Tag Archives: Sleep Apnea

Reduce risk of developing some forms of cancer – drop to a healthy weight

Tubby’etes … Somehow I’ve seriously packed on an excess of thirty pounds or so since my tumor operation and I’m back to seriously climbing stairs. I began again this morning. The possibility that obesity increases the risk of ‘developing some form of cancer’ is a call to cut obesity loose and off this short frame.

Poulsbo women, if any of you are 100 or more pounds overweight, you are welcome to join me in a health quest of diet and exercise.

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From: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

“ Your weight may be affecting you more than you may think.

Even a few extra pounds each year can affect your quality of life.

There are many benefits to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight that will improve your health and life in the short-term. These include:

If you are overweight or obese, losing weight and being physically active can help you control your blood sugar levels.

Weight loss of at least 5 percent of your body weight may decrease stress on your knees, hips, and lower back.

Weight loss often improves sleep apnea.

Not only can extra weight cause joint pain, it can lead to serious chronic diseases. If you are overweight or obese, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your weight can lower your chances of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or having a stroke. Other long-term health benefits of having a healthy weight include:

Reducing your risk of developing some forms of cancer.

Lowering your risk for developing gallstones and fatty liver disease.”

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/onepound.htm

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Thanks for reading …. Sharon O’Hara <familien1@comcast.net>

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AWAKE – Tonight

Sharon O'Hara

AWAKE TONIGHT! Ever wonder about an increasing sleepiness yourself or life partner? Well, sleepiness may well mean more than boredom at home – it may mean SLEEP APNEA – a potentially deadly medical condition and fixable.

Thursday, September 15 – 7:00pm – 9:00pm

PROGRAM: C- Pap or Bi-Pap Maintenance and Your Health.

SPEAKER: Kate Whettam, Resmed

Questions welcome

AWAKE is for people living with sleep disorders and their families and meets the third Thursday of every three months (March, June, September and December).

9/15/2011 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Harrison Annex

750 Lebo Blvd.

Bremerton, WA 98310

Contact Info: 360-479-8022 x4

http://www.harrisonmedical.org/home/calendar/4875

Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

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Do Lung Doctors in Kitsap County Neglect Support Group Patient Education

Sharon O'Hara

Lung patients need active physician involvement in support groups, particularly for non-cancerous lung patients including COPD, the 3^rd leading cause of death in the US. For many of us COPD is only the beginning of medical conditions including Sleep Apnea.

We are fortunate that Harrison’s Respiratory Department has gotten more involved and active in support services for lung patients and the Better Breather’s monthly programs are becoming a Don’t Miss.

That said last month’s program was the beginning of another round of new stuff and no MD to connect all the dots. Pulmonary support groups NEED direct physician involvement. I know they are busy. So are the patients. We want to be educated and the physician is the only person to answer medical questions.

Joyce had Cheryl Ball, Respiratory Therapist in charge of the Sleep Apnea program with guest speaker, Jeff Lackey, Patient Care Coordinator of Pacific Pulmonary Services. Both did a great job inciting keen interest, as you will see in the following photos.

I wrote the following post in answer to the Kitsap Sun Reporter Rachel Pritchett’s article that Harrison Medical Center’s Heart Surgeons won a second year of the highest rating given for Bremerton Cardiothoracic Surgery.

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“The most successful support group – or one of them – is AWAKE, the Sleep Apnea support group in Kitsap County.

Why? It is physician led.

Well. It is time for lung doctors to step up to educate the Better Breather’s pulmonary support group.

I recently attended a BB meeting and too many questions could not be answered by the knowledgeable techs present – they needed answering by doctors who know the whys and wherefores of sleep apnea.

Educating patients is vitally important and the lung patients have been sadly neglected…yes, I do understand about the money trail in popular medical conditions.

Many of us lung patients kick off due to heart disease caused by lung issues. It’s no small wonder that COPD is now the third leading cause of death in the US considering that educating lung patients is at the bottom of the physician scale of things to do.

Am I being unfair to busy physicians? I am a patient – the answer is NO.

Doctors – get involved with educating us. Please!

