central sleep apnea

[beckyperillo]

I was wondering if you could tell me more about central sleep apnea..there is very limited information about it online. I wake up gasping for air as I'm falling asleep, almost as if I stopped breathing. I'm no doctor, but from what I read central sleep apnea occurs several times during the course of a night, but it happens in stages 1&2 of sleep which is when it occurs in my situation. This has only happened to me 3 times in the course of a month or so. I made the mistake of reading these articles about apnea and am now scared that I have some brainstem tumor or something. I'm under terrible stress and don't sleep very well to begin with and now that this started I really can't sleep at all. I have no insurance to go to the Dr. to get a proper diagnosis. I have read a lot of information about other people having the same problem as me on different websites and a lot of information comes back to it being stress related. I am 40 years old and have had major problems with stress my whole life, but nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I am not a typical obstructive apnea case..I'm not overweight, male and  I don't smoke or drink which is why I think it would have to be central if anything. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Steven Y Park, MD]

You don't officially have to have an apnea (greater than 10 second pauses). Imagine as you fall alseep, you stop breathing, and after 2-5 seconds, you wake up suddenly, in a state of panic. You don't need to be snoring, gasping or choking. If your nervous system is very heightened, it will cause you to wake up very quickly once you obstruct. Most people with these conditions will be placed on anti-anxiety or anti-depression medication, with numbs your nervous system, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem.

[Steven Y Park, MD]

The only way to know if you have apneas, if at all, and whether it's central or obstructive is to undergo a sleep study. What you describe sounds like a typical obstructive apnea. There is no "typical" sleep apnea patient—we now know that even young thin women who don't snore can have significant obstructive apneas. I wouldn't jump to conclusions about rare brainstem tumors or anything of that sort. What you describe is commonly attributed to stress and anxiety related conditions, but I think the main reason is more due to very short obstructions as your muscles begin to relax while you sleep.

If you don't have insurance, a sleep study can be very expensive. There are less expensive home-based studies and screening tests, but you'll have to do some research on what's available through your doctors. Stress can also aggravate this condition, and this condition can also aggravate stress. There are also hormonal influences as well in early menopause.

For now, I would work on stress reduction and relaxation techniques, not eating late close to bedtime (3 hours), exercising regularly, and avoiding sleeping on your back. At some point, you may need to bring this issue up with your medical doctor.

[beckyperillo]

One more thing Dr. I just wanted to let you know that nobody in my family has observed any signs of apnea in me during sleep. Also, I do not have any of the signs of apnea that I have read about other than the jumping up gasping for air as I'm falling asleep and most of the sites I read say that the person is unaware that they do that as well. I am fully aware of whats going on and am terrified to go to sleep now because of it.