Posted by LostBoyinNCReturns on March 18, 2012, at 13:42:45
In reply to Re: Sleep apnea causes brain damage (hypoxia induced), posted by mellow on March 17, 2012, at 21:51:15
> Hypoxemia does cause brain damage. The good news is that around six months after CPAP treatment the frontal region of the brain can start to repair itself. There was an article on webmd about this last year where they did MRI's before and after treatment and the brain was healing and cognition was getting much better in the patients on CPAP.
>
> COPD patients have the opposite problem in that they can not exchange gases properly and can not rid themselves of CO2. They get what is known as CO2 narcosis and can certainly act psychotic or lose their orientation to reality or thier setting.
>
> Breathing is crucial!
>
> mellowDid not know that fact about COPD. Interesting. As a patient I find pulmonary medicine and sleep medicine much more interesting (and much more reliable) than psychiatry or psychology.
As far as the brain repairing itself after about six months, hmmmmmmm I have read similar reports. But I am frankly skeptical. I am of the old school, which believes once the brain is damaged, it will rarely to never be totally repaired. Some repair? Sure if you adhere to CPAP very tightly, which most dont. I do, but Im not typical on that. Im very CPAP compliant.
Some repair sure, but full repair? I dont know. know once a delicate organ like the brain is damaged, even mildly, it is not a good thing.
Eric
poster:LostBoyinNCReturns
thread:1013301
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120316/msgs/1013392.html