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One of the qualities that I see in patients that are highly successful at managing their sleep apnea condition is their ability to surround themselves with a team of trusted advisors. This can include a sleep doctor, a dentist, an ENT surgeon, a CPAP equipment specialist, and their medical doctor.
Mother's Day has come and gone, and despite the short respite that many mothers received from their loved ones, most mothers are in a constant state of exhaustion. There are many explanations for why this is so, including the demands of modern society, family, career, and so on. But as many fathers will argue, these are the same issues and challenges they face. For women however, there are a number of internal, or physiologic factors that can not only contribute to but sometimes cause women, more so than men, in general to be tired all the time. Blame It On Hormones…Or Your Anatomy?
Ponce de Leon is well known as the Spanish explorer that searched for the fountain of youth in the early 1500s. Even today, that search continues through the multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry, plastic surgery procedures, and nutritional products. Anti-aging medicine even has a certifying organization for doctors. Some experts are even claiming that they can reverse the aging process.
You wake up one morning with a sore, scratchy throat, feeling a little run down. The next night, your throat pain gets even worse, and you experience mild fever, with sweats and chills. Your nose is a little stuffy and runny. Your muscles ache. You're feeling even more tired. After a few days, your symptoms slowly improve, and in retrospect, you conclude that it was a passing cold.
Finding the right surgeon for you can be a challenge in any situation, but finding the right sleep apnea surgeon can be even more challenging since there are so many different procedures and there are no standard operations. I'm asked quite often by people in other states or other countries who they should go see to treat their sleep apnea condition, and over the years, I've come up with the following 10 thoughts and tips.
If you have obstructive sleep apnea, there's a good chance you may have been recommended to try a CPAP machine. This is a mask that attaches to a pump at the bedside that blows gentle, positive air pressure through your nose to keep you from breathing stoppages at night. In general, people have a love and hate relationship with their machines. Some people love them, and some absolutely despise them. What I've noticed over the years is that there are 5 common habits and characteristics the successful CPAP users all share. 1. Their top priority is their health.
The septoplasty operation is one of the most misunderstood surgical procedures that lay people, and even many physicians have. Some people even equate septoplasty with having a nose job, which is not true. Although, some people use having a crooked septum as an excuse to undergo a rhinoplasty, septoplasty, done correctly, can help patients breathe better, and more importantly, sleep better. Understanding the Anatomy In order to fully appreciate if septoplasty is the right procedure for you, you must understand the anatomy of how it’s done.
Recurrent sinus infections, throat pain, ear fullness and chronic cough are some of the most common conditions that I see every day. You may think that I typically diagnose and treat for routine bacterial infections in these situations, but in most cases, they’re not really infections at all. What I do find, however, is that if you probe and look back at the patients’ history, there’s always some major life change or recent event that acted as a trigger for their symptoms, especially if their upper airway anatomy is already narrowed or predisposed. Here are 5 common examples:
Are you tired all the time, no matter how long you sleep? Do you suffer from unexplained, recurrent or prolonged infections or colds that just won't go away? Do you continue to get sick despite being on multiple medications and antibiotics? Have you undergone various tests, with no definitive answers? If so, you could have upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS). UARS was first described by researchers at Stanford University in 1993. They described a group of young women and men who complained of chronic fatigue and excessive daytime somnolence.
It seems like snoring and sleep apnea treatments are rediscovered and proclaimed by the media as a new "cure," when in fact, it’s been described years before. A British doctor reports that by injecting a scarring agent into the soft palate, snoring is eliminated. The material he used was sodium tetradecyl sulfate, which is the same material that’s been used for varicose veins for 50 years. This snoring procedure was originally described by Dr. Eric Mair in 2001. He reported a 92% initial success rate, which dropped to 75% at 19 months on average.
Do you have an anxiety problem which is affecting your life? Do you overreact to everything or have pain attacks for no reason? Do you wake up in the middle of the night in a state of panic, in a cold sweat and with your heart racing out of control? Many people with panic disorders can be treated either conservatively with therapy of stress control and relaxation methods, but many people end up being placed on an anti-anxiety medications. Any time I see patients in my practice with anxiety disorders, in almost every case, the person prefers not to sleep on his or her back.
