What symptoms and complications can result from sleep apnea?
Hypertension, heart failure, heart attack, strokes, cardiac arrest, convulsions, and accelerated coronary disease. Increased risk of post-operative respiratory arrests and deaths following surgeries if sleep apnea is not under treatment. Irritability, personality change and memory problems. Daytime sleepiness, often unrecognized by the patient, with a greatly increased risk of highway crashes. Restless sleep, night sweats, headaches and dry throat on awakening, arousals with choking, chest pain or shortness of breath. No symptoms at all! Studies have shown that the majority of patients with sleep apnea awaiting bariatric surgery have no symptoms–and many have no snoring history! Wouldn’t I know it if I stopped breathing in my sleep?Not necessarily. Some patients never awaken with any distress, even if they stop breathing over 100 times per hour! Also, many bariatrics patients with even potentially life-threatening sleep apnea surprisingly have no symptoms. They have no snoring history
