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February 2009 Articles (24)

Cartoonist Rick London Speaks Out On Sleep Apnea Surgery, And, How It Saved His Life

The apnea group Sleepguide.com, whom I had the pleasure to meet at Twitter has asked me to discuss my experience with sleep apnea. On November 22, 2008, I had major surgery to treat it.

It all started around 1998. My mother had just died in my rural home in Ms. I had returned there after almost two decades away to take care of her. I was there for four years as a caretaker. She was a trooper, always had lived life to the… Continue

Added by Rick London on February 27, 2009 at 9:00pm — 13 Comments

Blasting the Sleep Apnea Stereotype

Awareness is not yet widespread that Sleep Apnea is a disorder that doesn't just touch the lives of overweight, middle-aged men. But Sleep Apnea doesn't discriminate. Take James Simmons. He's 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds and is only 23 years old. He's a top prospect to pitch in the Major Leagues for the Oakland A's, and can throw a 90 mph fastball.… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 24, 2009 at 7:30pm — 7 Comments

Apnea Diagnosis

New scientific research indicates that an individual's anatomy might be critical in an apnea diagnosis. Researchers at the prestigious Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea have concluded that people with obstructive sleep apnea have soft palates that are more elongated and angled than those of people without the condition. The finding was made using sleep videofluoroscopy (a combination of X-ray images and video recording).

"Sleep videofluoroscopy… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 23, 2009 at 10:23pm — No Comments

Sleep Apnea Cure?

Is it possible that a pill will turn out to be a Sleep Apnea cure? Hard to fathom, but that's exactly what Cortex Pharaceuticals, Inc. of Irvine, Calif. has its sights set on with its new AMPAKINE CX1739 drug compound. Cortex says that animal studies have demonstrated that the AMPAKINE compound can stimulate the regions of the brain responsible for regulating breathing and muscle tone in the upper airway. The notion is that an increase in breathing and an improvement in upper airway… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 22, 2009 at 4:00pm — 16 Comments

Healthcare reform is coming, make sure sleep apnea does not get left behind

Let the President and your Members of Congress that addressing sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment are key to healthcare reform.

Visit the Advocacy page at the ASAA -
http://capwiz.com/sleepapnea/issues/alert/?alertid=12731336

Thanks,

Edward Grandi
Executive Director
American Sleep Apnea Association

Added by Edward Grandi on February 21, 2009 at 10:06pm — 2 Comments

Sleep Studies

In a recent Sleep Study article, I wrote from a personal experience about the difficulty many people have coming to grips with a diagnosis of Sleep Apnea. A member of this forum then started a discussion about sleep studies, and about the prospect of a home sleep test conducted with the assistance and oversight of a registered respiratory… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 20, 2009 at 4:00pm — 2 Comments

Sleep Apnea and screening.

I am aware that there in Sweden takes place a development and testing of a screening device for Sleep Apnea (I think this is together with some of the CPAP manufacturers, and maybe even sponsored by them). This device is not bigger than a cigarette packet, and is intended for use by the primary care physician (PCP).

As far as my information, this device is measuring on breathing, oxygen levels, and a couple of electrodes on the chest. It takes only 5 to 10 minutes to teach the… Continue

Added by Henning on February 19, 2009 at 4:22pm — 1 Comment

Sleep Study

My wife's Sleep Study confirmed what I had suspected all along: my wife has Sleep Apnea. What I didn't bargain for is that this Sleep Study has landed me squarely within the four corners of the proverbial dog house. Here's why:

My wife has snored all night, every night since I've met her. It's so bad that I wear Macks earplugs just so I can get to sleep with all the ruckus. She's seen me go through all the stations of Sleep Apnea: the sleep study, the titration, the missteps, and the… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 18, 2009 at 10:56pm — No Comments

Sleep Apnea Depression

Sleep Apnea Depression. If you're asking which one it is, sleep apnea or depression, you're in good company: unfortunately, primary care physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and patients often confuse sleep apnea and depression. Understandably so. Loss of energy, loss of interest in once enjoyable things, difficulty concentrating and fatigue are common symptoms of depression. But they are also common symptoms of sleep apnea, and new research is continually emerging to show… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 17, 2009 at 3:04pm — 35 Comments

Sleep Apnea and President Teddy Roosevelt

On President's Day, our thoughts naturally turn to those who have held the nation's highest office. Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, likely had Sleep Apnea. The reason? In 1912, there was an assassination attempt on his life which left him hospitalized for a week in Milwaukee, where the assassination attempt took place. The hospital reported that his snoring was so loud and erratic that other patients on his floor complained that they couldn't sleep and were… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 16, 2009 at 6:39pm — No Comments

COBRA and the Stimulus Bill

On Tuesday, President Obama is expected to sign into law the Stimulus Bill that Congress approved last week. The 1,000 page bill is complex and multifaceted, but for the members of SleepGuide.com, I wanted to highlight that it contains a provision that may help some of our members get diagnosed and treated for Sleep Apnea. Basically, for those who are laid off from their jobs between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009, the federal government will pay 65 percent of your COBRA… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 15, 2009 at 4:00pm — 1 Comment

Nocturia and Sleep Apnea

Reprinted from a discussion on nocturia posted by Steven Park, M.D., a featured member.

