is sleep apnea and ptsd connected?

Anon,

Here is an case report that says sleep complaints are an essential component of the constellation of symptoms that make up posttraumatic stress disorder:

http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/2/168

Here's an article from the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center:

http://www.websciences.org/cftemplate/NAPS/archives/indiv.cfm?ID=19960171

It also refers to this study, which a library could help you find:

Woodward, S.H. (1993) Sleep disturbances in posttraumatic stress disorder. PTSD Research Quarterly, 4: 5-7.

This New York Times article links the two near the bottom of the article:

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/risk-factors.html

Here's the abstract of an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. You can get the full text but you must register and purchase it:

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/152/1/110

And here's an abstract on a National Library of Medicine article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17854251

Does this information help?

Have you been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and if so, what kind? I'm wondering if you have a sleep condition that is connected with PTSD that may be something other than sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea occurs primarily because of the muscles in your throat relaxing, and can be caused from many factors: being overweight, high blood pressure/hypertension, smoking, etc.

I wonder if the connecting cause of sleep apnea is hypertension, and if you have this from experiencing being under chronic stress and PTSD?

The information that would be helpful from you is:
- Can you describe your specific symptoms?
- Have you been diagnosed with PTSD? With sleep apnea?