Another Benefit of BPAP!

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Permalink Reply by Sleep2snore on March 3, 2018 at 19:57

Good stuff, I don;t think your By-pass surgery would have been due to Sleep Apnoea, though it wouldn't help when you were asleep not to be on treatment.

Did you work on building sites to get Asbestosis.

It scares me to think I used to walk past people cutting asbestos with a circular saw and the dust was terrible.

However, nothing has shown up in any scans, though they were not looking for that anyway.

I did have a shadow on my right lung, but it turned out to be pneumonia.

I was in hospital at the time, how do you get pneumonia when you are in a hospital.

Good to see the treatment is helping at night and you have a good consultant.

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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on March 4, 2018 at 0:39

Glad to hear we've helped David, which is the primary purpose of our charity There has been lots of research with cardio issues and undiagnosed sleep apnoea, so I'm convinced the triple bypass will have been to do with your undiagnosed sleep apnoea.  Hindsight eh?  Many of the cardio consultants who are clued up with the link between sleep apnoea and cardio issues will automatically suggest people with heart problems have a sleep study, but sadly some aren't connecting the dots.  I have also had a pneumothorax (partly collapsed lung when undiagnosed with sleep apnoea).  Sorry to hear about your Asbestosis, and it makes sense that when you're on your BiPAP you'll be relieved of the symptoms.  You could also be retaining carbon dioxide, and the BiPAP will help with this.  Keep us posted re the Non-Invasive Ventilation.  I've been on ASV myself which did help with the co2 retention, but so does the VPAP.

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Permalink Reply by David Anthony Burnley on March 4, 2018 at 16:28

Kath, thanks for the pointers on ASV will see what happens on the sleep study. Interesting point about CO2 retention, it was detected on my original sleep study that I was a CO2 retainer and a test was conducted which said it was mild, then again there was no symptoms of Asbestosis then. I was changed to BPAP and given the RESMED S9.

When I had the heart attack I was Insulin dependent type 2 Diabetic so another contributory factor? I have now been reclassified as a Late onset type 1 diabetic (LADA or Type 1.5 Diabetic) and obviously still Insulin dependent.

When I spoke to the Sleep clinic recently they told me they would look at other options and I needed to get my consultant to make a referral, that's been done and await an appointment.

Thanks for all that you do

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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on March 4, 2018 at 16:55

I'm not knowledgeable on the link between diabetes and heart attacks, but both of them are definitely linked with sleep apnoea, and whilst type 2 is the main one, there has also been research into the link between sleep apnoea and type 1 diabetes.

They will need to check your blood gases to see if your co2 retention is worse now. Common symptoms are waking up sluggish or with headaches, despite CPAP.  They're unaware why I retain co2 and neuro are trying to fathom it out.  It's frustrating not knowing, but at least the VPAP is sorting it so I'm lucky in that way

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Permalink Reply by David Anthony Burnley on March 4, 2018 at 17:16

Sleep2snore said:

Good stuff, I don;t think your By-pass surgery would have been due to Sleep Apnoea, though it wouldn't help when you were asleep not to be on treatment.

Did you work on building sites to get Asbestosis.

It scares me to think I used to walk past people cutting asbestos with a circular saw and the dust was terrible.

However, nothing has shown up in any scans, though they were not looking for that anyway.

I did have a shadow on my right lung, but it turned out to be pneumonia.

I was in hospital at the time, how do you get pneumonia when you are in a hospital.

Good to see the treatment is helping at night and you have a good consultant.

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Permalink Reply by David Anthony Burnley on March 4, 2018 at 17:47

Thanks for your reply, as you will see from my response to Kaths reply I am also a Late Onset Type 1 Diabetic (LADA or type 1.5) and that may have well been a cause and I as 62 at the time so it all stacks up. Before the heart attack I also developed some breathing problems but did not do anything about it!

After the bypass (during which my left lung collapsed) I was diagnosed with COPD but this was a misdiagnosis I found out 7 years later.

As a result of the Heart Attack it was found that I had mild heart failure and this led to the investigations as to what was causing the breathing problems. A CT scan 4 years before had suggested Pulmonary Fibrosis and the latest in the middle of last year showed Asbestosis.

My exposure to asbestos is vague - 1. I was born in a Prefab (almost entirely made of Asbestos sheets) and 2. I was a regular soldier from age 15 until age 30 and a lot of barracks have lots of asbestos in them. There are many instance of people who have contracted Asbestosis with even mild exposure, teachers, some of them from the asbestos mats they used in science labs over bunsen burners! There is a recent petition by teachers demanding action to get asbestos out of schools today because they have an unusually high incidence of Asbestosis. You can see the relevance when you find that it can take anything between 40 and 70 years to develop.

I should have said I have never worked on a building site. I was a computer engineer and often visited sites where Asbestos was still obvious.

My consultant is setting up a sleep clinic appointment for me and hope that will be soon. My BPAP us doing a good job its just the daytime off the machine that's the problem!

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