Q&A: My Neurologist thinks my seizure is related to my sleep apnea.?

Question by SCARLETT: My Neurologist thinks my seizure is related to my sleep apnea.? I have sleep apnea and use a C PAP. I had a brain seizure (lasted 10 min.) and had many test run and nothing was found wrong. My neurologist thinks my seizure was related to my sleep apnea. I take anti-seizure meds. and don't know of having another seizure. Has anyone heard of this problem?

Best answer:

Answer by Sasha
Sleep apnoea doesn't cause epilepsy but it can cause seizures in people who have epilepsy. Sleep apnea syndrome is a disorder of abnormal respiration during sleep that results in a combination of hypoxemia (low oxygen) and hypercapnia (high carbon dioxide). The syndrome can be caused by obstruction of the upper airway during sleep, by abnormality in regulation of breathing by the central nervous system, or by a combination of obstructive and central problems. Epilepsy and sleep apnea syndrome have a reciprocal influence on one another that may exacerbate the processes of both conditions: The apneic episodes lead to hypoxemia and to chronic sleep deprivation, because multiple arousals during the apneic episodes cause sleep fragmentation. Sleep deprivation and hypoxia can decrease the seizure threshold in epilepsy patients. In many epilepsy patients without sleep apnea, seizures may occur on arousal. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) exacerbate sleep apnea by inhibiting respiratory drive centers and relaxing upper respiratory muscle tone.

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