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Permalink Reply by Jerri Lynn on October 19, 2009 at 9:02pm

Interesting Jan......I don't know if there's any correlation between OSA, hernia's and gastrointestinal disorders, but perhaps there is as here's my story:
I've been healthy and can count on one hand how any times I've had to visit a doctor in the past ten years UNTIL this year. However, I have to admit I've had problems sleeping for many years and have lived on tums and OTC Pepcid for the past 5 years. I blamed my aches, pains, heartburn on stress & advancing age; didn't think it was necessary to see a doctor; obviously in denial as 2009 started out with severe abdominal pain which turned out to be a large ventral hernia resulting in surgery which in turn resulted in severe complications, infection, sepsis, multiple other complications, two more surgeries, 60 hyperbaric chamber treatments, 4 months of negative pressure wound V.A.C therapy, daily wound care and debriding. I was also diagnosed with severe gastric reflux (gerd) Hashimoto's thyrioditis, autoimmune disease, hypothyroidism, hormone deficiencies, fibromylgia, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, severely advanced osteoarthritis, vitaligo, and last but not least, severe OSA.

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Permalink Reply by Jan on October 19, 2009 at 9:27pm

Here is one of the articles and research I am referring to:

"In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers analyzed prospective clinical study data of 42 adult patients with proven OSA verified in overnight polysomnography. Every patient also underwent an upper GI endoscopy to evaluate their gastrointestinal health.
Pathological GI findings were found in vast majority of patients (83.3 percent), 59.5 percent of them showing two or more findings. The most frequent observed pathology was hiatus hernia (64.3 percent of patients), followed by erosive esophagitis (45.2 percent), histological esophagitis and erosive gastritis (both 21.4 percent), duodenal ulcer (7.1 percent), and biliary reflux (4.8 percent).
Approximately 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized by episodes of reduced or no airflow throughout the night.
From their findings, the authors conclude that patients who appear to suffer from OSA should not only be investigated in sleep laboratory, but should also be referred to a gastroenterologist for additional diagnostic exams in order to provide a comprehensive treatment approach.
Source: American Academy of Otolaryngology"

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