Could sleep apnea cause heart pauses of 11 seconds?

[BobPaul]

Hi, I am 36 and I have a pacemaker since yesterday.

I have heart pauses only night time. I have been told that because I am physically fit, I am not the kind of person who would develop sleep apnea. Also, they told that my wife would have known or I would have realized myself.

The night before I had my pacemaker, they mentioned that they will know if I have sleep apnea since I have a oxygen sensor plug on my finger. Does it make sense? They woke me up a few times because my heart paused for a maximum of 10 seconds but I had no symptoms.

I had never been scared of doing black out day time because my heart is pausing only night time when I am deeply asleep.

The cardiologist said he doesn't know what cause the pauses and did not investigate further.

Even if they tell me me that there is no reason to believe I am doing sleep apnea, should I investigate more?

[BobPaul]

Thanks for answering.

I asked 2 times to my doctor to send me to sleep apnea test. She never came back to me. I am going to another doctor because I really need to rule out this one.

It is unbelievable the number of doctors who just want to release your symptoms but never go further than that.

Abviously you are not want of them and I appreciate.

Thanks again for your comment.

[Steven Y Park, MD]

There is no typical sleep apnea patient. Unfortunately, most doctors still think that you have to be an older, heavy-set, snoring man to have sleep apnea, but it's been shown that you can be a young, thin, healthy man or woman who doesn't snore, and still can have significant sleep apnea. Many very fit people must exercise regularly or sometimes intensely to feel alive and awake, in order to overcome their sleep-breathing issues.

There is no possible way that either you or your wife can know if you have sleep apnea. Studies have proven this.

An older study revealed that 60% of people with pacemakers had obstructive sleep apnea. Also, you don't have to have significant oxygen desaturations to have severe sleep apnea.

Your heart stopping for 10 seconds at a time could be from a number of different reasons, but if you have obstructive sleep apnea, it can definitely aggravate any heart problems. You need a sleep study to definitively rule in or rule out obstructive sleep apnea, especially if you're tired in general, can't sleep on your back, and if one or both of your parents snore.