Contact Harrison’s Pam or Joyce (Respiratory) for scheduling a PHYSICIAN speaker for the next Better Breather’s meeting.

“…Harrison HealthPartners Bremerton Cardiothoracic Surgery is part of a larger group of Harrison Medical Center heart physicians called Harrison HealthPartners Thoracic and Vascular. “The bigger group also includes vascular surgeon Dr. George Berni and vascular surgeon Dr. Shankar Sundaram, who begins later this month.”

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Part 1 of 2

Gabriel, medical miracle baby and g’g’ma’s recumbent trike …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8FufDkSDQ

Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

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Is Cycling Healthier for a Lung Patient with Right Heart Failure Than Walking?

Sharon O'Hara

I am a patient with questions and one of them is:

Is cycling better or healthier for a lung patient with Right Heart Failure than walking.

Based on medical terminology I clearly don’t understand – it APPEARS to say so to this patient…based on the paper I blogged on and the paper I found using the Google search for: oxyhemoglobin desaturation.

“Oxyhemoglobin desaturation can be quite severe and can even lead to damage to vital organs, particularly the heart, to the point of being life-threatening.3”

Identifying Sleep Disordered Breathing in Neuromuscular Disorder Patients

by Joshua Benditt, MD, and Louis Boitano, MS, RRT

***

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is one thing, add bone on bone left hip and a person has to really fight to move it and I’m doing in the pool what I can’t do ‘on land’ easily – leg up and loosen and build muscle around that hip so I can ride again. One day the muscling should support it and make it comfortable enough to ride my recumbent trikes again.

I KNOW it will work because when I had physical therapy last year, the personable and talented Anna Marx at Kitsap Physical Therapy in Silverdale put me on a machine I could not only tolerate – a recumbent elliptical – over time I actually loosened up enough where I could and did – close my eyes and built speed and a rhythm on that machine – exactly like riding a recumbent trike, a horse…without the pain of the bone on bone left hip!

I’ve begun working out four days a week with an amazing professional swim instructor and I hope and expect to regain much of the function I lost. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. It appears to be working – a ‘study’ in itself. More later.

That said, what about my question:

Is cycling better or healthier for a lung patient with right heart failure than walking?

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BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exhibit greater oxyhemoglobin desaturation during walking than with cycling. The purpose of this investigation was to investigate differences in ventilatory responses and gas exchange as proposed mechanisms for this observation.

http://pugetsoundblogs.com/copd-and-other-stuff/2011/02/08/a-new-study-for-copders-mechanism-of-greater-oxygen-desaturation-during-walking-compared-with-cycling-in-copd/

Read more: http://pugetsoundblogs.com/copd-and-other-stuff/#ixzz1DTzzcGaW

“Oxyhemoglobin desaturation can be quite severe and can even lead to damage to vital organs, particularly the heart, to the point of being life-threatening.3”

Identifying Sleep Disordered Breathing in Neuromuscular Disorder Patients

by Joshua Benditt, MD, and Louis Boitano, MS, RRT

Joshua Benditt, MD, is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. He is also director of respiratory care services, Northwest Assisted Breathing Center, University of Washington Medical Center. He can be reached at benditt@u.washington.edu. Louis Boitano, MS, RRT, is codirector of the Northwest Assisted Breathing Center, University of Washington Medical Center. Boitano can be reached at boitano@u.washington.edu.

The symptoms of sleep disordered breathing in patients with neuromuscular disease can be subtle, but once recognized and treated, symptoms can improve.

http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/articles/2007-01_03.asp

I don’t know how this all fits together for us – I also have sleep apnea and sleep with a bi-pap and concentrator bleed in to the bi-pap.

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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When the Power Goes Out – Is Kitsap County a Cold and Lonely Place For COPDers?

Sharon O'Hara

When the Power Goes Out – Is Kitsap County a Cold and Lonely Place For COPDers?

We had one battery charged lantern and I kept the box handy on the counter because I knew the lights would come on any minute and I could quickly put it away again. Two days later, the lights came on and I put it away. The laptop puddled in place – a good reminder that better power days were ahead…same with the lamp. The two drawers full of old candles were not lit…I do not want to inhale candle fumes.

