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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Can Poor Sleep, Heavy Snoring And Labored Breathing Cause Seizures?

Can poor sleep ie heavy snoring labored breathing Cause seizures? My husband is on teratology and woke at 3:45am to have a grand mal seizure. He has never had a seizure during sleep before? I have noticed his snooring and breathing getting worse the past year. He is 6' 3 and 210lb. He has put on 15 pounds in the past three years.
Thu, 16 Jan 2014
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hello,
I have gone through your query and understand your concern.
Yes.Poor sleep is the second most common trigger of seizures.
In some peoples, it has been responsible for the only seizure a person ever suffers.
However, the reason for which poor sleep can trigger a seizure is unknown.
One possible thought is that the amount of sleep one gets affects the amount of electrical activity in one's brain.
My advice is to investigate and confirm whether it is due to poor sleep ans sleep deprivation with ElectroEncephaloGraphy( EEG).
Patients who are scheduled for an EEG test are asked to deprive themselves of some sleep the night before in order to be able to determine if sleep deprivation may be responsible for seizure.
In some cases, patients with epilepsy are advised to sleep 6-7 consecutive hours as opposed to broken-up sleep (e.g. 6 hours at night and a 2-hour nap) and to avoid caffeine and sleeping pills in order to prevent seizures.

This is way to differentiate seizure either from sleep deprivation or some else.

Hope this helps.
Please write back for further queries.
Wishing you good health.
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Can Poor Sleep, Heavy Snoring And Labored Breathing Cause Seizures?

Hello, I have gone through your query and understand your concern. Yes.Poor sleep is the second most common trigger of seizures. In some peoples, it has been responsible for the only seizure a person ever suffers. However, the reason for which poor sleep can trigger a seizure is unknown. One possible thought is that the amount of sleep one gets affects the amount of electrical activity in one s brain. My advice is to investigate and confirm whether it is due to poor sleep ans sleep deprivation with ElectroEncephaloGraphy( EEG). Patients who are scheduled for an EEG test are asked to deprive themselves of some sleep the night before in order to be able to determine if sleep deprivation may be responsible for seizure. In some cases, patients with epilepsy are advised to sleep 6-7 consecutive hours as opposed to broken-up sleep (e.g. 6 hours at night and a 2-hour nap) and to avoid caffeine and sleeping pills in order to prevent seizures. This is way to differentiate seizure either from sleep deprivation or some else. Hope this helps. Please write back for further queries. Wishing you good health.