Can Sleep Apnea Kill You?

How Serious is Untreated Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a serious condition that can cause pauses in breathing while sleeping, gasping, loud and disruptive snoring, and many more scary symptoms. If you have sleep apnea, suspect you may have it, or have a partner exhibiting these symptoms, it can be easy to wonder if these gasps, pauses in breathing, and more could lead to a worst-case scenario. The good news about sleep apnea is that it is a treatable condition that can allow you to live a healthy, happy life. Keep reading to learn more about sleep apnea, whether sleep apnea can kill you, and how sleep apnea treatment can help significantly reduce your risk for multiple deadly health conditions.

Understanding Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a common condition that occurs when your breathing stops and restarts many times while you sleep. In fact, about 50 to 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder. This can prevent your body from getting enough oxygen. If someone tells you that you snore or gasp for air during sleep, don’t brush it off or take it as “nagging.” You are being warned that you have a symptom of a very serious health condition that requires treatment, or else you will find yourself at a very increased risk of multiple deadly health conditions.

There are two types of sleep apnea.

1. Obstructive sleep apnea. Also called OSA, happens when your upper airway becomes blocked many times while you sleep. The blockage can reduce or completely stop airflow. This is the most common type of sleep apnea. Factors such as obesity, large tonsils, or changes in your hormone levels can narrow your airway. Any of these factors could increase your risk for obstructive sleep apnea.
2. Central sleep apnea. This occurs when your brain does not send the signals needed to breathe. Health conditions that affect how your brain controls your airways and chest muscles can cause central sleep apnea.

Signs and Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

Hallmark symptoms of sleep apnea include gasping while sleeping, pauses in breathing while sleeping, and loud, disruptive snoring.

Sleep apnea can be difficult to self-diagnose because you are obviously unaware that these symptoms are happening while you are asleep unless you have a partner, roommate, friend, or family member alerting you to the issue.

There are many other symptoms of sleep apnea aside from what happens while you are asleep. Some of the other symptoms of sleep apnea include:

• Waking up frequently throughout the night, especially to urinate
• Morning headaches
• Dry mouth throughout the night and needing water during the night
• Dry mouth when waking up in the morning
• Fatigue and sleepiness throughout the day
• Memory loss
• Difficulty focusing at work, at school, or during conversations
• Requiring coffee, energy drinks, sugar, or a nap to “get through the day”
• Lack of energy, especially to do basic tasks
• Increased stress
• Erectile dysfunction or low sex drive
• Unexplained weight gain or difficulty losing weight
• High blood pressure
• Mood swings and irritability

Is Sleep Apnea Dangerous?

Yes, sleep apnea is a dangerous condition. It does not go away on its own; in fact, it will worsen over time and diminish your health as the years go on. Sleep apnea requires treatment in order to overcome and significantly reduce your risk of certain dangerous and deadly health conditions.

There are many reasons that sleep apnea is so dangerous. Mostly, it boils down to the fact that there is an obstruction in the airway, which does not allow you to breathe correctly. In most cases, individuals will begin to breathe through their mouths while they sleep, which causes snoring.

Mouth breathing is dangerous because it is not the body’s natural way of breathing. Breathing through the nose is, as it acts like a filter to prevent toxins from entering the body. The nose ensures good quality oxygen to pass through to the lungs and bloodstream. Without this filter, the mouth allows everything in, lowering the oxygen quality in your lungs and blood.

The pauses in breathing and gasping also disrupt sleep throughout the night. Waking up frequently does not allow your body to rest and repair, leading to health issues and difficulty during the day.

Health Conditions Caused by Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is directly linked to multiple dangerous health conditions that could ultimately lead to death. By getting sleep apnea treatment, you can significantly reduce or eliminate your risk of developing one or more of these conditions:

• High blood pressure: Researchers believe that obstructive sleep apnea can worsen high blood pressure. Some reasons behind this include low oxygen levels at night, changes in hormones, and an activated nervous system.
• Diabetes and insulin resistance: People with obstructive sleep apnea are at an increased risk for developing diabetes. This is tied to an increased risk of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that the body doesn’t respond normally to insulin, a hormone that helps the body to use blood sugar.
• Pulmonary hypertension: Over time, breathing disruptions can change the structure of the blood vessels in the lungs and contribute to pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension is a condition in which blood pressure is too high in the arteries between the heart and lungs.
• Stroke: Untreated obstructive sleep apnea also increases the chances of stroke. This risk may be due to the effects of obstructive sleep apnea on existing risk factors for stroke, like high blood pressure and heart disease, or because of changes in blood pressure to the brain.
• Abnormal heart rhythms: Also known as heart arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms can be a result of the low oxygen levels that happen in people with sleep apnea. Experts believe that heart arrhythmias may be one of the main reasons behind sudden death in those with sleep apnea.
• Dementia: Sleep apnea is very closely linked to cognitive decline and memory issues. If you are having trouble focusing or with memory recall, it is important to understand that your sleep apnea could be causing this issue.

