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Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
#11
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
(10-14-2019, 06:11 PM)sheepless Wrote: some of it must be recoverable.  IDK if I'll ever be 'sharp' again after a lifetime of untreated apnea, but I do know I'm only half as useless now as 3 years ago when I couldn't maintain a train of thought, remember or accomplish much of anything.  stress and anxiety ran high due largely to my inability to keep up with routine tasks, much less accomplish anything constructive or fun.  although I'm a candidate, I haven't had heart or stroke problems (knock on wood) like some others here but stress and inactivity likely contributed to my currently being one test away from being dx'ed diabetic.

I'd tend to agree with some of that, especially as far as the cognitive process is concerned. Before my OSA was discovered my short term memory deteriorated badly and I had to resort to using the alarm system on my phone to remind me that I had playground duty at a certain time and so on. Now, I don't need to do this anywhere near as much and rely on the more common reminder systems to keep me going.

I don't know if my blocked coronary arteries were anything to do with OSA but sleep apnea became very prominent after I'd had bypass surgery. Someone on this forum might have some interesting comments to make about that.
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#12
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
I am another apnea sufferer with heart disease, and my cardio specialist reckons my untreated apnea (ten years or more) was a big factor in this non-smoking, healthy eating, lightweight(ish) 52yo having a heart attack. There is some heart disease in the family and I had an extremely stressful career though.

As for apnea affecting brain function, it's hard to imagine that oxygen-hungry organ surviving years of such abuse without some negative effect.

Do those folks who compete at freediving suffer any brain injury? I know they perform some kind of oxygen-saturating exercise before diving, but they nevertheless repeatedy starve their bodies of oxygen in much the same way that apnea does.

All that said, I'm sceptical, because I can't remember reading anything about apnea-related memory loss.
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#13
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
LWillSleep, thank you for the further articles. There were so many articles that I simply read one, the contents of which suggest that there is impairment to working memory, excecutive functioning, verbal memory, and spatial memory, but yet all of it is recoverable with long-term CPAP use. Same goes with white and gray matter
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#14
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
Thank you for your thoughtful response.
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#15
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
A friend of mine was stung by a bee. He had a massive reaction and went into anaphylaxis. This resulted in cerebral hypoxia. They didn't think he would survive or would be in a vegetative state. He is now in Shepherds in Atlanta. He cannot vocalize very well, but can move his lips to make words. He can read. He can kinda walk. He's able to now eat soft foods and thickened drinks. He can't feed himself very well though due to lack of hand control.

As for his memory, his wife was told the brain considers memory to be really low in priority. That he may never remember some of the missing gaps. As the rest of his brain recovers, it may decide to assist with retaining memories and recalling events just prior and since the bee stung him. Sometimes the brain will make up stuff to fill in those gaps. His wife said there's one guy at the facility who knows where he is, understands where he is, but if you asked him where he was, he says camp. His brain just can't wrap itself around the traumatic event that got him there so gives him something else more comfortable.

This is why folks don't remember details of traumatic events. Our brains block us from them. Mostly because recalling it uses resources but also to protect itself and us.

People with untreated sleep apnea under go hypoxia of every cell in the body every time they sleep. This causes damage to every organ, every system, every process. Some more than others.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#16
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
(10-15-2019, 04:18 PM)PaulaO2 Wrote: People with untreated sleep apnea under go hypoxia of every cell in the body every time they sleep. This causes damage to every organ, every system, every process. Some more than others.

ohhh, that's just too depressing to contemplate, in my mid-sixties and only now finding some relief from lifelong apnea.
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#17
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
I was an idiot for resisting CPAP for so many years. I did take some corrective steps, some of which actually helped, and some of which traded off sleep loss against hypoxia, but I'm certainly paying the price now in many ways.
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#18
RE: Sleep Apnea and Brain Damage
Wonderful posts.
I used to post to a Newsgroup for apnea and other things. A friend there had an index of 103. He was diagnosed late in life.
He actually collapsed while teaching and was taken from his school in an ambulance.

Some years have gone by. Lately I've had wonderful luck implementing changes in my treatment because of advise here. One in particular has doubled my time in deep sleep. That's reported by my Garmin Vivoactive HR watch, which gives me a daily report. I used to have 1 hour. Now I regularly have 2 hours, and sometimes longer, of deep sleep.

Is it real? Don't know. But I feel better. After 30+ years of compliance I'm really happy to feel better. Frankly, I had given up hope. I've been very unhappy with my cpap treatment for many years.
DaveL
compliant for 35 years /// Still trying!

I'm just a cpap user like you. I don't give medical advice. Seek the advice of a physician before seeking treatment for medical conditions including sleep apnea. Sleep-well

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._The_Guide

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