Hi Leah, It's amazing how many people have sleep apnea, a dangerous condition all by itself. There are many health complications that can result from this disorder. Thank you for making us aware of a relationship between sleep apnea and dementia. I noticed that more on this topic can be discovered using any Internet search engine. You are a fountain of relevant information and a great resource for this site. Your story of falling asleep at the wheel and not having an accident may well have been divine intervention! Clearly, you have a mission and I commend your efforts to carry it out in this forum. Best Wishes, -- Joe
Leah had an epiphany much like I did nine years ago when I discovered my own sleep apnea. It took me four years to get it resolved and I've been on a 'stop sleep apnea' soap box ever since. I wrote about it in a book that you can get at the library. One comment Leah made that got my attention was that initally she had negative sleep study whereas more recently the test was positive. I wouldn't be surprised if her first test was a "false negative" test. That means that the test was called negative or normal when she actually had sleep apnea, but it was missed by the sleep lab.
One example of how this can happen is the patient may not sleep during the entire night. Some techs are easily fooled into thinking the patient is asleep (in stage 1 sleep for example) when they are lying quietly with their eyes closed, but the patient is wide awake and cannot go to sleep because of the unfamiliar surrondings and all the wires and moniters, etc. It's called the "first night effect." I had two such "false negative" tests.
A few years ago a study of a number of accredited sleep labs revealed that an astonishing 15-25% of their patients had "false negative" tests. They were told that their test was negative for sleep apnea when they actually had the disease. The numbers must be even worse in non-accredited sleep labs. What this means is that there are many people who have had a "false negative" test and are struggling on their own to survive with SA, erroneously believeing that they do not have SA because they were erroneously told their test was "normal." The lab gets reimbursed for a test that is bogus, but now the patient is left to suffer the consequences of an untreated deadly disease. This is unacceptable and something must be done to correct the problem.
Thank you, Dr, for your informative comments. You mentioned the problem which occurs often, resulting in a false negative. YES! I WAS awake much of the night!!! I CAN remember THAT! I was very stressed with the first test and all those wires and I had a horrible time trying to get to sleep. I remember being devastated by the fact that I received a negative result. I wondered what was wrong with me then? Like you, I am spreading the word. And, now, with your information, I have another direction to take my soapbox! Many thanks!
Thank you Leah for this vital information. I just learned a few months ago that once the sleep apnea was diagnosed, in a person with dementia, some of the symptoms have started to subside. It may have been the sleep apnea that caused many of the dementia symptoms. This may not be true for all those who have been diagnosed with dementia, then find they also have sleep apnea, but even a few leaves us with the hope there may be another health problem that causes many of the dementia symptoms and at times can be corrected. Keep standing on that soapbox.
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Thank you for this post, Leah. I'm going to share it with my brother-in-law. He uses a breathing machine, now, to assist his sleep, because he does have sleep apnea. The machine drives my sister crazy! But I think, given what you've said here and what others on this and other sites seem to be saying, it makes good sense to use the machine, if it helps with sleep.
How providential that you had that situation arise in the car. And how important now that you are recognizing some of the potential causes of the situation you are facing and generously sharing your thoughts with the rest of us.
Your personal stories put a special touch to this site. I'm glad you are here, so helpfully and generously offering your thoughts and ideas and goals with us all. What a giving person you are. Good wishes to you.
Hi, CJ. Point of interest: If your sister is having a problem with her husband's CPAP, they may want to look into a different type of CPAP machine. Mine is so quiet that my husband can barely hear anything but the light wooosh of the air. And please DO encourage him to use it regularly! I hope to give insight to the effects of undiagnosed sleep apnea to those out there who may be suspecting they have it but aren't sure. I hope I can scare them into going to a doctor to be checked. And then, there's a huge group of people who have BEEN diagnosed but who REFUSE to use the CPAP machine!
Thank you for your kind words.'