Could lactose intolerance be a contributing cause to sleep apnea?
I’m a black female, 47, recently gained a lot of weight due to some medications I’m on, but I’m not really obese. A year ago, I realized I’d become lactose intolerant. It got so bad a few months ago, I took dairy out of my diet completely unless I took Lactaid. I got lax recently and noted something: during the two recent periods where I allowed myself a lot of dairy without the supplement, I had something like sleep apnea. When falling asleep, I would snort, make odd noise that would cause me to wake up, and my throat often felt mucousy. Normally, I don’t have this. Someone (not a doctor) once told me a long time ago that many people of African descent are lactose intolerant, and that it causes excess mucous. Is that likely what’s going on with me? I seem to breathe and sleep better when I leave off the dairy.
I guess the most salient point here is that I never had anything resembling sleep apnea in the past, nor do I have those symptoms now unless I do the dairy.
Tagged with: Apnea • Cause • contributing • Could • intolerance • lactose • Sleep
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Causes
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Not Afican here
Listen Sleep apnea causes your systems to shut down. Mine caused me to lose my digestive tract control also. Lots of gas and (?) nothing else coming out. I take Metoclopramide 10 mg 1 a dat as needed. Sleep apnea affects whites and other races just as hard. Let me know?
Joe Friday’s grrl:
I don’t believe that lactose intolerance is likely a contributing cause to sleep apnea. I think the principal problem here is definition of terms. Lactose intolerance is the lack of the digestive enzymes to break down the sugar lactose in the gastrointestinal tract. When you think about it, human beings should all be lactose intolerance by the time we reach about five years of age because we are no longer nursing at that point and as such there should be no need for a lactose digesting enzyme. The problem with lactose intolerance is that when we do not digest lactose in our small intestine it moves on to the large intestine where the bacteria that normally live there are more than happy to take advantage of a high-energy fuel supply such as the sugar lactose. And as a result symptoms of cramping, diarrhea, and gas production occur. A dietary supplement like lactaid containing the enzyme lactase which splits the sugar and allows for absorption.
But I remember from when I was in my teens that dairy products, and chocolate, definitely caused increased upper airway mucous production. Chocolate or milk products prior to attempting to sing made singing virtually impossible. Interestingly a number of months ago I went on a chemotherapy that gave my gastrointestinal tract quite a beating Unfortunately it left me lactose intolerant with the typical gas, cramping, and diarrhea after consuming dairy products. There was no change in the tendency for increased mucous production if I have dairy products which has been present for as long as I can remember. I mentioned the effects mucous production has on singing but it also can cause a fair amount of snoring as well. I don’t know that I would call my increased snoring after having dairy products sleep apnea. But I can see if someone was watching me sleep and there was a 10-15 second pause they might disagree.
Article: Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea (alternatively sleep apnoea) is a common sleep disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. These episodes, called apneas, last 10 seconds or more and occur repeatedly throughout the night. People with sleep apnea partially awaken as they struggle to breathe, but in the morning they may not be aware of the disturbances in their sleep. Nearly 40 percent of the population has some sleep apnea, and half of those cases are serious enough to warrent treatment.[1]
http://goldbamboo.com/topic-t2968-a1-6Sleep_Apnea.html
lactose intolerance
Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest significant amounts of lactose, the major sugar found in milk. Lactose intolerance is caused by a shortage of the enzyme lactase, which is produced by the cells that line the small intestine. Lactase breaks down milk sugar into two simpler forms of sugar called glucose and galactose, which are then absorbed into the bloodstream. Not all people deficient in lactase have the symptoms commonly associated with lactose intolerance, but those who do are said to have lactose intolerance.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/lactoseintolerance/