Awake In America Replaces Equipment To Treat Sleep Apnea Lost In Hurricane Ike

There is an urgent need to help victims of Hurricane Ike replace lost and damaged CPAP units as a result of Hurricane Ike. The entire story can be found at Medical News Today. Please consider a donation.

Dr. Barsh
Snoring Isn't Sexy

Snoring Separately and ED

According to CNN - 23% of married couple sleep apart and requests for two master bedrooms in new homes are growing. Snoring, in addition to being causally related to stroke, destroys relationships. Many psychologists warn that sleeping apart can spell trouble in a relationship.

Snoring also can be a sign of sleep apnea. With many sleep apnea sufferers, erectile dysfunction (ED) can be a problem. Recent research indicates that ED can result from periods of oxygen deprivation associated with sleep apnea. Although the research was conducted on animals, there is a strong possibility that this relationship exists in humans as well.

It is, therefore, quite possible that ED is a sign of sleep apnea which has been linked to high blood pressure, cardiac problems, stroke, diabetes and depression. If you snore heavily, have been observed to stop breathing during sleep, have high blood pressure and feel sleepy during the day even after a night's rest, before you pop the little blue pill think about having a sleep study.

You could not only be saving your marriage but also saving your life.

Dr. Barsh
SnoringIsntSexy.com

Snoring, Diabetes and Physicians

DiabetesHealth.com released a statement today that said

Despite the fact that 94 percent of doctors are aware of the association between sleep apnea and diabetes, only 47 percent of them screen for the condition in their patients with diabetes. As a result, about 85 percent of sleep apnea cases among diabetics go undiagnosed.

Dentists are probably worse than physicians in this regard. If you are a patient with diabetes, ask your dentist why such an important relationship of diseases goes unnoticed in his/her office. For the most part, dentists see their patients more frequently than physicians see theirs and it would be a simple matter for a dentist to ask a few simple questions about sleep-breathing problems especially where dentistry can play such an active role in the management of these problems. Again from DiabetesHealth.com:

Dental Device (a.k.a. oral appliance, intraoral device, or mouthpiece):
Breathe through your nose. Now move your lower jaw forward. Does the back of your throat feel a bit more open, making it a little easier to breathe? A dentist or orthodontist can custom make a device for you to wear at night that will keep your lower jaw and/or tongue forward.

Help us get the word out about the relationship of sleep apnea and diabetes, ask about screening at your dentist's office.

Dr. Barsh

Snoring Isn't Sexy

Still think snoring is a joke?

Snoring has always been considered a joke. "Two snorers walk into a bar...." You can finish the rest of the story, I'm sure.

Television advertising promotes the ability to stop snoring by sticking things on the outside of your nose, sticking things in the inside of your nose, spraying stuff in your throat, and by taking a boil and bite mouth device to pull your jaw forward (by the way, it's illegal in the United States to sell these over the counter). And, in fact, most of these WILL stop the snoring but do you really want to?

Huh? you say - of course I want to stop the snoring, why shouldn't I? As it turns out there is a good reason not to do it yourself. A scientific article released in the Sept. 1 issue of the prestigious journal Sleep shows that snoring is indeed an independent risk factor for the development of hardening of the arteries in neck - known as carotid atherosclerosis - that can progress to a point where it is associated with a stroke.

We know that snoring can also be a warning sign of sleep apnea as well especially if one's bed partner notices cessation of breathing at intervals during sleep. Stopping the snoring eliminates the warning sign and creates what is know as a silent apneic. Sleep apnea is associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, excessive daytime sleepiness, erectile dysfunction and even death during sleep from factors related to apnea.

So for a couple of reasons, stopping the snoring without medical or dental intervention can be a bad idea. It's your decision of course but before you decide, stop and take a few moments to think of the possible consequences - the point is not to just stop the sound of snoring, the point is to eliminate the obstruction that causes the snoring and to increase oxygen flow through the partially obstructed airway.

Dr. Barsh
Snoring Isn't Sexy