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Mike's Articles (39)

State Sleep Societies List

State Sleep Societies (Randy Townsend, a Sleep Tech, compiled this list):

Alabama Association of Sleep Professionals http://www.aasp.us/

Arizona… Continue

Added by Mike on May 17, 2010 at 7:25am — No Comments

Tracheostomy for Severe Sleep Apnea

A doctor I spoke to last night argued that severe sleep apnea should be treated more often with a tracheostomy. A tracheostomy is a surgical procedure to create an opening through the neck into the trachea (windpipe). A tube is usually placed through this opening to provide an airway into the upper trachea. This tube is called a tracheostomy tube or trach tube.… Continue

Added by Mike on March 18, 2009 at 2:30pm — 9 Comments

The Silent Majority of People with Sleep Apnea

If you're reading this, you can pat yourself on the back. You're part of the elite, the "Top Gun" of those with Sleep Apnea. How? Largely just by virtue of knowing that you have Sleep Apnea -- ninety percent of those with Sleep Apnea remain undiagnosed. Moreover, not only are you in the top 90th percentile of the "Sleep Apnea Class," but because you're educating yourself about the disorder and trying to improve your life by actively seeking treatment, you, the members of this forum, are more… Continue

Added by Mike on March 9, 2009 at 11:30pm — 13 Comments

Is Changing CPAP Settings on One's Own Machine Illegal?

I don't know. And that's the point. While never likely to be enforced, this article is to highlight that there is confusion over whether it's legal to change the settings on one's own CPAP machine. The CPAP community seems divided on the question of whether changing the settings should be legal, with most doctors, respiratory therapists and Durable Medical Equipment providers feeling we patients… Continue

Added by Mike on March 8, 2009 at 9:30pm — 10 Comments

Sleep Apnea Disability

Is Sleep Apnea a disability? The question of whether Sleep Apnea is a disability is a legal one concerning state and federal anti-discrimination laws. The short answer to whether Sleep Apnea is a disability: maybe. The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and related state laws don't define what constitutes a disability in black and white terms. Rather, the question as to whether Sleep Apnea is a disability, or whether any other disorder is a disability for that matter, rests on an… Continue

Added by Mike on March 4, 2009 at 8:30pm — 19 Comments

Dogs and Snoring

I came across this video of a dog snoring that was very disturbing to me. As a dog lover, I'm going to talk to a vet about how common this is with dogs, whether it's just as dangerous for them as for human beings, and what treatments are… Continue

Added by Mike on February 5, 2009 at 1:23am — No Comments

A Friend in Need

I am 99% sure my friend has Sleep Apnea. He is too. Problem is, he's not going to do anything about it. The reason: purely financial.

I have been spending the weekend with a dear childhood friend; I'll call him Bruce. Now, I'm an odd kind of guy in a lot of ways, not the least being that not many conversations go by when I don't mention something Sleep Apnea related. So the conversation of course turned to Sleep Apnea. I was taken aback when Bruce not only knew what Sleep… Continue

Added by Mike on January 12, 2009 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

CPAP Treatment: Top 3 Questions To Ask Your Doctor

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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 7, 2009 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments

Show and Tell: Sleep Results

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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 6, 2009 at 1:34pm — 3 Comments

Home Testing -- Striking the Right Balance

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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 5, 2009 at 1:00pm — 1 Comment

Sleep Apnea Diagnosis in... a Restaurant?!

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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 4, 2009 at 3:00pm — 6 Comments

Apnea Surgery for Skeptics

"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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 3, 2009 at 4:30pm — 2 Comments

Can't Sleep? Sleep Hygiene 101

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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 2, 2009 at 4:30pm — 2 Comments

Sleep Apnea Treatment: My ABCD's

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… Continue

Added by Mike on January 1, 2009 at 5:30pm — 11 Comments

Síntomas de la Apnea del Sueño

Si usted o alguien que usted conoce tiene una o más de los siguientes síntomas, puede ser Apnea del Sueño:

• Ronquidos

• jadeando por aire o detener la respiración durante el sueño

• quedarse dormido en situaciones inapropiadas, como por ejemplo durante la conducción, en una película, o sentado en una reunión

• Despertar sentimiento unrefreshed

• Gran cuello tamaño (más de 17 "en los hombres es mayor de 16" en la mujer)

• Por la… Continue

Added by Mike on December 31, 2008 at 6:00pm — 2 Comments

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

If you or someone you know has one or more of the following symptoms, it may be Sleep Apnea:

• Snoring

• Gasping for air or stopping breathing during sleep

• Falling asleep in inappropriate situations, such as while driving, at a movie, or sitting in a meeting

• Waking up feeling unrefreshed

• Large neck size (greater than 17” in men; greater than 16” in women)

• Morning headaches

• Getting up during the night to… Continue

Added by Mike on December 31, 2008 at 2:00pm — 17 Comments

CPAP Cleaning: A Lazy Man's Method

I'm a fairly black and white kind of guy, so when I first got CPAP, I actually read the care and maintenance instructions. I'm also a fairly lazy kind of guy, so half-way through reading them, I stopped and gave up. I never liked puzzles, and assembling and disassembling and caring for a mask, humidifier, CPAP, tubing, etc., all seemed to me like a puzzle from hell, each night for every remaining night of my life.

Then my physician, who is at Stanford Medical Center and is… Continue

Added by Mike on December 29, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

PAPer "Bill of Rights" --- Your Feedback Needed

DRAFT VERSION

Friends,

Today, we face an unacceptable situation with Sleep Apnea. Sleep Apnea is a chronic, serious disease that approximately 30 million Americans have, only 10% of whom have been diagnosed. Although the disease is completely treatable with the “gold standard” of positive airway pressure (“PAP”), of those who… Continue

Added by Mike on December 28, 2008 at 4:00pm — 9 Comments

Respironics, ResMed and Fisher & Paykel

Here at SleepGuide, ResMed and Respironics have always loomed large as the big boys of the Sleep Apnea industry. Bad news for us, the patients, because that kind of duopoly can't be good for competition and innovation, the two forces we see as critical to moving these devices forward in terms of ease of use and comfort for patients. So we were delighted to see… Continue

Added by Mike on December 27, 2008 at 4:30pm — 7 Comments

I Have A Dream -- Ideal CPAP use

I have a dream for CPAP use that I announced in a previous blog posting on this site that has sparked a fair amount of controversy which I did not anticipate. The agenda was as follows:

• Users should use their machines at least 5 hours a night, almost every… Continue

Added by Mike on December 24, 2008 at 1:30pm — 8 Comments