Proper breathing is fundamental to good health and vitality. Breathing is the most basic physiologic function that we must do to survive. Improper breathing can lead to illness, disease, and ultimately, death. Ancient Indian cultures recognized this basic principle and developed very sophisticated breathing techniques that we now realize are scientifically sound when it comes to promoting optimal health, energy and life balance. These breathing concepts have spread across various continents to different cultures, but the basic fundamental principles remain the same.
One of the most uncomfortable things you can do to another person is to place nasal packs in their nose after nasal surgery. What’s even worse is when you have to take it out. I know what it feels like, as I had nasal packs after I broke my nose when I was six. I still remember waking up after surgery, with my nose completely stuffed up, and my sleep was terrible.
Not getting enough sleep can definitely cause more facial wrinkles, but here are 7 more ways to make sure that you get even more wrinkles, have more aches and pains, feel old, or even die sooner. 1. Eat or snack close to bedtime. Going to bed on a full stomach may help you fall asleep faster, but once you’re asleep, you’re more likely to have reflux into the throat, leading to more frequent breathing obstructions and arousals, leading to inefficient sleep.
Michelle Bachmann’s recent revelation that she suffers from migraines brings up an important point that most doctors and the lay public don’t appreciate: the importance of proper breathing at night. It’s commonly known that sleep deprivation can cause or aggravate migraines, but what’s usually assumed is that migraine sufferers are breathing well at night. If you’ve read my articles or listened to my teleseminars, I can make a convincing argument that migraine sufferers all have some variation of a sleep-breathing disorder, of which only a small fraction have obstructive sleep apnea.
For many people with nasal congestion or chronic sinus infections nasal irrigation with saline is a natural way of clearing nasal and sinus passageways. There are various ways of getting salt water into your nose and sinuses, including mists, sprays, squeeze bottles, pumps, aerosol cans, and irrigation systems. The Neti-Pot is a yogic variation of saline irrigation that became much more popular after Oprah's recommendation. Many patients have tried nasal saline and report good results, with better breathing and less sinus pressure and headaches.
Here's a radically new approach to treating obstructive sleep apnea: hypoglossal nerve stimulation. I read about initial successful pilot studies many years ago out of Johns Hopkins, but thought the concept never took off since I didn't hear anything more. I was wrong. ImThera recently announced their aura6000 Targeted Hypoglossal Neurostimulation (THN) device for obstructive sleep apnea at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery in San Diego last month. There are two other companies rushing to come out with similar products.
Is your bedpartner bruising your ribs with an elbow, telling to you roll over onto your side because of your loud, obnoxious snoring? Do people hate traveling with you because you sound like a chainsaw in the middle of the night? Can your relatives hear you snore throughout the entire house, rattling the walls? Snoring is all too commonly portrayed as something that's funny or something to be laughed at. What most people don't realize is that the person that's snoring is not able to breathe properly at night and is suffering from a potentially deadly medical disorder.
More than a few times per month, I have patients comment that they think others perceive them as being lazy. Whether they like to "sleep in" or have trouble getting up in the mornings, or if they're prone to taking naps in the afte oon, their sleepiness often elicits other's perception of them as being lazy or unproductive.
Whenever I get together with other families with young children, almost invariably, there will be one or two parents who struggle with their child’s sleep. Issues range from frequent awakenings to too frequent feedings to sleeping in the parent’s bed. It’s no surprise then why so many adults in this country suffer from a myriad of sleep problems. Perhaps this is also the reason why sleep aids are one of the most popular drugs in this country and why children as young as 7 years old are being prescribed sleep aids to help them fall asleep.
Tonsils are one of the most misunderstood structures in the throat, not only by patients, but by many doctors as well. Traditional teaching states that tonsils are glands in the throat that help to fight infection. Because they are blamed for most cases of repeated throat infections, tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly performed operations in the United States. As I’ll reveal in the remainder of this article, many tonsillectomies today are being performed unnecessarily. Simultaneously, there are too many tonsils still left in place when in fact they should be removed.
