Loud Snoring Lead To Death

[nikster]

A friend of mine died unexpectedly, and tragically, two days ago. He was under 30 years of age, healthy and not a drug user. He was truly the last person you'd expect to suddenly die.

He had snored very loudly for about 2 weeks but he didn't think any of it. In hindsight, it was probably a sign of severe breathing problems at night. His girlfriend was talking to him at 5 am - at 7, she found him dead. The hospital said they found water in his lungs.

I have never heard of such a thing - does anybody have any idea what could be the cause here? Some said pneumonia but he surely would have had a high fever from that - he had nothing. He was totally fine during the day. I have read apnea can cause death, but not that apnea would cause water in the lungs. I've read about dry drowning, but that only happens after getting water in your lungs, and does not drag over 2 weeks.

It's a tragedy, but beyond that, I am looking for explanations. Any clues would be appreciated.

R.I.P Richard.

[zzdocxx]

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.

It sounds like they may be referring to negative pressure pulmonary edema, or to aspiration pneumonitis. I have not personally heard of these being connected to snoring without other factors being involved. (Eg. Did he drink alcohol? Was he overweight?)

[nikster]

Not overweight. Smoked some grass but not excessively - but enough that friends attributed him being very tired quite often to that, rather than a lack of oxygen. Drank socially, I'd say he probably got drunk once a week.

Word from the hospital is that there was a fungus in his lung, but it might just be an oddity of the translation, this is third hand information. Hard to tell if there's anything to it...

[Dakhar]

sounds like he was a very healthy guy, between the pot and alchohol etc etc

[FBN]

Tragic for such a young person...

The "tiredness" he experienced prior may have been a sign of early cardiac failure with resultant fall in BP and the slow accumulation of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema); this may even have lead to snoring with lower levels of oxygen in the circulating blood and then subsequent build up of carbon dioxide which further depresses breathing and blood circulation.

There may have been an underlying but undiagnosed cardiac problem. In this age group, it could have been a cardiomyopathy where the heart muscle is gradually replaced by connective tissue; if diagnosed early a heart transplant would have been the only treatment option.

Google "SCD" or "sudden cardiac death"; approximately a half a million such deaths occur in the US alone annually.

[bkkjames]

Sounds like he could have been suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea OSA. Sad.