To ask if sleep apnea is an emergency?

[Sleepapneaproblems]

I have undiagnosed sleep apnea and am awaiting the sleep study for official diagnosis. After being in hospital for something unrelated the consultant I saw expedited the referral because I was struggling to wake and kept falling asleep during conversation.

I will fall asleep sitting up, sitting on the floor, with a coffee in my hands, eating etc, it’s getting really bad.

I get dizzy often and feel like I’m going to pass out when I stand up. I have a headache all day every day. I also get a frequent thundering in my ears which comes with waves of pressure.

this week the earliest I have woken is 1pm, my partner cannot physically wake me up and he’ll tell me he tried multiple times and I have no recollection of this.

This week has been particularly bad and I’m getting worried. I didn’t wake until 4pm and despite this still slept until 2pm today and im still exhausted. I had a fall two nights ago when I briefly woke up, stood up to go get some water and fell and face planted the floor. Currently have a nice big bump on my head.

Today im really feeling quite out of it and im getting a lot of palpitations and dizziness, and even standing makes me feel nauseous because of how light headed it’s making me.

I’ve barely moved off the sofa today because it’s literally exhausting me to move.

Really panicking about tonight/tomorrow because I hate not being able to wake up.

When does sleep apnea become an emergency, and is this something I should just wait to see GP/continue waiting for the sleep study?

Any aversion to lights?

It's not wasting anyone's time seeking urgent medical help, if you cannot even stand up without feeling dizzy it could be a number of things, you could do yourself harm if this happens in the bath, on the stairs, when you're cooking and you fell without any recollection.

@Hairyfairy01 no not at all

@Sleepapneaproblems Your GP should be helping you lose weight and this will help. They can refer you for an operation but if you are overweight you need to discuss if you can have it. It does sound like sleep apnea. DDs former partner had it. Although he was slim and sporty!

You will need to get a referral from your GP.

This sounds like where my mum was at earlier this year, right down to weight and dizziness etc.
Thankfully she went to the doctors and he sent her to a&e due to her oxygen levels being low. 2 days later, whilst in hospital she had a cardiac arrest. She was very fortunate to be where she was, and following a 7 week stay on itu she was discharged to a ward and 2 weeks later home.

I don’t want to frighten you, but please reach out for help now. 48 hours later and I know we would have had a very different outcome.

Take care, and good luck

It sounds like you need urgent help to me, I would at very least call 111 - a lot of your symptoms may be caused by something else and needs investigating.

I would still be presenting myself to ED.

Sleeping on the sofa might not be ideal. When you say sleeping, what may be happening is that you are stopping breathing for several seconds & its possible that the position on the sofa is exacerbating the issue.

You probably know that you are tired because you are not actually sleeping enough. If it helps, I used to work with someone whose sleep studies showed she was stopping breathing for around 40 seconds every minute. Once she got her cpap machine, her sleep and her energy levels improved hugely. I hope you get a similar good outcome.

@Hairyfairy01 just don’t know where to start because they might say it’s not an ‘acute’ problem!

You mentioned you are very overweight and only 29 years old. You really need to lose weight as that will help the sleep apnoea.

I have severe sleep apnoea and whilst I do suffer with some of those symptoms, many of them don't sound like sleep apnoea

I would be getting to the GP ASAP

You have had a head injury after an unexplained fall. Since then you have felt increasingly'out of it' ie confused, exhausted and dizzy along with palpitations. You have a thundering headache. You are a 29 year old female who is obese.

I would want a bleed on the brain caused by high blood pressure or possibly AF ruled out. I would not be hanging around to be honest and would want certain things in ED ruled out.

It's all very well saying lose weight but 10 stone isn't going to disappear overnight. Its also really common for sleep problems to lead to weight gain. So if they can treat that the weight will reduce.

I'm not sure about A and E at night. Ours had a 10 hour wait midweek...

I’ve called 111 and they’ve told me to go to A&E. not looking forward to it at this time and really do feel like they’re going to look at me like i’m wasting their time

I'm pleased you are going OP. You won't be wasting their time and they will triage you appropriately. Let us know how you get on.

How is your partner? Could the carbon monoxide levels in your home need checking?

Another vote for this is not just sleep apnea. My DM has severe sleep apnea - "waking up" literally every other minute - and while she did fall asleep sitting down and felt herself drifting while driving, she never fell. Glad you're going to A&E and hope you're ok.

Ouch, tbh I would try and get some help sooner rather than later.
The CPAP machine makes a HUGE difference, it'll be hard to get used to though!
FWIW- barbaric surgery made a huge difference to me, in fact it helped the sleep apnoea so much I no longer use a machine, and I have had 2 subsequent pregnancies. I'm still fat, but much healthier.

Wishing you all the best.

You start with

1. head injury. Confused and extremely tired since.
2. falling asleep/blacking out at random times
3. unwakable when “asleep”

what you are describing is beyond sleep apnea. Please get seen asap.

Potential concussion is NEVER wasting their time.

Nor is being checked out for being un-wskesble.

take lots of snacks, drinks, blanket, phone charger and good book OP. Keep us updated.

Triaged and sent home. BP 128/81 (guessing that’s good?) heart rate 131. Oxygen levels going up and down between 88% - 96%.

The nurse said there won’t be anything they can do because it’s not like they can speed up the sleep apnea referral, but I can stay if I like and sit in the waiting room for 4 hours. Actually feel like such a hypochondriac.

Did you tell them about the head injury and falling asleep randomly?

@RandomButtons yes they just kept saying it’s probably sleep apnea

A heart rate of 131 is very ABNORMAL

Oxygen sats of 88% are very ABNORMAL

The nurse shouldnt of said what she said, You should of waited to see a doctor

This is more that Sleep apnea

From the call to 111 to going to the hospital and back home again in an hour!

Thats fast!