One of the most common reasons for continued nasal congestion despite allergy medications and even nasal surgery is due to flimsy nostrils. Your nose comes in various shapes and sizes, but having naturally thin nostrils or weakened nostrils after rhinoplasty can lead to flimsy nostrils that collapse during even quiet inspiration. Unfortunately, many people undergo a number of different medical treatments using allergy sprays or even surgery before this condition is even considered. There are three simple ways to tell if you have flimsy nostrils:
Spring is in the air, and so are the tree pollens. Millions of people suffer this time of the year from sneezing, scratchy, itchy eyes, nose and throats, nasal congestion and chronic cough. It's also a given that if you have allergies, you won't sleep as well, along with everything from asthma, cough, and sinusitis to diarrhea. So how do allergies cause sleep problems, and in general, and how does it specifically cause or aggravate obstructive sleep apnea? When Allergies Lead to Something Worse
Most people take breathing through their nose for granted. But for many chronic mouth breathers, breathing through the nose is a struggle, if not impossible. Not only is their quality of life diminished, but they'll also have a variety of other health-related conditions such as dry mouth, snoring, fatigue, and poor sleep. In my last article I addressed 5 reasons why it's important to breathe through your nose.
Everyone knows that allergies cause sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, and nasal congestion and that for some people these symptoms can be more severe than for others. For these people allergies can feel like a curse, making them feel sleepy, irritable and downright miserable. There are many medical explanations for allergies, including the theory that the body is overreacting to the typical allergens.
Many people snore and many snorers also have obstructive sleep apnea. Here are 5 common myths about these two conditions that many people, and even some doctors continue to perpetuate: 1. Sleep apnea occurs only in older, overweight, snoring men with big necks. Although the stereotypical description does fit people in the extreme end of the spectrum, we now know that even young, thin women that don't snore can have significant obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep apnea begins with jaw structure narrowing, and later involves obesity.
Some patients with sleep apnea do remarkably well, despite all the hurdles and obstacles that arise. Then there are others that procrastinate, or refuse to take any action at all. I've noticed 7 commonalities amongst the ones that do succeed in the end: 1. They take responsibility for their own health, and not rely on doctors alone. They surround themselves with a team of medical professionals, constantly reading and learning, asking questions, and staying up to date on the latest in new sleep apnea treatments and research.
Although many people assume that big nosed people naturally breathe better, there's nothing further from the truth. The shape and size of your nose is mostly cosmetic. How well you breathe actually depends on what your internal breathing passageways look like. And for many sleep apnea sufferers, a stuffy nose can make or break their treatment therapy.
Looking back at my teen years at Stuyvesant High School in the mid 1980s, it's amazing what I was able to accomplish: Beside the rigors of academics, I was in the symphonic band, orchestra, jazz band, captain of the track team, and a major science geek, entering and placing in various prestigious competitions, including reaching the semi-finals of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (now renamed Intel). I also remember having the hardest time getting up in the mornings, since I had to commute over an hour by public transportation to get to school.
When a Need Becomes A Want Imagine a day when you can wake up naturally on your own, on time, without an alarm clock, revived and refreshed in the mornings, ready to face whatever challenges that may come your way. You work hard, and play harder, and when you hit the pillow, you fall asleep instantly, sleeping soundly and restfully, without a care in the world.
Sleep apnea surgery is one of the most controversial subjects in sleep medicine. There are heated debates within the sleep community as well as in online forums and support groups. Sleep apnea surgery is definitely not for everyone, for some, it can be a life-changing experience. Here are 5 important issues that you must be aware of before considering any form of sleep apnea surgery: 1. Does sleep apnea surgery work? Yes, but only when done properly. Just like with CPAP or dental devices, if you don't use it properly or use it at all, it won't work.
If you are a chronic mouth breather because of a stuffy nose, you're not alone. Do you feel like you can never get enough oxygen into your longs? Do you feel tired all day no matter how much sleep you get? Have you tried various home remedies, over-the-counter medications or even prescription medications with no help? If you answered yes to any of the above, what you will read below will show you how critical it is to breathe well through your nose. Chronic mouth breathing can not only affect your quality of life, but your life, period.
If you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, and you're frustrated with conventional treatment options, you may feel an urge to look at alte ative options. If you spend enough time researching this, you'll find a number of strange, interesting and sometimes bizarre ways of treating sleep apnea. To save you some time, I've listed 7 unusual ways below, along with my personal opinions for why it may or may not work: 1. Singing for snorers. There are various programs that teach snorers ways of singing to tighten throat and tongue muscles which in theory can lessen the severity of snoring.
In our over-stressed, over-weight, sleep-deprived society, there’s a tendency for experts to offer you the latest, greatest, high-tech, and usually expensive advice when you want to get better sleep. From the new Zeo (which measures your brain waves while you sleep), to $3,000 mattresses with reclining features and NASA engineered memory foam, there’s an unlimited number of gadgets and devices that promise to give you a better nights’ sleep.