Question about sleep apnea?
I went to the ER on Thursday after waking up with crushing chest pain and inability to move my left arm. Chest x-rays were taken along with an EKG, bloodwork and a stress test was performed. During my resting heart scan it was shown that I have a mild to moderate leak in one of my heart valves and I was asked three times if I had sleep apnea. The results of the stress test showed that my heart actually performs very well under stress but again I was asked if I have sleep apnea. How would I know this? I do not snore every night (only occasionally if I am exhausted) and I never wake up coughing or gasping for breath. I have had hypertension for the past 10 years and I am currently on Procardia XL for my hypertension. Any info would be appreciated.
Tagged with: 10 years • bloodwork • chest x rays • crushing chest pain • heart scan • heart valves • hypertension • left arm • procardia • procardia xl • sleep • stress test • three times
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Symptoms
You need to be set up with a Sleep Study to be monitored over night for sleep apnea. Check with your Cardiologist and have him set it up. Sleep Apnea causes excessive strain on the heart due to lack of oxygen. From the symptoms you describe I would say that you do have it.
My daddy has it. He never wakes up either. I think the only way you know for SURE you have it is to stay overnight and be monitered. Then you get a funky CPAP machine/mask deal. Looks like the oxygen masks on the pilots in the OLD planes lol.
follow up with your cardiologist. take the ER records to the appointment.
this would be something that you would have to have a sleep test done to confirm. I recently had one done and was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. I am not aware of the fact that I snore or stop breathing but they will be able to tell you. I would recommend it if nothing else than to know what your options are and to know for sure. It is a small price to pay for the health of your heart.
Sleep apnea (sometimes also mistakenly written as sleep apnia, sleep apena, sleep aponea or sleep apnoea) is a common, though often undiagnosed, sleep disorder in which you stop breathing during the night, sometimes literally hundreds of times and for as much as a minute or more. The disorder derives its name from the Greek word "apnea" meaning "without breath".
When you stop breathing oxygen levels in the blood drop and carbon dioxide levels rise. This causes your heart to pump harder and sometimes to beat irregularly, or even to stop for several seconds. Your diaphragm and chest muscles work harder and your blood pressure rises. Finally, your brain senses that your body is in trouble and wakes you sufficiently for you to breathe and, as you do so, your breathing will often be accompanied by loud snoring.
Sleep apnea (sometimes also mistakenly written as sleep apnia, sleep apena, sleep aponea or sleep apnoea) is a common, though often undiagnosed, sleep disorder in which you stop breathing during the night, sometimes literally hundreds of times and for as much as a minute or more. The disorder derives its name from the Greek word "apnea" meaning "without breath".
When you stop breathing oxygen levels in the blood drop and carbon dioxide levels rise. This causes your heart to pump harder and sometimes to beat irregularly, or even to stop for several seconds. Your diaphragm and chest muscles work harder and your blood pressure rises. Finally, your brain senses that your body is in trouble and wakes you sufficiently for you to breathe and, as you do so, your breathing will often be accompanied by loud snoring.
This condition most often occurs as the result of a blockage to the airway, usually when soft tissue at the rear of the throat collapses and closes the throat. It can, however, also result from a failure by the brain to signal the muscles of the body that control breathing.
In addition to snoring and extreme daytime tiredness, symptoms sleep apnea, if left untreated, can lead to:
Headaches (particularly in the morning).
High blood pressure (and other cardiovascular problems).
Weight gain.
Depression.
Irritability.
Learning and memory difficulties.
Sexual dysfunction and impotency.
Now do you see why they were asking? You have the high blood pressure and the cardiovascular problem…they would want to rule it out. It is also a chicken and the egg question. Did your hypertension problems lead to the cardiac lead to an apnea or did apnea lead to the hypertension lead to the cardiac.
I know that sounds like gobbledegook, but it does matter. It determines in which way to address the problem.