bodies can also lead to sleep apnea.”

Now from a new study from the UCLA School of Nursing suggests that women have a greater chance of brain damage from sleep apnea than men.

According to the UCLA Newsroom “the study found that women were impacted in the cingulum bundle and the anterior cingulate cortex, areas in the front of the brain involved in decision-making and mood regulation. The women with sleep apnea also showed higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, the researchers said.”

Apparently the first tests that were done over 10 years ago focused mainly on men or groups of men and women.  This study certainly suggests that women should be as tested for sleep apnea just as much as for men if not more.

Sleep apnea can be diagnosed by having a sleep study done where the patient spends the night being monitored to see if they have any interrupted sleep or apnea. If that is the case the typical remedy is using one of the forms of the CPAP machine which blows air into the throat so your breathing wouldn’t be cut off during the night. In some cases surgery is also suggested.

A drink before bed wouldn’t help you sleep

For years I have heard folks tell me that a quick drink before bed helps you sleep, especially if it is wine.  An article in the Dailymail suggested that red wine had melatonin in it which is a natural sleep aid. A shot of whisky can also be beneficial before bed as well, in fact I had an uncle that drink a shot every night before he went to bed and he lived a long life. Supposedly the whiskey helped with his circulation. I don’t know if that is true or not.  However a new study suggests that any drinking before sleeping or nightcap doesn’t help you falls asleep in fact it probably does the opposite.

 

 

According to Webmd.com “A new review of 27 studies shows that alcohol does not improve sleep quality. According to the findings, alcohol does allow healthy people to fall asleep quicker and sleep more deeply for a while, but it reduces (REM) sleep.”

The article goes on to say that the more you drink the worse your sleeping will be, of course that certainly makes sense to anyone that has gone overboard with their drinking and then tried to go to bed.

Some folks may dispute this and say that they do indeed fall asleep faster after having a few drinks but the real problem is that it affects the quality of sleep which in turn will make you more tired the next day. so booze is definitely not a good sleep aid.

If you have sleep apnea then you certainly know that alcohol is a terrible idea at bedtime. Your apnea will be considerably worse at night and the next day you will be walking around like a zombie. Sleeping pills are also to be avoided if you sleep apnea as well.

 

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Sleep apnea and high altitude

Although I have never experienced it myself it appears that folks with sleep apnea may have an even more difficult time sleeping at higher altitudes. There was a new study done by Swiss researchers who concluded that sleep apnea patients could find the combination of the CPAP machine and a drug called Diamox.

There were 51 patients (mostly obese men) in the study and they were tested at altitudes of 5300 and 8500 feet.  According to USNEWs.com “The combined treatment with acetazolamide and CPAP led to improved levels of oxygen in the blood when patients were awake and sleeping, and better control of sleep apnea; it also reduced the amount of time spent awake during the night, compared with CPAP alone.”

Of course you need to check with your doctor to see if this medication is something that you may be able to use. It is also important to remember that the sleep apnea patients also used the CPAP machines as well.

“The drug Diamox or Acetazolamide is used to treat glaucoma and to treat and to prevent acute mountain sickness (altitude sickness). It is also used as a part of some treatment plans for congestive heart failure and seizure disorders.”

Read more at http://www.drugs.com/mtm/diamox.html#fSkWfvp0VOqFDraM.99

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Is sleep apnea making you depressed?

One of my earliest blog posts dealt with depression and sleep apnea where I wrote about how obstructive sleep apnea might be part of the reason I have been plagued with depression.  In fact I have also had doctors tell me that they think the lack of sleep certainly could be a big factor in my being depressed, although it isn’t the only factor by far.  I read an article at the Scientific American website that seems to back up that idea.

According to the article, “People with depression or other mental illnesses often report trouble sleeping, daytime drowsiness and other sleep-related issues. Now a growing body of research is showing that treating sleep problems can dramatically improve psychiatric symptoms in many patients.”

A study was conducted at the Cleveland Clinic  assessed  that women have a greater chance of becoming depressed from sleep apnea than men who have twice the change of being depressed while women’s chances are five to one. 

In fact the article goes on to say that trying to deal with the sleep issues should be tried before attempting any use of anti-depression medications. This sounds like a great way to attack the problems of depression of course it wouldn’t work for everyone but it would be worth the endeavor.

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Electronic nose and sleep apnea

There are a lot of signs that you may have sleep apnea. One of the best is having your partner tell you that your snoring is deafeningly loud and that you sound like you are gasping for air throughout the night. Another way to tell is a lack of energy during the day as well as a problem with certain mental capacities like memory.  If you seek a doctor’s opinion at that point then he will set up a sleep study where you will find out one way or the other if you indeed have sleep apnea.  A recent study with a new device may also indicate whether you have sleep apnea or not, it’s called an electronic nose.

According to eurekalert.org  “Electronic nose devices have been shown to distinguish between a number of diseases; they do this by analyzing the pattern of volatile organic compounds in breath samples. This is the first study that has assessed whether the electronic nose could be used to confirm the presence of sleep apnea.”

The test was done with 60 people, 40 of which had sleep apnea and 20 did not.  The accuracy rate of detecting the sleep apnea patients was about 93 percent, which is pretty good. 

The importance of this device is that it may be able to replace the sleep study which isn’t a particularly pleasant test.

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Elbowing and sleep apnea

If you are a peaceful sleeper that doesn’t snore than you probably don’t have many experiences being elbowed at night by your partner. But if you do have a sleep disorder that is disruptive like snoring or restless leg syndrome than you probably have tested your partner’s patience at night. This can be especially true if you have the sleep disorder known as sleep apnea.  In fact it might be a good thing that someone is elbowing you at night.

The University of Saskatchewan asked 124 patients who were about to have a sleep  study if their sleeping partner ever elbowed or poked them to stop snoring or to wake them up because they had stopped breathing.  It is not surprising that asking these types of questions can help predict whether someone is suffering from sleep apnea.

This isn’t particularly shocking because most of us who have sleep apnea have not only been elbowed or punched at night but usually told the next morning that our snoring or grunting or gasping for air is very annoying and is not conductive to a relaxing sleeping environment.

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