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Re: Longterm psychological effects of sleep apnea?


Posted by Cue Miller on October 14, 1999 at 13:34:27:

In Reply to: Re: Longterm psychological effects of sleep apnea? posted by Stephen on October 13, 1999 at 20:56:33:

Stephen, I've read in a number of places that removal of tonsils in younger people is often a complete cure for their Sleep Apnea. This is not usually true in older people, however. Whether or not your depression is related to your former Sleep Apnea is probably impossible to know. It's an interesting question: does sleep apnea cause permanent physical and/or neurochemical changes in people? Does curing the sleep apnea, as in your case, reverse any possible changes, or once established do these changes stay the same, or do they even get worse? I don't know for sure, of course, but I doubt that there are any answers to these questions currently. Some people think, for example, that their short term memory was affected by their sleep apnea, whereas others have noticed no difference at all. And who is to say that those who feel that they are more forgetful would not be forgetful even if they did not have sleep apnea? Who knows?

What I think about your problem is that you need a medical diagnosis. A psychiatrist should be able to diagnose you quite easily and determine whether or not you have clinical depression, and prescribe an effective treatment if required. Whether or not your depression is from apnea may not really matter. A lot of people are depressed for no apparent "real" reason.

Frankly I doubt you are going to get a very good diagnosis here on the internet from people like me who have lots of opinions but no training. Make an appointment with a shrink. So many people with depression are so easily treated these days. You should take advantage of it!

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