Untreated sleep apnea can be progressive, worsening over the course of 10 or 20 years without you realizing that you have it, until it may present a real threat to life.?
CASE STUDY
On the Wednesday before Christmas of 1985, Reverend Allen felt himself slipping toward death. This 67-year-old retired minister had seen one doctor after another, searching for the reason for his declining health. Specialists had treated him for heart problems and a variety of other symptoms. But no one had been able to explain what was causing his problems. By December 1985, Reverend Allen was so weak he could hardly walk across his living room.
Now his only prayer was that he might make it through Christmas.
Reverend Allen had lacked energy all his life; even a little exertion wore him out. He slept poorly and never awakened refreshed. When he retired from preaching, he had looked forward to getting plenty of rest and finally feeling better. Instead he had felt more exhausted than ever. His health had become much worse.
He began to lose his coordination. Simple things, such as walking and writing, became difficult. His memory was failing and he would forget familiar words. This embarrassed and saddened him, for he had been a skilled craftsman with words, a preacher’s most powerful tools. But now those tools seemed scattered and lost. Even his sense of humor had disappeared. The previous summer his wife had noticed a story in an insurance company magazine about a disorder called untreated sleep apnea. The symptoms had rung a familiar bell — heavy snoring, daytime sleepiness, and exhaustion. She had awakened Reverend Allen, who was asleep as usual in his easy chair, and suggested that he might find the article interesting.
Indeed he did! The article described his symptoms exactly. Excited and hopeful, Reverend Allen took the article to his doctor. But his doctor was not particularly interested.
The next 6 months became a race with time as Reverend Allen’s health rapidly deteriorated. His wife doggedly pursued their only lead — sleep apnea — through a long string of discouraging phone calls. Finally, they were put in touch with a new sleep disorders center in a nearby city. They made an appointment for an interview on the Wednesday before Christmas.
On the appointment day, Reverend Allen seemed so frail that his wife was afraid he might die on the way to the untreated sleep apnea center. She nearly canceled the appointment. But Reverend Allen was determined to try to make it through Christmas. “What’s the difference,” he had shrugged, “whether you go to Heaven from home or from the freeway?”
The sleep specialist immediately suspected severe sleep apnea. He rearranged his schedule so that Reverend Allen could have a sleep test the very next night. The doctor knew that if he delayed, he would be sorry for a very long time.
Sleep tests revealed that Reverend Allen had severe obstructive sleep apnea. He was immediately started on treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) a breathing device that is used during untreated sleep apnea.
“And that,” says Reverend Allen, “was a new beginning! The first morning after I went on CPAP, I woke up feeling refreshed. I wanted to take a walk!”
Three months later, this man, who had been near death, barely able to shuffle across his living room, was walking three-quarters of a mile every day. And, to his friends’ delight and his own, his sense of humor had returned.
Reverend Allen’s heart problems probably were the result of a lifetime of untreated sleep apnea. Treatment of sleep apnea can prevent, or even reverse, these medical problems. The sooner treatment is begun, the better the results.
Reverend Allen’s story is dramatic. Not every case of long-term untreated sleep apnea is so severe, and not every recovery is so striking. But in many ways, his story is typical—the snoring, the sleepiness, the fatigue syndrome, the loss of vigor, the threatening progress of an unidentified disease, the frustrations of seeking help where none seems available.
Most sleep apnea sufferers have followed a similar path. Today, more than 15 years after publication of the first edition of this book, the public and the medical community are becoming more aware of the signs, symptoms, and seriousness of sleep apnea. In addition, sleep specialists have learned more about the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea and other forms of sleep-disordered breathing.
As knowledge and awareness increase, and as more accredited sleep disorders centers are available, one must hope that people are more likely to be diagnosed at an earlier stage and can begin treatment before they develop severe medical complications.
