Sleep Apnea & EKG?

Question

Can any sort of sign of sleep apnea be detected during a routine EKG?

Like if you had sleep apnea and did not know it, would they notice somthing different on the EKG?

Answer 1

Sleep Apnea deprives your body of real good quality sleep its called a state called REM (rapid eye movement) it is when your body goes on automatic so the brain can really unwind! Now when either your airway gets blocked (this is one type apnea) by your tongue, tonsils, adnoids, throat closing or whatever this cuts off the flow of oxygen to your lungs now the carbon dioxide buiids up in your brain and it sends a signal awakening your body just enough to make your lungs gasp for air. Then you go on back into the deeper state of sleep this can happen 20 to 50 times a night and this disturbs the quality of your sleep! Now the other form of apnea is when the brain itself fails to send the automatic signal to breath they call this central apnea the same thing happens as above you awaken somewhat enough to breath!

All this activity is measured by an EEG not an EKG ! All this stress of lack of sleep does cause stress on the heart but does not show up on the waveform on an EKG of the heart as it is not a heart attack ! Now the stress of sleep apnea can contribute to one having a heart attack and the heart attack will leave a unique wave pattern on an EKG but it is that of a heart attack regardless of its cause! Stress can contribute to irregular heart beat and numerous other problems including depression however the primary detection of sleep apnea or cause of depression is not an EKG!

Hey Sleep Apnea nearly killed me DEAD if you think you have it go to a sleep lab for a overnight study ! There is really no other way to do it! They will fine tune your sleeping Leg twitch whatever, there are many many variables that come out during the study! You end up getting the maximum quality out of whatever hours of sleep you get!

I wish I had gone Years ago!!!!

Answer though to your question the EKG BY ITSELF has nothing to do with sleep apnea!

APS

Answer 2

Sleep apnea can cause a number of things, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and abnormal HEART BEAT -- which can be detected on an EKG. Now, if you go in for a routine EKG and find an abnormal heart beat, your doctor is not going to automatically suspect sleep apnea. But your abnormal heartbeat partnered with daytime sleepiness, fatigue and snoring may clue your doctor in to suggest a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea.

I had an irregular heartbeat (frequent PVCs) for years that was ruled out as "nothing to worry about" (it still worried me, though!). However, when I presented to my doctor with snoring, fatigue and daytime sleepiness, I had a sleep study done and the PVCs were found again during the study. However, since treating the sleep apnea, the irregular heartbeat has resolved.

So, the answer to your question is yes and no. If you are worried about yourself or a loved one, don't be shy and please mention it to the doctor -- better safe than sorry!

Good luck.

Answer 3

To detect sleep apnea, you go to a sleep clinic.
There, they hook you up to 3 or more sensors (on your skin) and let you go to sleep while they monitor the information from the sensors. This way, they are able to reproduce what happens when you are asleep. A routine EKG would not detect sleep apnea, since you would not be asleep during a routine EKG reading. It is also not a long-enough test - they need the whole night to monitor you.

Answer 4

I would think it would be unlikely unless you were in a very bad way. The usual diagnosis for apnoea is by sleep monitoring and and EEG (Electro Encephalo Gram).
The web site below has a lot of info which may help you.