I started having nocturnal seizures about 8 ys ago, so when I started having numerous little nighttime episodes that were waking me up, I initially ignored them. However, they're getting worse and more common.....majorly unhappy!

Here's what happens: I wake up not breathing then start breathing, with my heart racing and I feel like I can't get enough oxygen. One time, I took my blood pressure right after this happened, and my blood pressure was low, with a vvv narrow pulse pressure, and my heartrate was around 100 (this was about a minute after waking up). More often, these happen just after I fall asleep. I read that the transition to sleep is a vulnerable time for a certain kind of sleep apnea.

So, here's some of my risk factors that I wonder/worry about: I have low blood pressure that drops to values like 81/54 at night (higher when I wake up; normally 90/60 or more during day). I worry that it drops even lower when I'm asleep and that my body goes into fight-or-flight to push blood through, waking me up (the shock-like bp response) or even initiating a seizure. Or something to do with cerebral pressure, tho I don't understand it completely, but sleeping upright is okay; it's MUCH worse if I'm laying down on the bed.

Any thoughts? I went to a cardiologist who specializes in dysautonomia and he explained my daytime episodes in line with dysautonomia and said my nighttime episodes are probably from anxiety. That makes NO sense to me, as I'm not conscious or reacting to anything. It's gotta be physiological, but why?

Thanks so much for thoughts!!!

I think you need a sleep study, as many/most here have probably had. There are physiological differences in how/where your tongue rests when you sleep prone vs. upright, but there are many many other variables that could be in play, and a sleep study should help figure some of that out.

Please don't fool around with this; ask your PCP about getting a sleep study.

Doc

I will agree with Doc on instructions of possibility having sleep apnea. I have spoke to in epilepsy's forum, I to have sleepy apnea and my neuro discover this in a test with me sleeping through the night having someone keeping me under watch. The sooner you check in on this the better it will be for you.

Darlene

About the "psychological"--that usually is the bs given when the doctor doesn't know why something is happening and is too arrogant to admit it.

Interesting about the low blood pressure as our family member with sleep disorder has very low blood pressure as well. But also multiple other strange things going on.

Unfortunately, not every source is identifiable. Is the sleep disorder from the low blood pressure or the low blood pressure from the sleep disorder? Is there a problem in the hypothalamus or endothelial production underlying both conditions? Is it a mitochondrial defect or dysfunction? Is it an autoimmune problem? If so, what was the underlying weakness leading to that?

If all else fails, go to an MD specializing in integrative or functional medicine for a whole-person approach to treatment.

Interesting thoughts! I was diagnosed with sleep apnea by my neuro over 3 yrs ago. The first time he saw me he told me I needed a sleep study done, I thought he was crazy. He said my air ways are too narrow causing the apnea. He was correct, I had the study done and have had a CPAP for 2 1/2 yrs.

I too was waking when I stopped breathing, waking in a panic.

As for the low BP, that's new for me. My BP had been between 120/80 to 149/90...averaging around 130/80. This last year, I lost 95# and now if my BP is at 90/60, I am lucky. 2 mornings last week it was 81/46, yesterday morning it was 78/46. My neuro suspects Addison's Disease and we are in the process of testing for this.

I do have autoimmune issues too.

Never ends, does it?

If you haven't found any answers yet, I would research any medications you are taking, especially those for your seizures. I have never in my life had any sort of sleep apnea until my doctor put me on the nerve medication gabapentin. the same sympoms you are describing happened to me, and I would come flying out of bed gasping for breath just after falling asleep, sometimes I would just have to stay up all night long because the minute I fell back asleep it would happen all over again.

Everyone with apnea never had it until they did.

IOW, while it's possible that gabapentin had something to do with your apnea (people respond differently to meds.) it could also have been coincidence, or that you already had apnea which was exacerbated by the gabapentin. Here's why I think so....

Googling: gabapentin side effects apnea turned up one site (I did not review all - just the first page) that listed apnea as a possible side effect, but several links to instances of gabapentin being prescribed by sleep apnea doctors (for a variety of reasons) including for sleep apnea.

Googling: gabapentin apnea turns up a very few cases of gabapentin exacerbating existing apnea, but in most of the links I reviewed (on the first page) including one here on NT:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread66697.html

gabapentin had either no effect or actually improved apnea.

In one study of nearly 20,000 patients who take gabapentin, zero reported apnea as a side effect.

My wife & I both have apnea requiring cpap machines, and we've both been prescribed/taken gabapentin, but both our apneas manifested before the gabapentin was prescribed; it's extremely common as a part of (middle) aging.

Doc

Both gabapentin and Lyrica have potential to affect breathing.

This link gives actual reported cases:

http://www.drugcite.com/?q=gabapentin

Lyrica:
http://www.drugcite.com/?q=Lyrica&a=&s=

A bit less reported under "respiratory" for Lyrica, compared to gabapentin. However, gabapentin is used in much higher doses, and that may be a factor.

There are patients who have discontinued either of these drugs due to depressed breathing.