Posted by sleepy-in-seattle on March 20, 2008 at 14:35:54:In Reply to: How severe is this?? posted by Michael_needs_sleep on March 10, 2008 at 09:38:34:
Michael:
Ill try to respond to some of your concerns.
You have severe sleep apnea. No two ways about it. Depending on how your cardio health is and how much your heart has been weakened by the apnea, yes you could have a heart attack.
I've been there. Depression? Check. Low energy? Check. Falling asleep at 2 in the afternoon? Check. Going from great memory to poor memory. Done that. It's a living hell.
Two factors are the big contributors - decreased oxygen, and constant sleep interruption. I was lucky, I did not have severe oxygen decrease - I can only imagine how much worse I would have felt!
Since you've done CPAP and it didn't work, you must take action. As I see it, your two options are MMA or tracheotomy. MMA is preferred for many reasons - BUT it is not a guarantee. Trach is basically 100% cure for OSA, but it is hard for most people to accept.
The surgeries that were recommended do not seem to be appropriate for OSA severity like yours. You don't just need a little road widening, you need a four lane highway! Go to another surgeon and get another opinion.
As far as the Central Apnea, there are no known surgeries that can address it. I believe there has been a little success with some drug therapy. To the extent that CA is your problem, surgery won't help. However, if you can reduce or eliminate the OSA, then it will become easier to deal with the CA.
I feel for you for sure - it's a tough situation. But I encourage you to take action NOW to avert any unforeseeable consequences (stroke, heart attack etc.).
(One final point - I find it odd that your previous study did not highlight Central Apnea. It is highly unusual that it would have just "developed." It is possible that the second study misdiagnosed the central apnea.)