Sleep Apnea Depression

Sleep Apnea can cause severe symptoms of apparent clinical depression. This may respond quickly to the treatment of sleep apnea depression. It is very unfortunate when medical practitioners act clueless about this all important link! The knowledge of intellectual and emotional impact of this depression may be important in making a correct and differential diagnosis. If this disorder exists in a person then doctors should evaluate them accordingly to begin immediate therapy. In addition, people with this type of depression need lots of support from their family, friends, co-workers and the society at large in addressing emotional aspects of therapy and recovery.

Since there is very little of normal sleep, the attitude of the individual with sleep apnea walks slowly to the road leading to depression because of a lot of negative feelings. Anxiety is one of the major problems associated with sleep apnea depression. There is fatigue along with some daily chores, responsibilities in the household, with children, family, friends, in the work place that it is almost next to impossible to carry on. Being consistently tired also makes the individual feel disoriented, irritable and restless.

Panic disorder with sleep apnea depression is another factor which comes with somatic symptoms like chest pain, palpitation, tachycardia and mainly the fear of dying. Dr. Stacy Ishman and her research team from John Hopkins University states that people with sleep apnea have a high risk of depression; around 49% not being able to cope with “excessive sleepiness.” 

“OSA people are susceptible to a brain condition called HYPOXEMIA because they have serious neuro-psychological impairments,” quotes Dr. Vincent Castanovo Ph.D, a clinical psychologist at the Sleep Disorder Center, Vita-Salute, San Raffaele Sientific Institute, Milan, Italy.

The medical team treating people with sleep apnea depression have gathered a baseline measurement of the brain using the MRI and taken cognitive tests that assessed short and long term memory, executive functions, spatial abilities, alertness, concentration and abstract reasoning. Obviously all OSA subjects scored highest in excessive sleepiness domain than in others.

Remarkably, however, the treatment with CPAP seemed to reverse these damages when the OSA subjects were re-evaluated 3 months later. Indeed, Dr. Vincent Costanovo happily observed a significant cognitive improvement in all other domains. His plan for immediate future is to focus on increasing understanding of brain damage and its’ recovery. He concluded, “We want to evaluate and monitor non-hypoxic sleep disorder breathing in sleepy norms to actually assess the role of hypoxemia in sleep apnea depression subjects.” RESMED S9series delivers all the facilities of a highly technical medical care device with an ultra modern design that is easy to use in order to assure a peaceful good night sleep.