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Concerned about a friend.. - retired_guy - 02-26-2015
Coming home this afternoon I past a minor traffic accident. As I was going by, I recognized one of the cars belonged to a friend of ours, an older lady. Well I say older, I'm actually older than she is. I'm actually older than dirt. Anyhow, back to my concern:
I pulled in and told the nice police officers I'd be sticking around to take her home. When I got her in my car, while we were waiting for the tow truck she told me that she didn't think her cpap was working right because she fell asleep.
Actually what she told my wife later was that she was doing fine, and then all of sudden came to when she heard a crunch. She had no recollection of previous drowsiness prior to the accident.
When I got her home, I checked her machine and her ahi last night was 2.3, and the previous 7 day average 5 something. So not too bad. I haven't been able to get her results to sleepyhead yet, but that's a goal for tomorrow.
Now the question: My favorite stunt before I started therapy was drowsiness behind the wheel. Yet I cannot recall a time when I dozed off that I had not had plenty of warning that I was really really sleepy. That doesn't compute with what this lady says about not feeling sleepy until she woke up during the accident.
Anyone got some ideas about this? Is this a sign of something other than our good friend sleep apnea?
She's a nice lady with no money. This accident/tire & wheel replacement/citation is now on my credit card. But mostly I think I need one of you out there to adopt her.
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - SuperSleeper - 02-26-2015
RG, I would think this could be sleep apnea related, but it almost sounds like she "blacked out", especially since she had no recollection of what happened prior to the accident. I wouldn't think that an AHI below 5.0 is of terrible concern, as far as the OSA at least. Might be some other health issue in play here.
I would assume she has some sort of minimal health care insurance so she can get to a doctor and have some tests done perhaps?
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - me50 - 02-26-2015
I agree with super sleeper she needs to see a doctor, probably an internal medicine doc rather than a regular doc would be a good choice
glad you came along because she probably needed some kind of support from someone that she knows and I'm glad she wasn't hurt.
I'm glad you were able to help her you will be rewarded remember bad karma won't be coming your way for that good deed
if you find somebody extra that wants to adopt someone let me know we need to be adopted
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - justMongo - 02-26-2015
Maybe some condition not related to apnea. A friend of mine fell asleep while driving in the mountains in January. He was lucky he was not killed. His problem was lack of sleep; but due to lack of sleep brought about by being in congestive heart failure. He had a cough and could not breathe when lying down. A good clue as to his condition -- and his local quack missed.
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - Kladeios - 02-26-2015
She also could have narcolepsy. Something that should be checked out before she gets behind the wheel again.
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - Sleeprider - 02-26-2015
Several possibilities, including sleep disturbance, and should be discussed with her doctor. AHI at the levels you found on her machine might explain some sleep disruption, but seems doubtful.
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - DariaVader - 02-26-2015
Sounds more like a blackout than a apnea related event to me. So many things can cause blackouts and none good... I do hope she will not drive again until/unless the cause is able to be corrected. My mom was blacking out and it turned out that her medications were at fault - and her heart rate was dropping too low. I suppose that is the best scenario; at least there was a complete remedy.
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - Sparkle - 02-26-2015
(02-26-2015, 01:34 AM)retired_guy Wrote: Anyone got some ideas about this? Is this a sign of something other than our good friend sleep apnea?
She's a nice lady with no money. This accident/tire & wheel replacement/citation is now on my credit card. But mostly I think I need one of you out there to adopt her.
Hi RG,
I thought I'd chime in for what it was worth. About ten years ago, a friend of mine - at the time in her late 40s was driving home and blacked out. She came to when she crashed into a storefront window. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the store. My friend, she had a broken arm.
Healthy, with no known conditions, she was at a loss as to what had happened. No one had noticed anything about erratic driving before hand. It was a huge mystery. She was given a boatload of tests for everything under the sun. Ultimately, it was diagnosed as a seizure and she lost her license for a year. She had to undergo a barrage of tests for the Motor Vehicle bureau before they would reinstate her license and she did get it back.
No recurrences (thank heavens!) and still no explanation as to what happened that day.
(02-26-2015, 01:34 AM)retired_guy Wrote: She's a nice lady with no money. This accident/tire & wheel replacement/citation is now on my credit card. But mostly I think I need one of you out there to adopt her.
Oh - and I wanted to say she is lucky to have you and your wife as a friend
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - Mr. Van Winkle - 02-26-2015
Yes, it sounds like it could be narcolepsy to me ,but I'm not a doctor.
RE: Concerned about a friend.. - lab rat - 02-26-2015
Could it have been what is colloquially called a "drop attack"?
My mother had about 2-3 of them over a year. One minute she was standing the next she dropped to the floor. In each case she came to and was fine. However the length of time she was "out" may have varied.
Yes hospital tests etc and a specialist just putting them down to that. Google it.