Originally Posted by
Alan Hick
If you're having episodes of stopping breathing that wake you up, it's possible if not probable that you're having similar episodes that don't wake you up. As noted this can have some serious cardiovascular consequences. There are several questions that will need to be answered--with a doctor, not here-- such as :
1. Is this drug or alcohol induced? If you have lots of pain from previous injuries, and you're on chronic narcotics, or you consume a lot of alcohol to help you sleep; or you're on other drugs that can "depress" the function of the area of the brain that controls breathing while you're asleep, then some adjustment in what you're doing may be all that's needed
2. Are you significantly overweight? and is there possibility that you could lose said weight?
3. Do you nod off easily and sometimes unexpectedly during the day? If so, are you still driving? Because if the answer to both is "yes" then you're putting yourself and other people in danger.
4. If this is "Sleep Apnea", then is it "obstructive sleep apnea" or is it "central sleep apnea"? Central sleep apnea is a little complicated to describe in a forum such as this, but it can be caused by heart failure, or damage to the breathing control areas of the brain. You can have "cyclical breathing patterns, sometimes referred to as Cheyne-Stokes breathing, where you progressively breathe deeper and faster, then slower and shallower, and sometimes stop...and then start the cycle over.
With obstructive sleep apnea the airway is "obstructed" by your tongue relaxing and falling back and contacting the soft flap of tissue in the back or your mouth, effectively forming a seal. This is one of the causes of snoring, and when you get really relaxed the seal is so tight that you stop breathing altogether. Then you wake up, or almost wake up, and the cycle starts over.
The purpose of the "breathing machine" is to supply a small amount of constant or variable pressure to hold your soft palate away from your tongue while you're sleeping. Thus there's no obstructive seal, and you don't stop breathing.
You should make an appointment with a sleep doctor. They'll ask a bunch of questions and do a brief exam and decide whether you need a sleep study or not.
Good luck.