The little shortwave radio was meant as a Christmas present but I’ve kept it – the so welcome sound and information was my connection to the world.

I didn’t know it when I shot this photo but less than two hours later, the tireless power wonders will have restored our power. It was so very cold….and it felt balmy when the temperature inside finally came up to 50 degrees.

No, only for those on life giving machines such as the C-Pap and Bi-Pap machines – they have nowhere to go to plug in their life sustaining machines. Seniors on a concentrator bleed-in usually can’t carry the heavy machines.

The plus during the last two day power outage was to discover all the people helping others in a tight fix.

My husband, the Old Guy, spent most of the two days out in the cold trying to fix the generator.

The discovery that the tube he thought would fix it, didn’t, led to more cell calls to the generator tech folks and ultimately to another Kitsap County Angel –Ward’s Radiator Shop in Chico.

It turned out that all we needed was an expandable plug that Wards said should work temporarily until he can solder it in this summer. It worked and is still working! But not until after the wonderful power workers fixed our power and we went on the emergency source heat pump. Thank you, Ward’s Radiator Shop in Chico!

Our inside temperature dropped to 40 degrees and by the second night the Old Guy fixed our old portable Honda generator and asked if I wanted it hooked to a portable heater or use it on my bi-pap and concentrator.

Well. Having taken the Mountaineering course at Olympic College some 35 years ago and learning some survival skills, I didn’t see the sense of blowing 41 degree air into the 98 degree body I’d carefully kept warm by layering. And, once in bed, I stayed warm and didn’t need a heater.

Question: Was my concern and decision against blowing 41 degree cold air into my airway wrong?

Would the cold air have been warmed enough by a warm core or would my core have begun to cool to reflect the cold air blowing in?

As it was, many of us went without the machines that keep our airway open and (for some) that keep our vital blood/oxygen numbers up.

Funny thing: With good reason, the Old Guy complains, moans, and groans whenever I ask him to get something out of the freezer and puts on heavy gloves to do it – he has Raynaud’s Disease in his fingers.

During the two day power outage, he spent hours in the below freezing weather working on the generator and never said a word…just went to work trying to fix it…and couldn’t wear the thick, warm gloves. ‘Caregivers’ is an overdue story for another time.

Bainbridge Seniors at the Senior Center have plans to provide a place to go and I hope they coordinate with oxygen companies to assist those on machines to keep their airways open and for those on concentrators and oxygen.

http://pugetsoundblogs.com/copd-and-other-stuff/2011/01/09/cold-in-silverdale-bi-senior-center-rocks/

My bi-pap was ordered after a Sleep Apnea study in 2001and Lincare supplied my Respironics Duet on 3 August 2001, according to Mike DiMatteo of Lincare, and our insurance paid it off in February 2002.

In 2010, my secure sense of well-being went to the bottom of rattlesnake canyon in a hand basket when a home study showed my sats dropped into the basement while asleep, way below good oxygen levels. I fell through the cracks in our system and I can’t be the only one.

We have stuff – serious stuff that needs fixing and that is another story for another time.

As I see it, oxygen companies are caught in the bind of Medicare, Medicaid and patients and one flaw has been lack of communication between patient, physician and Oxygen Company.

Patients talk to your doctor – its vital your sats stay up while awake and how much leeway do we have if they drop when we’re asleep? We need oxygen to our organs and the brain is a vital organ.

While I had the friendly and helpful Mike DiMatteo on the phone, I asked him about offering help with the Bainbridge Senior Center seniors planning a safe haven when the power goes out. Mike said he would be glad to offer whatever help/advice they needed. I’m sure most of Kitsap’s oxygen companies who supply these machines will help too.

Someday the rest of Kitsap County will follow the Bainbridge Senior Center seniors lead and provide assistance for those who need help when the power goes out. For some seniors, just a viable power plug can make the difference between life and death.

A super plus is the great event next Wednesday at Harrison Silverdale speaking to this very subject of emergency assistance for those of us on oxygen, concentrators, BiPap and C-Pap – all respiratory folks.

