Sleep apnea side effects: An overview

Sleep apnea side effects are obviously a source of concern for those who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea – or who suspect they may have the condition, but are currently undiagnosed. Like the many signs of sleep apnea, the side effects can include a lot of tangential stuff that you may not immediately recognize as sleep apnea side effects.

Unlike some of the more serious health conditions associated with sleep apnea, such as diabetes and heart disease,  some of the less-severe sleep apnea side effects – those which may not directly endanger your health – can nonetheless cause some discomfort and dissatisfaction in your day-to-day life.

What are the major sleep apnea side effects?

Depression. Researchers regularly describe a “higher prevalence of depression in people with obstructive sleep apnea,” as a 2011 study in the journal Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience reports. “Sleep problems, including obstructive sleep apnea, are rarely assessed on a regular basis in patients with depressive disorders, but they may be responsible for antidepressant treatment failure,” the study notes.¹

Fatigue. In a 2008 study published in Sleep and Breathing, researchers found that about 42 percent of sleep apnea patients reported “significant amounts of fatigue.”² On top of that, another study published in Sleep reported that three weeks of CPAP treatment “significantly reduced fatigue and increased energy in patients with OSA.” This treatment also reduced patients’ daytime sleepiness.³

Sleep apnea side effects related to CPAP therapy

Note that last statement – that the most frequent treatment prescribed for sleep apnea, CPAP therapy, can also alleviate certain sleep apnea side effects. Indeed, if you’re searching the Internet for sleep apnea side effects, what you may discover is some alarming suggestions to the contrary: Namely, a list of side effects that can arise from using CPAP to treat your sleep apnea.

“Nearly all patients complain of at least one side effect” from CPAP use, reports The New York Times. But the article also quickly points out that almost half of these complaints “are related to the mask,” and that they can be “minimized with a well-chosen mask that is comfortable and reduces leakage as much as possible.”

Sleep apnea side effects related to surgery

If these potential CPAP treatment side effects have you concerned, consider this: All treatments of sleep apnea carry possible side effects, but most patients (and clinicians) consider these to be lesser risks than living with the disease.

Indeed, the treatment that seems to have earned the most warnings about potential side effects is sleep apnea surgery. “Persistent side-effects occurred after [sleep apnea surgery] in about half the patients and difficulty in swallowing … and voice changes were especially common,” reports a 2009 Swedish study published in Sleep.⁴

Admittedly, that study only focused on two types of sleep apnea surgery, and isn’t conclusive. All the same, the many reports of sleep apnea surgery’s side effects underline CPAP as the preferred sleep apnea treatment by most doctors and sleep specialists.