Posted by dirtywater on March 20, 2008 at 21:47:05:In Reply to: How severe is this?? posted by Michael_needs_sleep on March 10, 2008 at 09:38:34:
Michael,
I will echo the advice of the others who already replied to you. Sleep apnea is very serious and it can kill you if untreated. The cardiopulmonary effects can be severe. You are wise to pursue CPAP and surgical intervention. Be aggressive about it until you find a treatment that works.
I had undiagnosed sleep apnea for 10 years. It came and went; some months were worse than others. At first I was diagnosed with depression; it was an accurate diagnosis, but what I did not realize at the time was that my depression was feeding off my sleep problems. In your case it is absolutely a possibility that your depression is linked to your apnea.
I slept through my freshman year of college at MIT, then had to drop out. During the worst times these past 10 years, I was utterly non-functional. Unable to work, sometimes unable to leave my bed. I was put on CPAP which helped me a bit, but not completely. My mood improved, but after 18 months on CPAP I had a week of very poor sleep followed by a major episode of depression/anxiety. At this point my doctor put me on an SSRI which stabilized my mood; it helped me deal with the work-related stress that I was under due to constantly oversleeping and arriving at work late. Another thing that helped my mood was focusing on my upcoming surgery, and just knowing that I was doing the best I could for myself, and that eventually I would beat this problem no matter what it took!
I'm still on the SSRI, although now that I've had surgery and my apnea has greatly improved, I will consider going off it at some point.
Best of luck to you,
Jeremy