COPDers and caregivers – Mark Wednesday, 19 January on your calendar – Full details tomorrow.

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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Lymphedema, Kissing Frogs and the Right Match

Sharon O'Hara

Greetings!

And another reminder that I am a patient – not a medical person. My comments are based on my own experiences and others and I take full responsibility for my opinion and perceptions. My hope is that patients will speak up and question the medical people trying to help us when need be. They can’t help us without an open and honest dialog.

That said, Lymphedema treatment is available. Finding the right help at the right time is not easily available and getting the right treatment for the right diagnosis is sometimes difficult. So is finding the right medical help match for a patient yet both are key to a patient’s survival and the best quality life possible.

Did you ever wonder how many frogs the fabled Princess kissed before she found the right frog? Well, if frogs were medical providers, patients occasionally need to kiss lots of frogs to get the right match.

Lymphedema is nasty stuff and I was sorry to learn lymphedema can be a real problem for cancer patients, especially breast cancer.

Lower leg lymphedema disease is apparently different though since cancer caused lymphedema support groups don’t allow ‘regular’ lymphedema patients to join. I know because I looked for close by lymphedema support groups and learned Harrison Medical Center had one. I called to ask if I could attend a lymphedema support group session and the Harrison spokesperson didn’t think so. She did promise to ask at the next meeting and let me know. That was several months ago.

During the pleasant phone conversation, Harrison’s spokesperson asked how I knew I had lymphedema and I had to say I assumed it was caused from years of ignoring edema and pitted edema.

Her question stayed with me though and I recently asked my pulmonologist at the University of Washington Medical Center what caused it and his answer surprised me “Sleep Apnea” …something to do with ‘insufficiency’…wow, Dr. Christopher Goss, I need to learn more about that!

Lymphedema is lymphedema or isn’t it? When is lymphedema not lymphedema if

Harrison Medical Center’s Lymphedema Support Group is limited only to cancer patients?

I’m happy to say there is good news for ‘Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema.’

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http://www.lymphnet.org/pdfDocs/nlnexercise.pdf

JAMA. 2010 Dec 8. Weight Lifting for Women at Risk for Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema: A Randomized Trial.

Schmitz KH, Ahmed RL, Troxel AB, Cheville A, Lewis-Grant L, Smith R, Bryan CJ, Williams-Smith CT, Chittams J.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia (Drs Schmitz and Troxel and Mss Lewis-Grant, Bryan, and Williams-Smith and Mr Chittams); Department of Dermatology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis (Dr Ahmed); Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (Dr Cheville); and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia (Drs Cheville and Smith).

Abstract

Context Clinical guidelines for breast cancer survivors without lymphedema advise against upper body exercise, preventing them from obtaining established health benefits of weight lifting. Objective To evaluate lymphedema onset after a 1-year weight lifting intervention vs no exercise (control) among survivors at risk for breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL)

. …

Weightlifting May Not Increase Risk for Lymphedema in Breast Cancer Survivors http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/734429

Laurie Barclay, MD

…

December 17, 2010 — A slowly progressive weightlifting program for breast cancer survivors does not increase the risk for lymphedema, according to the results of a randomized controlled equivalence trial reported online December 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Breast cancer survivors at risk for lymphedema alter activity, limit, activity, or both from fear and uncertainty about their personal risk level, and upon guidance advising them to avoid lifting children, heavy bags, or other objects with the at-risk arm,” write Kathryn H. Schmitz, PhD, MPH, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia, and colleagues. “Such guidance is often interpreted in a manner that deconditions the arm, increasing the potential for injury, overuse, and, ironically, lymphedema onset. Adherence to these precautions may limit physical recovery after breast cancer and, for some women, result in lost employment.”

The goal of the study was to compare onset of lymphedema after a 1-year weightlifting intervention vs a no-exercise control group among survivors at risk for breast cancer–related lymphedema (BCRL) who were enrolled in the Physical Activity and Lymphedema trial.

