Stroke directly caused by apnea

[Sleepyabby]

My brother was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. He tried wearing mask then after a bit he stopped for 2 months. He ended up having stroke in the middle of the night. It was a year and half ago and he's permanently disabled. He's better but has limited use of his right side and still some difficulty talking. He was only 52 when he had the stroke. He did not have any other risk factors for stoke other than the apnea and being slightly over weight. He was an electrician and had major shock about 4 years ago. According to my sister in law no high blood pressure which is shocking or high cholesterol. According to her docs not certain what caused stroke. Has anyone or anyone you know had a stoke and docs pointed direct cause was sleep apnea?
Thanks

[0rangebear]

My brother was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. He tried wearing mask then after a bit he stopped for 2 months. He ended up having stroke in the middle of the night. It was a year and half ago and he's permanently disabled. He's better but has limited use of his right side and still some difficulty talking. He was only 52 when he had the stroke. He did not have any other risk factors for stoke other than the apnea and being slightly over weight. He was an electrician and had major shock about 4 years ago. According to my sister in law no high blood pressure which is shocking or high cholesterol. According to her docs not certain what caused stroke. Has anyone or anyone you know had a stoke and docs pointed direct cause was sleep apnea?
Thanks

Here is a good clinical study on the subject
http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-profes...troke-risk

[PaulaO2]

He has/had UNTREATED sleep apnea. That's the difference. Remind him of that often.

[Phill]

My alleged sleep apnea was diagnosed during investigations for alleged epilepsy, they also said I had high blood pressure which had not been mentioned in numerous previous tests, and subsequent home monitoring of BP did not indicate any problem.

Often said on this board that the only way to sort out apnea problems is self help, and use of the expert advice available on the site.

I have little to no faith in the medical profession.

Best of luck to your brother.

[Sleepyabby]

I work as an RN on a Neuro floor at a stroke certified hospital. I have had a particular interest in sleep apnea due to my own diagnosis as well as two brothers having it and one who had the stroke. I finally had figured out the direct link to strokes accidentally last week even though I have worked on Neuro floor for 9 years. Low oxygen levels due to apnea caused body to increase production of oxygen carrying red blood cells to make up for it which causes blood to become essentially thicker increasing possibility of forming a clot causing stroke. How I accidentally found this direct connection was a coworker had been going to the hospitals weight loss clinic and they draw labs which showed a high hematocrit and hemoglobin and he said he thought it was likely due to apnea.

Believe it or not rarely do we see the neurologists discuss sleep apnea with the patients post stroke. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else out there had personal experience of themselves or someone they know having a stroke and a doctor making a direct link to it.
Thanks!!

[trish6hundred]

Hi Sleepyabby,
It happened to my mom, her neurologist said that OSA is what caused her to have a stroke.
Good luck to you and hopefully, your brother will continue his CPAP therapy.

[Mosquitobait]

My brother was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. He tried wearing mask then after a bit he stopped for 2 months. He ended up having stroke in the middle of the night. It was a year and half ago and he's permanently disabled. He's better but has limited use of his right side and still some difficulty talking. He was only 52 when he had the stroke. He did not have any other risk factors for stoke other than the apnea and being slightly over weight. He was an electrician and had major shock about 4 years ago. According to my sister in law no high blood pressure which is shocking or high cholesterol. According to her docs not certain what caused stroke. Has anyone or anyone you know had a stoke and docs pointed direct cause was sleep apnea?
Thanks

Has your brother been tested for Factor V Leiden? Apparently a common cause for early onset stroke. It wasn't until he went to a specialist about memory problems that anybody even tested for it. There are, of course, many causes of stroke.

[archangle]

I have little to no faith in the medical profession.

I often badmouth the medical mafia myself.

However, we need to realize that modern medicine is a true miracle in many ways. The important thing is to figure out when they're good and when they're bad.

CPAP is a true miracle for many people, even when done badly. The sad thing is that so many people who should be using it fail to get treatment because of stupid doctors. Or try and fail due to stupid doctors and bad DME's who give poor support. Or use it, but fail to get the full benefit.

Don't forget that vaccines save an enormous number of lives. Smallpox killed something link 300 million people in the 20th century alone. No one in the USA has had smallpox since 1950.

We may badmouth chemotherapy, but many thousands of people are alive and healthy today because of it.

We need to remember that most of the time, the doctors ARE actually offering us beneficial treatment. We need to take a bigger hand in managing our own treatment, but that does NOT mean simply rejecting the doctor's advice when we don't like it.

Most importantly, don't fall for alternative therapies. 90% or more of it is unhelpful at best, and actively dangerous if you use it instead of science based medicine.

[archangle]

Has anyone or anyone you know had a stoke and docs pointed direct cause was sleep apnea?

It would be really hard to point out a direct connection in most cases. Even those without apnea have strokes. Even if untreated apnea increased your risk of stroke by a factor of 5, that would still mean that 20% of the stroking apneacs had a stroke for other reasons.

It's a bit like smoking. You probably can't definitively prove that a particular smoker's heart attack was due to smoking.

[Phill]

I have little to no faith in the medical profession.

I often badmouth the medical mafia myself.

However, we need to realize that modern medicine is a true miracle in many ways. The important thing is to figure out when they're good and when they're bad.

CPAP is a true miracle for many people, even when done badly. The sad thing is that so many people who should be using it fail to get treatment because of stupid doctors. Or try and fail due to stupid doctors and bad DME's who give poor support. Or use it, but fail to get the full benefit.

Don't forget that vaccines save an enormous number of lives. Smallpox killed something link 300 million people in the 20th century alone. No one in the USA has had smallpox since 1950.

We may badmouth chemotherapy, but many thousands of people are alive and healthy today because of it.

We need to remember that most of the time, the doctors ARE actually offering us beneficial treatment. We need to take a bigger hand in managing our own treatment, but that does NOT mean simply rejecting the doctor's advice when we don't like it.

Most importantly, don't fall for alternative therapies. 90% or more of it is unhelpful at best, and actively dangerous if you use it instead of science based medicine.

Having been told to take the medication as I am not really sure what is wrong with you "I had better do something", a totally spurious diagnosis of high blood pressure, and abysmal treatment for Apnea, I would suggest I have every right to badmouth the medical so called profession.