Rapid breathing at night?
July 17, 2018 3:36 AM Subscribe
I've noticed that my boyfriend tends to breathe quickly and shallowly when sleeping - is this a medical issue? If so, how worried do I need to be?
I know YANAD but I was wondering if anyone else has experience of this kind of thing.
My boyfriend has always been (for lack of a better description) a faster breather than me - I've noticed that he just tends to take shorter, shallower breaths in general. I've previously attributed it to his anxiety issues but now I'm wondering if it's something else. He also breathes like this when sleeping, particularly early in the cycle. I noticed it in particular last night, when it was so loud/fast that I thought he was hyperventilating and gently woke him to see if he was OK (he was, just grouchy at being woken up).
He's quite solidly built but is a little overweight and taking Zoloft for his GAD. He often complains of being tired and has had issues with insomnia in the past (which the Zoloft/a regular routine seems to have fixed). I haven't noticed any loud starts that I would attribute to sleep apnea, but he does snore occasionally and sometimes goes so silent that I can barely hear him breathing at all.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Is it possible for him to just have a rapid breathing pattern which is normal for him, or should I nudge him to see a doctor?
I know YANAD but I was wondering if anyone else has experience of this kind of thing.
My boyfriend has always been (for lack of a better description) a faster breather than me - I've noticed that he just tends to take shorter, shallower breaths in general. I've previously attributed it to his anxiety issues but now I'm wondering if it's something else. He also breathes like this when sleeping, particularly early in the cycle. I noticed it in particular last night, when it was so loud/fast that I thought he was hyperventilating and gently woke him to see if he was OK (he was, just grouchy at being woken up).
He's quite solidly built but is a little overweight and taking Zoloft for his GAD. He often complains of being tired and has had issues with insomnia in the past (which the Zoloft/a regular routine seems to have fixed). I haven't noticed any loud starts that I would attribute to sleep apnea, but he does snore occasionally and sometimes goes so silent that I can barely hear him breathing at all.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Is it possible for him to just have a rapid breathing pattern which is normal for him, or should I nudge him to see a doctor?
I have this symptom, too. In my case it is caused by a too-small airway, leading to hyperventilation and increased heart rate at night when my airway collapses more from sleep. Anxiety is a common result from breathing problems. I would recommend he take a sleep test to formally diagnose him. I am treating my issue by going to a dentist to expand my palate and reverse the extraction dentistry that unfortunately caused my issue in the first place.
posted by tooloudinhere at 9:19 AM on July 17, 2018
posted by tooloudinhere at 9:19 AM on July 17, 2018
On tablet so can't link easily, but Google the STOP BANG risk score for sleep apnea. Particularly if he has daytime sleepiness or morning headaches, he should mention it to his PCP.
posted by basalganglia at 4:05 PM on July 17, 2018
posted by basalganglia at 4:05 PM on July 17, 2018
Your boyfriend should get a sleep study, and he should get one now. I'm serious enough that I created an account just to say this.
That fast, shallow breathing is probably hypopnea, and maybe some respiratory effort related arousals (RERA). And those times when he gets really, really quiet and you can't tell if he's breathing? It might be central apnea, and he literally isn't breathing. He's not struggling for breath, and he's actually completely still, because the bits of his brain and other parts of his body responsible for breathing - the 'central respiratory drive' - are out to lunch.
During this time his oxygen levels are dropping, and his CO2 levels might be rising. Throughout, there's increased stress on the heart, and a bunch of hormonal stuff going on. Your heart does not like this one bit.
If you're wondering how bad that is, it's really bad. In my case, it ended up with somebody who has great cholesterol and an arterial calcium score of zero being told that the slight breathlessness I was experiencing and that weird skip in my heart beat first spotted a couple of years ago was first stage heart failure - dilated cardiomyopathy, to be exact.
The culprit? An apnea-hypopnea index around 50. Under 5 is normal. 5 to 15 is mild. 15 to 30 is moderate. Over 30 is severe. I had 50. That's 50 times an hour, on average, that I either don't breathe deeply enough to get enough oxygen and push out CO2 for at least 10 seconds, or for up to 40 seconds at a time I just. Stopped. Breathing. Obstructive, central, mixed, hypopnea, I have them all (thanks for nothing, class IV soft palate).
I got lucky. I had a GP who put two from two years ago with two from today and said 'go get this nuclear medicine scan', not 'maybe cut back on soda'. Because the way most people find out they have cardiomyopathy is they have a heart attack.
My wife nudged me for years, and I didn't do anything. So don't nudge. Insist.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 11:12 PM on July 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
That fast, shallow breathing is probably hypopnea, and maybe some respiratory effort related arousals (RERA). And those times when he gets really, really quiet and you can't tell if he's breathing? It might be central apnea, and he literally isn't breathing. He's not struggling for breath, and he's actually completely still, because the bits of his brain and other parts of his body responsible for breathing - the 'central respiratory drive' - are out to lunch.
During this time his oxygen levels are dropping, and his CO2 levels might be rising. Throughout, there's increased stress on the heart, and a bunch of hormonal stuff going on. Your heart does not like this one bit.
If you're wondering how bad that is, it's really bad. In my case, it ended up with somebody who has great cholesterol and an arterial calcium score of zero being told that the slight breathlessness I was experiencing and that weird skip in my heart beat first spotted a couple of years ago was first stage heart failure - dilated cardiomyopathy, to be exact.
The culprit? An apnea-hypopnea index around 50. Under 5 is normal. 5 to 15 is mild. 15 to 30 is moderate. Over 30 is severe. I had 50. That's 50 times an hour, on average, that I either don't breathe deeply enough to get enough oxygen and push out CO2 for at least 10 seconds, or for up to 40 seconds at a time I just. Stopped. Breathing. Obstructive, central, mixed, hypopnea, I have them all (thanks for nothing, class IV soft palate).
I got lucky. I had a GP who put two from two years ago with two from today and said 'go get this nuclear medicine scan', not 'maybe cut back on soda'. Because the way most people find out they have cardiomyopathy is they have a heart attack.
My wife nudged me for years, and I didn't do anything. So don't nudge. Insist.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 11:12 PM on July 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by ubiquity at 6:39 AM on July 17, 2018