“We specialize in the treatment of acute and chronic orthopedic injuries and the evaluation and treatment of swelling disorders including lymphedema and vascular insufficiency.”

http://colpt.com/about.html

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT LYMPHEDEMA:

1. What is Lymphedema?

Lymphedema is an abnormal accumulation of protein-rich fluid (lymph Fluid) and specialized cells (fibroblasts, keratinocytes) in the spaces between tissues throughout the body. When the lymphatic Fluid cannot be readily moved from the extremity to the trunk swelling is seen in the limb.

2. What causes Lymphedema?

Lymphedema may be primary or secondary. Primary is when swelling is the result of lymph vessels that are too small, too few in number or too wide so the valves cannot work properly. Secondary occurs from some kind of damage to the system. This could include surgery for lymph node removal, radiation to treat cancer, trauma or parasites that block the lymphatic vessels.

3. What are the symptoms of Lymphedema?

Symptoms include tightness, swelling or thickening anywhere in the trunk or extremity, feelings of heaviness in the extremity, difficulty fitting into clothing in one specific area. Swelling may increase with activity and decrease with rest.

4. Why did I get Lymphedema?

Medical science is not able to determine why one person gets lymphedema and the next person does not. It probably has to do with the number of lymphatics you had originally and what percentage are not working.

5. Is Lymphedema curable?

Lymphedema is not curable; however, it is manageable with treatment.

6. What kind of treatment is available for Lymphedema?

There is a treatment approach called Complex Decongestive Physiotherapy(CDP). This method consists of several parts including manual lymphatic drainage, bandaging, proper skin care, compression garments, remedial exercises, and self-manual lymphatic drainage and bandaging. This treatment can be done by a physical therapist that has extensive training in the subject.

6. What happens if Lymphedema is not treated?

Lymphedema is chronic and progressive. If it remains untreated the protein-rich fluid continues to accumulate which could lead to increased swelling and hardening (fibrosis) of the tissues. The protein-rich fluid is a perfect environment for bacteria to flourish which could lead to recurrent infections. Untreated lymphedema can also lead to skin breakdown and loss of motion in the joints of the affected limb.

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We have one life and, my opinion, a patient’s best bet is to get educated about whatever we have and learn how to best handle it.

Kitsap County Library System has a book on Caregiving for Lymphedema at the main library.

There are other helpful books the Silverdale Library (360-692-2779) had donated to them:

100 Questions & Answers about Lymphedema

Lymphedema: An Information Booklet

Lymphedema Management: The Comprehensive Guide for Practitioners

Melissa at the Center for Orthopedic & Lymphatic Physical Therapy in Port Orchard mentioned using a soft baby brush to clean the affected skin and it worked fine once my husband duck taped the baby brush to a section of pvc pipe. The extra length makes leaning over easy for a lung patient and he made two – the second one I use to apply the skin lotion. Dry skin cracks too easily for lymphedemia’ites.

I thought you’d enjoy seeing this old car photo. December 2009 I was rushing to Harrison Silverdale ER but had to stop to take this photo! I don’t know why the old car was there, what kind of car it is, who owned it or why it was parked with the stuffed critters outside the ER.

Part 4 of 4

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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COPD, Professor William MacNee Clicked for this COPDer

Sharon O'Hara

FLASH

Ref: Early detection public COPD Spirometry, World Spirometry Day and World COPD Day

I called our health district yesterday and spoke with Cris Craig, Kitsap County Health District Public Information Officer. She couldn’t answer my question about the health department offering free spirometry to the public. She did say in a cheerful voice she would call in about three weeks with a response. THAT is good news and she didn’t ask what COPD was – even better.. A hopeful sign and may mean that Spirometry will be offered and made available to the public. I believe in miracles.

Professor William MacNee and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Scotland, UK website has superb graphics – the best explanation of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) I’ve seen in one place. His ‘The Latest Trends in COPD Research’ graphically shows why early detection Spirometry is important.

For many of us COPD is an ongoing magnet for other disease, including some really difficult stuff. COPD and lung disease can be the beginning of a long list of personal medical challenges expanding the patient’s medical disease library. Whatever needs to happen to avoid COPD in your life get tested for early detection and do whatever is needed to get it done.

