Sudden Death in Sleep

Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome (SUDS) has claimed many young Asian lives while they sleep. It has only been recently (in the late 1980’s) that the medical world has started to understand this syndrome.

SUDS, also known as Brugada Syndrome, is a rare condition in the western world that appears to be considerably prevalent among young men in Southeast Asia. It is also called bangungot in the Philippines, lai tai in Thailand and hukuri in Japan.

SUDS has been cloaked in superstition in these Asian countries, and various beliefs have been formulated towards SUDS. In Thailand it is believed to be linked to eating rice cakes. While Filipinos believe ingesting high levels of carbohydrates just before sleeping induces SUDS.

According to the medical world, SUDS or Brugada Syndrome is an inherited arrhythmia (abnormal beast of the heart) that causes the bottom chambers of the heart (the ventricles) to beat so fast that they can prevent the blood from circulating efficiently in the body. When this situation occurs (called ventricular fibrillation), the individual will faint and may die in a few minutes if the heart is not reset.

SUDS is fairly new to the medical world since it was only discovered 10 years ago. As a result, there is no medication to prevent the black outs yet.

There are no physical signs associated with the disease. Victims of SUDS have not been found to have any organic heart problems. It has been added as one of the possible causes of sudden death in otherwise healthy, young individuals.

Victims of SUDS have not been found to have any organic heart diseases or structural heart problems. However, cardiac activity during SUDS episodes indicates ventricular fibrillation and irregular heart rhythms, which causes the victim to lose consciousness during sleep. There are chances that a victim can survive theses episode if the heart's rhythm goes back to normal.

It has been believed to be a genetic, not a lifestyle, disease.  Thus, physicians say that families who have relatives who have suffered from or died of SUDS are strongly recommended to see a heart specialist.

Your doctor should perform a physical exam and an electrocardiogram on you. If the electrocardiogram shows SUDS or Brugada syndrome or if you had some signs that your heart malfunctions, like loss of consciousness, fainting, passing out, your physician may advise you to undergo an EP test. This is a test that checks your heart's electrical activity and whether there is any malfunction.