It's the ordinary little good deeds that go unnoticed that are often the most powerful. One of our members donated a CPAP machine to a person in need, and now that person is headed down the path to compliance with CPAP and a better life. To avoid embarrassing the donor and the recipient, I will not mention their names, but the deed speaks volumes about the quality of the community we are building here.
Like many in these troubled economic times, the recipient of the machine…
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Added by The SleepGuide Crew on January 11, 2009 at 3:30pm —
4 Comments
Yesterday, we ran
an article on the risk of death if Sleep Apnea is left untreated. We were a bit reluctant to post such a morbid article, but the response has been overwhelming -- it obviously struck a chord with many of you. Below are some of your comments. We couldn't have said it any more eloquently:
"My dad died 25 years ago at age 67. Now we know that he had untreated obstructive sleep apnea. He never… Continue
Added by The SleepGuide Crew on January 10, 2009 at 10:00am —
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Sleep Apnea can kill you. There, I said it. I didn't want to say it, because I prefer to emphasize the positive aspects of treating Sleep Apnea rather than dwelling on the negative consequences of not treating it. But some among us will only respond to fear, so for their benefit, I'm putting this stark message "out there."
What's the proof that Sleep Apnea can kill? The study published by Terry Young, Ph.D. and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin at Madison is…
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Added by The SleepGuide Crew on January 9, 2009 at 3:00pm —
51 Comments
Metis Laboratories, an R&D innovation laboratory, announced yesterday that it had developed a novel CPAP device built on the principles of nanotechnology. Metis says that the device, which they call "PAPWear," is integrated with clothing and wearable by a user. The total weight of the machine and the accompanying mask, tubing and headgear system, Metis says,…
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Added by The SleepGuide Crew on January 8, 2009 at 1:00pm —
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Chances are that if you haven't followed up with your doctor in years, or at all, about your CPAP therapy, something isn't quite right in CPAP-Ville. PAP treatment is as much an art as a science, and it requires continuous monitoring and attention, preferably between you and your physician. That said, I'm finding that doctor follow-up is more the exception than the rule. So you the patient must take the initiative. If you haven't seen your doctor in awhile, make an appointment, and…
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Added by Mike on January 7, 2009 at 2:00pm —
2 Comments
A bunch of members have asked me how to post their data to the site, including sleep study results and daily data results. First off, let me ask you not to post anything you are not willing to make public. Everything posted on this site is public and available for anyone to see, even non-members. But for those of you like me who aren't hung up on keeping this stuff private, what you can do is:
1. scan a document or take a picture of it so that it is in JPEG format
2. go to the…
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Added by Mike on January 6, 2009 at 1:34pm —
3 Comments
We came across the following home testing option on a doctor's website in New York. We think it strikes a nice balance with respect to home testing. It makes it easy for people "on the fence" about getting a sleep study to get one, and then in the case of a positive result, they will presumably have more incentive to go in for the full overnight sleep study, which gives physicians the diagnostic tool the home test does not provide to screen for sleep disorders other than Sleep…
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Added by Mike on January 5, 2009 at 1:00pm —
1 Comment
My sleep certified physician once let me in on his little secret: he can diagnose Sleep Apnea in a person while sitting across a crowded room from that person in a restaurant. Now, he qualified this by saying that he'd only be able to do so with 85% accuracy, but still... it came as quite a shock to me. Especially when he told me how he'd do it. It wasn't by looking at their waistline or gut. It certainly wasn't from hearing them snore. No, he'd do it just by looking at their jaw. If…
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Added by Mike on January 4, 2009 at 3:00pm —
6 Comments
"I thought if you have surgery for sleep apnea, it was supposed to stop snoring...not give it more bass." --- posted recently in an internet forum
Of all the people I have ever spoken to about surgery's ability to cure Sleep Apnea, the most confident about the prospect are the surgeons themselves. Others are more skeptical, including those who…
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Added by Mike on January 3, 2009 at 4:30pm —
2 Comments
It wasn't until I was diagnosed and properly treated for Sleep Apnea that I fully appreciated how important it is to be proactive if you can't sleep, or are having trouble sleeping. I guess beforehand I assumed sleep was something that just "happens" naturally and that as long as I was in bed for a respectable number of hours, I was fine. Well, you know what they say about assuming, and it was no less true in my case. Here's a list of the Top 5 Steps you can take to improve your…
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Added by Mike on January 2, 2009 at 4:30pm —
2 Comments
Here's a simple way to remember what I wish I had known at the very beginning of my own Sleep Apnea treatment: my ABCD's of Sleep Apnea treatment. The hope is that you will not have to stumble over or run into as many obstacles as I did.
A is for Attitude
The key is that oft-repeated phrase: "whether you think you can, or you think you can't, either way you're right." Sleep Apnea treatment has much to do with attitude. What got me over the hump is realizing that…
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Added by Mike on January 1, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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