I had a stroke almost 5 years ago, now. Doctor said one of my big risk factors was my OSA.
I have a couple of friends who “can’t bring themselves to wear the Darth Vader mask”. I’m afraid NOT to wear it.
Wow...I'm just shocked! More research! So who's going to pay for that?
Non-specialists are more likely to prescribe sleeping medicine that is not recommended for OSA.
OSA causes sleep problems, but the underlying cause of oxygen deprivation must be addressed safely. Otherwise, it can lead to strokes or heart attacks.
Usually this means using positive air pressure during at least some (REM) seep.
Some people permanently recover via weight loss.
In extreme cases, a tracheotomy may be required.
Putting the upper part of our bed at a slight incline has helped my wife and I the most. Plus it significantly reduced our snoring. Amazing.
This can be done with an adjustable bed or a 3 foot by 2 1/2 foot piece of plywood under the mattress at an angle.
Sleep apnea medicine has become a gravy train for “specialists” to interpret studies that are basically a computer printout that could be sent to one’s PCP.
I know some politicians who can put me to sleep with no training
I lost 50 pounds. The apnea went away. So did my sore back and knee. No secret here.
Bmk
I’ve snored my whole life, even when I was thin.
I got an Apple Watch for my birthday. A sleep monitoring app showed I wasn’t getting any deep sleep, so I broke down and had a sleep study done. Seems I was having over 90 incidents per hour, both obstructive and central apnea.
Been on the CPAP since August. I have much more energy during the day, but the expected weight loss hasn’t happened yet. I go to the gym 5 times a week, my job is very physical, and I eat less than 2000 calories a day, and still no weight loss.
I had a commercial drivers license for a volunteer bus driving job that I usually did one weekend a year.
A few years ago, I took my DOT physical and since I answered four questions honestly, I was suddenly at grave risk of the new bogeyman, sleep apnea.
(Question: If you lay down in the afternoon, do you fall asleep? Answer: Usually (Since that’s the whole point of a nap, 3-4 times a year) That’s how stupid the questions were)
The Johns Hopkins hospital sleep specialist laughed at the stupidity of DOT and told me the bar is so low, virtually everyone would fail.
That didn’t do me a lot of good. I was facing the loss of my CDL.
So I took the sleep study and was told that while I have apnea, it’s extremely mild and not in need of treatment, but, since the vaunted government is involved, I need to get a CPAP and would be spending about $1000 a year in Co-Pays.
Sadly, I gave up my volunteer job of over 20 years driving children to a Christian camp.
For the record, I drove my car 600 miles just to catch the bus, then team drove the 1000 mile bus run, then drove 600 miles back home. Got a good sleep at my mom’s house between the 600 mile drive and the bus trip and a few hours at a rest stop on the way home.
If I had apnea, there’s no way I’m making that trip.
I assume that Sleep Apnea is a real issue with some people, but when our government overlords manage to get involved, as usual, they could screw up a one car funeral.
I snore like crazy and my wife was really getting angry about it. She bought me some type of mouth piece and I hated it; felt like I was going to drown in my saliva.
About a week ago she bought “SnoreStop.” And both she and I am amazed by how well it is working. I wake up breathing better.
Main ingredients:
Belladonna (yes, poison I think from Black Night Shade plant)
Nux vom
Ephedra (may be a problem with my high BP)
Hydrastis
Kali bic
Teucrium mar
Histaminium hydrochlor.
Bkmk