Oh, crap. Sleep apnea contributed to Carrie Fisher's death.

[Ms. Toad]

42. She may be focusing on the ailment she can do something about about

Rather than the one she can't.

Intellectually she knows that her sleep apnea barely crosses the threshold for treatment - and​ that the reason we had her tested at all was that others with her disease (which causes extreme fatigue), felt so much better using a CPAP, and I'd noticed during the extended wake-up routine that she would stop breathing.momentarily. We figured it couldn't hurt to try.

There's no cure for her liver disease, and no approved medical treatment. When it gets bad enough, she'll need a transplant- and between now and then she has to live with fatigue, itching that makes her feel like she's allergic to her blood, and a boatload of screening tests for the half dozen cancers her underlying disease puts her at risk for.

So I suspect that it may be a coping mechanism to focus on the thing that can be treated.