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Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
#1
Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
Some difference in opinion from drs I have seen. Neurologist doesn’t think it’s related as he thinks I would have woken up from sleep breathless or dizzy but I felt fine. Main GP and syncope specialist think it’s most likely my sleep apnea. 


Looking at my sleep data, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think I was more hypoxic then usual before passing out. I had 15s apnea before waking up. Problem is that I felt far more out of it and breathless after passing out then before. 

Before, I was in pain due to stretching and triggering cramp in my leg. It seems to me that it’s far more likely to have been a pain response then related to OSA. 

Has anyone else passed out at night due to OSA? Whilst still in bed? Were you breathless or dizzy prior? What was your sleep data like before waking up?

I lost my driving license due to unexplained passing out, it’s a nightmare.
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#2
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
that sounds pretty unsettling.

I've never heard of anyone passing out but I have read about people dying in their sleep from apnea so it must be possible.

I've had some rough times before pap but to my knowledge never passed out. did this occur with or without a pap machine? I'd think it very much less likely when using a machine.

it sounds serious enough to try to determine the cause, especially if it happens more than once.
  Shy   I have no particular qualifications or expertise with respect to the apnea/cpap/sleep related content of my posts beyond my own user experiences and what I've learned from others on this site. Each of us bears the burden of evaluating the validity and applicability of what we read here before acting on it.  
 
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#3
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
Thanks for reply. On my bibap and my AHI is low. I may have some hypoxia still though but I actually think I may just be lying on my arm with the blood monitor on.

It was absolutely terrifying and probably one of the top my scary things that has happened to me! And for my wife.

The drs generally thinking “it’s a one off, I wouldn’t worry about it”. But from the perspective the one who it happened to, I would worry a lot less if I knew why.

What I found concerning is that because I was on my back, my tongue was collapsing and chocking me which is what woke my wife up. I am very very grateful I had my machine on because being unconscious meant my natural reflexes to wake up when choking weren’t kicking in…

I don’t think those without sleep apnea understand that it’s different passing out with sleep apnea then it is without.
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#4
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
if you were using your machine at the time, post an oscar screenshot covering a few minutes before the event. maybe we can tell if it was breathing related.
  Shy   I have no particular qualifications or expertise with respect to the apnea/cpap/sleep related content of my posts beyond my own user experiences and what I've learned from others on this site. Each of us bears the burden of evaluating the validity and applicability of what we read here before acting on it.  
 
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#5
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
I'm not sure if this is similar or not, but I have positional vertigo and if I tilt my head all the way back as far as it goes the room spins and it's a really miserable thing!

A couple of times I've woken up with vertigo. It's distinctly different from waking up gasping for breath, but it's just as bad!

I'm not sure how I would perceive fainting if I were asleep, and maybe what you are really experiencing is vertigo?
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#6
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
cathyf, thank you. I think I have experienced mild vertigo, I felt like I was falling but wasn't. I was feeling sick before but it was very short before I passed out. Afterwards it felt like a really strong fuzzy feeling and my wife sounded really far away. I don't really know what vertigo feels like.

sheepless, good idea, thanks. I am attaching. 

I am pretty certain the big breaths are where I came too, I still felt wierd but was conscious. My heart was beating really hard, I pulled off the mark put as i was out of it I didn't turn it off, hense the long flat line. 

I am not sure where it started, my wife thinks I was out for at least a few minutes. Before hand I was awake at least a few minutes.


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#7
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
it was a longshot but I'd hoped oscar would show us something obvious. I hope others better able to interpret those charts will comment; I'm not going to be much help.

if you were awake just beforehand, what do you remember? sounds like you felt sick. how? dizzy, faint, nauseous?

I don't see hints of wakeful breathing until about 4:21, roughly 5 minutes before mask off. but I guess that's long enough to account for a couple minutes awake & a couple minutes out.

you had some obstruction, the longest about 20 seconds, but I wouldn't think long enough to pass out (?). plus we don't know if those events occurred before or during the time you were out. if you were out for several minutes, they might have happened after the fact & might explain your choking feeling.

check your respiration rate, tidal volume & minute ventilation graphs too. probably nothing more telling there but maybe.

I have zero expertise & no more basis than idle speculation for this but based on your description, particularly choking on your tongue (which for all i know may occur when unconscious regardless if cause, or could simply be obstructive apnea), I wonder about some kind of brain thing like a transient mini stroke or seizure. I know people that have had one or more lapses in consciousness over some years from these kinds of things. I'd think your doctor would've already considered these kinds of things if they were possible explanations though. vertigo sounds as plausible to me as anything else.

you might never know unless it happens again & of course it would be better if it doesn't.
  Shy   I have no particular qualifications or expertise with respect to the apnea/cpap/sleep related content of my posts beyond my own user experiences and what I've learned from others on this site. Each of us bears the burden of evaluating the validity and applicability of what we read here before acting on it.  
 
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#8
RE: Has anyone passed out at night due to sleep apnea?
My sister had a strange positional situation unrelated to breathing that would cause her to pass out. If she stretched her arm out and turned her head a certain direction, her neck muscles would pinch off blood flow in her carotid artery, causing her to pass out.
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