Can Someone Die Suddenly In Their Sleep from Sleep Apnea?

It can be easy to wonder if the pauses in breathing, gasping, and loud snoring are dangerous and could lead to death during sleep. Although rare, it can happen to older individuals with severe, untreated obstructive sleep apnea. The more dangerous condition that could happen suddenly during the night, which sleep apnea can cause, is cardiac arrest.

The reason you wake up so frequently throughout the night, especially to urinate, is due to your body’s survival response to the pauses in breathing. This causes increased levels of stress in the body, which is one of the many reasons sleep apnea is so closely linked to cardiovascular issues. While your body does a pretty good job of keeping itself alive through these survival tactics, individuals with low oxygen levels or very severe untreated sleep apnea might not be as lucky.

When Should I See a Doctor?

If you are wondering whether or not you should see a doctor due to sleep apnea symptoms that you are already recognizing, the answer is always yes. As mentioned, sleep apnea does not go away on its own and requires treatment to overcome.

There are a few things you can try at home to relieve your symptoms. However, most of these will only work if you have very mild sleep apnea. Again, sleep apnea worsens over time and you will likely still require treatment down the road.

Some lifestyle changes you can make include:

• Losing weight. Obesity is very closely linked to sleep apnea. If you are able to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight successfully, you may find that your sleep apnea symptoms improve. However, it can be difficult to lose weight while experiencing sleep apnea.
• Bed changes. In most cases, snoring is the most severe when an individual is sleeping on their back. If you are able to sleep on your side and use pillows to help you support this, it could help your sleep apnea symptoms.
• Avoid large meals before bed, alcohol, and certain medications. These simple lifestyle changes will help improve your sleep overall and could help reduce your sleep apnea symptoms.

How is Sleep Apnea Treated?

One of the many reasons people do not rush to get treatment for sleep apnea is that they do not want to deal with having a large, embarrassing CPAP machine for the rest of their lives. This is understandable; CPAP machines are difficult to maintain, are uncomfortable, do not offer noise relief for bed partners, and have fallen victim to many dangerous recalls involving choking.

Luckily, there is a better way to treat sleep apnea with the Vivos method.

• The Vivos Method can treat sleep apnea in as little as 12 months, as opposed to CPAP machines, which require a lifetime sentence
• It does not require surgery, a lengthy recovery, or a difficult onboarding process
• Your results are up to you: The better you stick to your treatment program, the faster you will see results
• It can treat even the most severe of OSA cases, as well as pediatric sleep apnea

Here’s how to get started:

1. Get a sleep assessment. Talk to your sleep apnea doctor, such as M Gorman Wellness, about your sleep apnea symptoms. A sleep assessment will confirm sleep apnea is present so you can move forward with a Vivos prescription
2. Exam and treatment plan. Once you receive your medical diagnosis, we will develop a treatment plan based on your evaluation. Everyone suffers from sleep apnea differently, with different obstructions, root causes, and more.
3. Start sleeping better. After developing your treatment plan, you will start treatment and be well on your way to better sleep, more energy, a healthier life, and significantly reduce your risk of multiple deadly health issues.

Stop Sleep Apnea and Sleep Better with Gorman Health and Wellness

Gorman Health and Wellness is proud to be one of the few providers of the Vivos Method. We are also part of the breathing wellness movement, which aims to increase awareness and improve treatment for sleep-related airway conditions like sleep apnea.

Dr. Gorman has partnered with organizations focused on collaborating with dentists to apply the sciences of Craniofacial Epigenetics (the study of cranial modifications caused by gene expression as opposed to genetic code alteration) and Pneumopedics® (the practical application of oral appliance therapy and non-surgical airway remodeling) in the management of sleep apnea.

Together, the application of these sciences allows for underlying causes of airway obstruction to be treated in 98% of cases, resulting in a high success rate among sleep apnea patients. For every sleep apnea case at our practice,

Dr. Gorman will gather patient data and determine the patient’s specific needs based on home sleep test results, dental impressions, CT scans, and images. Our state-of-the-art technology, paired with Dr. Gorman’s experience with sleep disorders, allows him to find the most effective treatment plan for each individual’s particular case, yielding improved daytime and nighttime breathing for the patient.

“I have been helping people suffering from Sleep Apnea with a non-invasive, clinically approved treatment method. This method has allowed my patients to sleep with far fewer events per hour, allowing them to get rid of their CPAP and BiPAP machines. Imagine not having to use one of those machines, getting back a much greater quality of life along with the benefits of being able to breathe better.” – Dr. Gorman.

For more information on Dr. Gorman, improving your sleep apnea, and decreasing your risk for multiple health conditions, visit MGormanDental.com!