My son, Al and I were visiting family in Northern Norway in1997. I didn’t know then my 40 year smoking habit was almost over. And so was I. I was beginning to feel sick. The day after this picture was taken, I had to see a Norwegian doctor. She examined me and prescribed medications for Pleurisy and Chronic Bronchitis. The medication worked, the pain receded and we were back on schedule. Within a couple weeks after this picture was taken and five days after returning home, I was in the hospital.

Life as I’d known it was over.

COPD is a friendly disease. For me, once Emphysema (COPD) got settled in my lungs and got comfortable, she began to invite her Other Stuff Disease buddies for a sleep over. Trouble is, they stayed over and didn’t go home. They joined COPD trying to play Havoc with my health and life.

Following COPD was an open lung biopsy and Sarcoidosis – Sleep Apnea – RLS – Psoriasis – Venous Stasis Dermatitis – Cellulitis – High Blood Pressure – Lymphedema – and bone-on-bone Arthritis, left hip followed – to name a few.

Early detection Spirometry can stop COPD early – before it’s too late. Ask your doctor.

This is where it gets tricky. Health care is a huge problem. COPD generally takes twenty years developing before a person mentions symptoms to the doctor and by then about fifty percent of the lungs are destroyed….leading the patient to a long slow smother and the taxpayer choking form the cost.

Offering free Spirometry testing for early COPD detection gives the individual warning. If the problem is not genetic, it can be turned around. Telling isn’t enough – SHOW people what COPD can do to them and their families. Let them meet willing patients who can show and tell… a real reality show.

Exercise works and muscle utilizes oxygen better than flab. We can breathe better and move easier. Exercise and understanding COPD gives us a quality of life back – to be the best we can be. The recumbent trike takes us places we couldn’t easily go without one – fun stuff, building muscle at the same time. We must keep moving … ask your doctor.

I did not qualify for lung reduction surgery or I would have opted to get it ..not enough good lung and I heard rave reviews from patients who had had one. One COPDer told me the lung reduction surgery restored his life back to ‘normal’ and lasted about five years before time and COPD danced ahead. Ask your doctor about it.

Pursed lip breathing training is a must for COPDers – it keeps us out of the panic mode and out of the hospital. It has for me…and I tested it with my oximeter.Talk to your doctor about pulmonary rehab. It is never too late to get better through our own efforts…what does your doctor say?

Photo taken by the photographer who traveled with the Trek. This photo shows me on my recumbent trike flying the COPD/EFFORTS safety flag and pedaling over Deception Pass with the American Lung Association of Washington’s three day bike ride – the Trek Tri Island.

It was the first time I had been away overnight from my house in seven years – since Harrison Hospital in 1997. A slow trike rider, it is thanks to the wonderful volunteers who hop scotched me and my trike ahead of the other 200 plus bike riders time after time that enabled me to pedal 50 miles of the 137 mile trip. I felt free again.

Key motivators were the Shortness of Breath Study at the University of Washington Medical Center that I was lucky enough to qualify for and my online support group, EFFORTS. Proof to me that educating COPD patients work.

Stroke patient, Mary Griffith and her butterfly and gold star fingernails caught my eye the other day – more about Mary and husband, Doug later)

Kitsap County Health District … Will you be the first county health district in the nation to see the fiscal benefit of early detection Spirometry to protect citizens of ALL ethnic background.

The Kitsap County taxpayer and COPD future could rest in your hands.

Thank you Professor William MacNee for a great COPD informational website and allowing me to use it here.

http://www.efanet.org/activities/documents/WMcNeeLatestTrendsinCOPDResearch. pdf

More later… Sharon O’Hara

Part 4 of 4

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The Sleep Apnea Story is Now Restless and Worried in Kitsap County. What Happens to Oxygen Deprived Cells?

Sharon O'Hara

The new wrinkle in the Sleep Apnea Story is the apparent fact that patients are dropping their sats during the night wearing their c-pap or bi-pap machine and unless they do another at home sleep study wearing their machine – they don’t know it – nor do their doctors!

