Apnea
Patterico has an amusing post about Deal or No Deal, a game show that I’ve never watched or even secondhand smoked, but which looks to be almost as stupid as Nip/Tuck. One of the meta-threads concerns his quip about undiagnosed sleep apnea, a condition with which I was recently diagnosed myself. I knew I’d been snoring for years, but what I did not know was that in my case, snoring wasn’t just an annoyance to others, but a symptom of the fact that I was gasping for air roughly 200 times per night, getting only about 60% of the oxygen I needed. By way of comparison, my doctor explained that if he were to deliberately hold his own breath until he were blue in the face, he’d get upwards of 90% of the oxygen he needed. He also added that if any pneumonia patient was getting as little oxygen as I did every night, he’d be put on a respirator. Fortunately, they don’t have me on a respirator now, but they do have me on a CPAP machine, which pressurizes air and facilitates normal breathing at night. Now I hardly snore at all, get all the oxygen I need, and sleep like a baby – except that I don’t usually pee in my pants or wake up crying. Having to put on a mask and turn on a machine every night kinda sucks, but it’s a little better than being drowsy throughout the day, and it’s a hell of a lot better than dying. Who knows, maybe an earlier diagnosis would have helped to prevent an accident?
Seriously, if you or anyone you know snores, get a sleep study. Chances are your snoring is just snoring, but then again, if you play Russian Roulette only once, chances are you won’t get shot. That doesn’t mean you should take your chances either way. More on apnea here, courtesy of Anwyn. The answer to the the heading of the story is no, snoring can’t kill you (at least not directly – if anyone else hears it YMMV) but it can be a sign of something else that can. It’s not a matter to be taken lightly.
December 29th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
But why? I know a guy with sleep apnea and he is totally Pickwickian — overweight with most of the weight over his lungs. Can you get it with just a broken nose (I’ve got one) or does it just happen in some people?
December 29th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
A good friend was able to toss his CPAP machine when he started using Breath Right Nasal Strips at night. Clayton Cramer was recently blogging (www.claytoncramer.com) about his use of the strips vs. using the machine. Maybe worth a try. Good luck.
December 30th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
nk, anyone can have sleep apnea. One of my colleagues had it and he’s in fine shape. His cause was just the way his palate and uvula were shaped. I encourage my wife to wake me if I snore enough to bother her. Just that has been enough to make morning better.
December 31st, 2006 at 11:28 am
I note that you now have something else in common with Andrew Sullivan besides blogging. I understand from friends who have used the machine that it is like night and day to how they feel the next day.
December 31st, 2006 at 1:57 pm
I’m sure AS and I have a lot more in common than that. For example, neither of us are sexually attracted to Barbara Boxer or Arianna Huffington.
And yes, the difference between untreated apnea and a CPAP is indeed night and day.
January 1st, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I have apnea, and was issued a machine. I hate the damned thing, but it has helped a bit. I won’t say Night and Day, nor will I say You are the one, only you beneath the moon and under…
Sorry. Got carried away.
I won’t say it’s night and day, but there is some improvement.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:51 am
Glad you got it diagnosed and are attempting to treat it!
But what happens if your wife turns off the gizmo while you’re sleeping?
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
If she does, I’ll start gasping and snoring again, resulting in me getting crappy sleep and her getting none. A power outage would produce the same result, I suppose.
January 4th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Let me make a couple of pro active suggestions.There are 3 main causes osf SA.Brain damage(Unlikely);upper respiratory blockage (enlarged turbinates caaused by -usually-allergies) and neck circumfrence.Usually,when the patients neck is greater than 17 1/2 for a male or an inch less for a female the neck will sag unde4r the weeight during REM sleep when the muscles relax.There are some meds specifically for this(provigil comes to mind),but I like to work on the patients weight.Almost all the patients I’ve had on CPAP have a waist greater than 40 “.They’re either diabetic or on their way.And it’s biochemically harder to lose weight.
I like to reach an agreement that they’ll walk 20′ 6days /week and start them on a phentermine solutionof 10 mg/day.COupled with the walking,the patients lose 6-#/month.As their weight decreases,so does their snoring As an aside ,a diet doc will write for 37.5 mg/day of phentermine,so 10 is a minimal does.(Of course EKG,thyroid should be checked,but it does give thepatient a chance to get of the CPAP,along with the other benefits of weight loss
January 29th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Have you tried playing the Digeridoo? Seriously, a seemingly well-designed study performed here in Switzerland and published in the British Medical Journal found that regular playing can improve moderate sleep apnea.
From the abstract:
Regular didgeridoo playing is an effective treatment alternative well accepted by patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.
The article is here: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7536/266
March 31st, 2007 at 11:28 pm
CPAP surely beats dying by a thousand miles. As I was reading through the comments, and I noticed that some people are not aware that apnea is also caused by anatomical deformities and obstructions in the airway. And other than surgery, CPAP is very effective in dealing with it. Just make sure you clean your CPAP regularly to prevent yourself from getting infections and complications dur to an unclean CPAP.