For those on the “should I, should I not get a sleep study?” fence, please read the following.

According to the Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA a connection may exist between sleep apnea and heart disease.

Although not conclusive and lengthy studies to determine if sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease are connected are a long way off, it is suspected that sleep apnea is a risk for heart disease.

I am next to the last person in the world to presume telling anyone else what to do but do offer information to investigate for yourself.

That said, I have practical experience with sleep apnea. The sleep study I had years ago led to me wearing a bipap and now, a recently added concentrator is connected to my bipap machine.

I’ve known about the right heart failure because we’ve been ‘watching’ it for some years. I did not worry about it though because I figured the other side of my heart must still be healthy. Remember, I am a patient, not a medical professional.

A week ago, I was told I have ‘congestive heart failure” …quite another thing. That involves the whole heart. I looked it up.

The point of this little tale is to say I have sleep apnea and developed a heart condition suggesting to me there may well be a connection.

{ It is proposed that given that CPAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is highly effective and essentially totally safe, and that the evidence is suggestive that sleep apnea is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, then we propose all patients with severe sleep apnea should be treated to reduce cardiovascular risk….}

Best wishes fence sitters … jump into health if you can.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19249449?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed

More later…. Sharon O’Hara