Criteria for INSPIRE Pacemaker to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

Due to effective marketing, I have had more and more patients inquire about the INSPIRE sleep therapy to treat and potentially cure obstructive sleep apnea so that CPAP would not be needed. First off, our office does not perform this procedure which requires implanting a pacemaker in the chest wall (see image). It works by stimulating the tongue muscle in time with inhalation to prevent the tongue from falling back and obstructing the airway leading to sleep apnea. For those intere…

12/22/2017 0

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Tongue and Mouth Exercises May Help Reduce Snoring

Snoring is a very common problem for which there is no easy quick fix. There are many possible treatments, but all too often, it only helps a certain percentage of folks and not others. The reason why is because snoring could come from many possible anatomic sources whether nose, palate, uvula, tongue, cheek, epiglottis, etc. So what causes one person's snore may not necessarily be what causes the snore in another person. Brazilian researchers have at least come up with a set of tongue…

5/09/2015 1

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Does Sinus and/or Nasal Surgery Help with Sleep Apnea?

Bluntly, the answer is not really... Although it may make sense that improving nasal airflow should help with obstructive sleep apnea , the reality is that it does not make a profound difference. Indeed, there was a study in 2014 that looked into this question. In this study , 3 groups of patients were looked at divided into patients with mild, moderate, or severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). These patients underwent sinus surgery , septoplasty , and turbinate reduction . What was found …

7/08/2014 1

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Sleep Apnea Increases Risk of Cancer

Obstructive sleep apnea has been getting accused of causing all sorts of medical problems including hypertension, stroke, heart disease, heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease, etc. We can also add cancer now. According to Australian researchers , moderate to severe sleep apnea increases the risk of cancer by 2.5 times and death from cancer by 3.4 times. They also reported that sleep apnea increases risk of death (any cause) by 4.2x and stroke by 3.7x. This conclusion was reached eva…

4/22/2014 0

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Chin Strap May Help with Snoring

There is a relatively simple (and cheap) device that  may help some people who snore called a chin strap . This lowly, humble, and low-tech device may benefit patients who typically snore when: 1) Lays on back, but not on side 2) Mouth-breathes when sleeping (but suffers no nasal obstruction ) 3) Does not suffer from severe obstructive sleep apnea 4) Appears to be "slack-jawed" when sleeping (chin pushed back relative to upper jaw creating a pseudo-overjet dental appearance…

2/12/2014 1

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T&A Helps with Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea (But Watchful Monitoring OK Too!)

Researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine  that removal of the tonsils and adenoids absolutely helps with sleep apnea in kids along with improvements in behavior, quality-of-life, overall well-being as well as significantly greater reduction in symptoms... but apparently putting off surgery does no significant harm as well from a purely cognitive perspective. 464 children ages 5-9 years of age were randomly split into surgery or watchful monitoring groups (children with…

5/21/2013 0

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