How can it happen the patient is happy as a clam at high tide thinking the machine is keeping their airway open so they can get the sleep needed when their oxygen saturation drops into the sleep basement during the night and killing off cells from lack of oxygen!????!

What good is any sleep machine when it does not register the patient’s sats and report it to their doctor?

I have a longer story to go with these questions…but for now – I want answers. How many other sleep apnea folks have had, am having the same sat drop and don’t know it?

They know they are declining…and assume the decline is natural considering their medical condition and normal aging.

Again. What good are the machines if they are not conveying the oxygen saturation picture for each sleeping patient to their doctor?!

Read up more from Chris Henry’s great article in February…
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/feb/27/in-the-search-for-shuteye-many-come-up-empty/?comments_id=250497

More later…. Sharon O’Hara

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Untreated Sleep Apnea + Heart Disease – Connected?

Sharon O'Hara

For those on the “should I, should I not get a sleep study?” fence, please read the following.

According to the Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA a connection may exist between sleep apnea and heart disease.

Although not conclusive and lengthy studies to determine if sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease are connected are a long way off, it is suspected that sleep apnea is a risk for heart disease.

I am next to the last person in the world to presume telling anyone else what to do but do offer information to investigate for yourself.

That said, I have practical experience with sleep apnea. The sleep study I had years ago led to me wearing a bipap and now, a recently added concentrator is connected to my bipap machine.

I’ve known about the right heart failure because we’ve been ‘watching’ it for some years. I did not worry about it though because I figured the other side of my heart must still be healthy. Remember, I am a patient, not a medical professional.

A week ago, I was told I have ‘congestive heart failure” …quite another thing. That involves the whole heart. I looked it up.

The point of this little tale is to say I have sleep apnea and developed a heart condition suggesting to me there may well be a connection.

{ It is proposed that given that CPAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is highly effective and essentially totally safe, and that the evidence is suggestive that sleep apnea is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, then we propose all patients with severe sleep apnea should be treated to reduce cardiovascular risk….}

Best wishes fence sitters … jump into health if you can.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19249449?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed

More later…. Sharon O’Hara

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The Strange Ways of Sleep Apnea

Sharon O'Hara

Sleep Apnea is a strange medical condition usually requiring a CPAP OR BIPAP machine to draw in room air through filters into a hose attached to the facemask we have harnessed to our head. The facemask confines the air and pushes it through the open airway into happy air gulping lungs. The machine lets us sleep.

The latest and greatest news first is that a small clinical study showed the CPAP machine might help the heart function better in sleep apnea patients. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ASE/tb/14658

What did the study indicate about the BIPAP patients? That is a good question to ask Harrison Medical Center’s lead Sleep Specialist, Daniel Moore, at the next AWAKE sleep support group meeting on the 17th…

Another study shows something amazing to me…

In an eight-year study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the moderate to severe sleep apnea patients appear more likely to die from any cause, regardless of age, gender, race, weight, smoking history, or other medical conditions…

“… It is still unknown whether treating sleep apnea reduces risk of death and cardiovascular disease. …

(SHHS) enrolled more than 6,000 men and women ages 40 years and older at multiple centers around the U.S. to determine cardiovascular and other consequences of sleep-disordered breathing…. researchers found similar relationships between sleep apnea and deaths related to coronary artery disease.

They also found an association between the lack of oxygen that results when patients with sleep apnea momentarily stop breathing and all-cause mortality. But they found no relationship between mortality and waking due to apnea….

…the researchers cautioned that the study had several limitations. …might have introduced some bias into the study…. they noted that this study was the largest of its kind to date…. carefully collecting data on sleep, breathing abnormalities, and a wide range of other health factors….

…”Given the high and likely increasing prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in the general population, additional research in the form of randomized clinical trials should be undertaken to assess if treatment can reduce premature mortality associated with this common and chronic disorder,” the authors wrote.”
The authors are Dr. Naresh M. Punjabi and co-investigator, David M Rapoport.

Punjabi N, et al “Sleep-disordered breathing and mortality: A prospective cohort study” PLoS Med 2009; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000132.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pulmonary/SleepDisorders/15574?impressionId=1251401547027

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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