If you’re one of the millions of men and women who have to go the the bathroom far too often, or have embarrassing leaks of urine once in a while, here’s some important information that you should know. The New York Times (Feb. 3) reported on an article from the New England Journal of Medicine which revealed that… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 14, 2009 at 3:22pm — 1 Comment

Celebrity CPAP Users: Andy Richter

Andy Richter made an appearance recently on Late Night with Conan O'Brien sporting the celebrity's CPAP mask, which appears to be the Respironics Comfort Fusion Nasal Mask. Looks like Conan is laughing at him, but Conan's brand of humor is generally good-natured, so I'm sure this raised awareness of OSA in a good way.

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 13, 2009 at 11:21pm — No Comments

Sleep Apnea and Shame

Are we ashamed of having Sleep Apnea? I know the answer for myself is a resounding "no." But for others, it's not so simple. To my way of thinking, Sleep Apnea is a common disorder to which no stigma is attached. Sure, sleeping with a hose attached to a breathing machine every night is inconvenient, but I don't feel as if it's something I need to hide. But for my friend Peter (name changed for sake of anonymity), it's a black mark that he feels compelled to hide from others. When he… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 12, 2009 at 3:30pm — 4 Comments

Insomnia and Sleep Apnea

Contributed by Dr. Steven Park, a featured member of SleepGuide.com: http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topics/is-insomnia-really-a

Sleep doctors have always thought of insomnia as a behavioral or stress aggravated issue, and the standard ways of treating this all-too-common condition is to either give sleeping pills or have the patient undergo cognitive behavioral therapy. However, a recent study… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 11, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Sleep Apnea, Obesity and Type @ Diabetes

Obesity definitely is a contributing factor to a sleep apnea condition. Weight loss will diminish it to a great effect. Type 2 diabetes is also associated with obesity which causes your BMI to climb and chances of hypertension to also develop. I have all three conditions and anyone who is obese and has sleep apnea may have several other comorbities such as ED, Bladder Urgency, Skin conditions, tingling in your lower extremities, etc. Our bodies are very complex and we need to exercise good… Continue

Added by Art Hyde on February 10, 2009 at 4:22pm — No Comments

Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome — A Primer

Note: This is an edited transcription of a podcast recording

Today, we are going to spend the next 30 minutes talking about upper airway resistance syndrome, or UARS. It’s a relatively new description of a condition that’s related to obstructive sleep apnea but as you’ll hear in this podcast, has enormous ramifications in regards to so many health conditions that we see, not only in our field, but in almost every other field in general. I have to say, however, that this is a… Continue

Added by Steven Y. Park, MD on February 8, 2009 at 11:00pm — 5 Comments

Sleep Apnea and Diabetes

The connection between Sleep Apnea and Diabetes is real and scary. Studies published in the European Respiratory Journal and Journal of Internal Medicine tell us that up to 40% of people with Sleep Apnea will have Diabetes. Other studies show that up to 50% of those with type 2 Diabetes have Sleep Apnea. Essentially, Sleep Apnea causes intermittent shortages of oxygen in the body and fragmentation of sleep, which in turn causes physiologic stress which then wreaks havok on glucose… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 7, 2009 at 9:30pm — 14 Comments

Insurer Reimbursement: Could Less be More?

If you haven't heard, Medicare and private insurers are putting the screws to the DMEs that provide our Sleep Apnea equipment in an effort to cut costs, much to the chagrin of DME providers. One aspect of the cost-cutting is to deny reimbursement to DMEs and other providers that cannot show that their patients are complying with CPAP treatment. While at first blush, this might seem like an adverse development for us patients, the problem for us might be that the insurers didn't do this sooner,… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 6, 2009 at 4:50pm — 8 Comments

New Product Releases

I tuned into ResMed's quarterly earnings call this afternoon, and was generally impressed with RMD's performance over the quarter, along with the explanations for that strong performance put forth by senior management. One of the financial analysts on the call noted that the pace of new products ResMed is bringing to market seems to have picked up over the last year. ResMed's CEO, Kieran Gallahue, confirmed that this observation has some basis in fact, and spoke proudly of the… Continue

Added by The SleepGuide Crew on February 5, 2009 at 6:00pm — 11 Comments