Question:
Does your heart stop if you have an apnea episode?  All of the information that I have read about apnea and none of it says if your heart stops too.  Thank you.

Daisy,

I don't know about your heart stopping, but it sure can throw your heart into an irregular heart beat...   check out this link...

http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=121

My sleep apnea causes me to have atrial fibrillation if I go untreated (i.e. w/o CPAP)


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mesocosm

OSA / PLMD / Atrial Fibrillation

Daisy wrote:

Question:
Does your heart stop if you have an apnea episode?  All of the information that I have read about apnea and none of it says if your heart stops too.  Thank you.

Hey good question I can't say if it just stops more like it weakens your heart after time because your not getting air or oxegin in their and your blood deplets so you don't get the right strength in there so basickly slowly over time your heart dies and dear we can die in are sleep so to speak but AND I MEAN BUT  there is help ask your doctor get a mask (cpap)and remember no one in this world can take care of us better and more commpasshionatly than ourselves

Only at the very end.

Seriously, it does put a strain on the body and can cause death.  That is why it is so important to get treatment.

thank you all for the information.  
i recently did a sleep study and am waiting for the results.
However this question was a concern of my father-in-laws....my mother-in-law says that he stops breathing regularly and he admits to waking up gasping for air but won't go to get tested or anything....he hasn't mentioned anything to his dr's and recently he did go to the heart dr...the heart dr says his heart is working at 50% and wants to do an angiogram....i was thinking that maybe his problems are related to apnea and not a blockage....i will pass along all information.  thanks again  

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea 2 weeks ago. 8 years ago I had a pace maker put in because I woke up and my heart rate was 300 per minute then it stopped in the middle of the night while in the hospital. They never found out why but now my doctor seems to think it was caused by the sleep apnea. My wife tried to tell them that 8 years ago and they didn't want to hear it. I had just turned 40 with no other health problems before the pacemaker!

Before I was diagnosed with apnea, I wore a heart monitor for 24 hours.  My heart was found to stop during sleep and I had a pacemaker put in.  Now that I'm on CPAP, I don't have a clue if it still does that.  However, I find it pretty interesting that others have a simular experience.

Frank