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Dutch health technology company Philips will not sell new devices to treat sleep apnea in the U.S. in the coming years as it works to comply with a settlement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Monday. The agreement followed the recall of millions of breathing devices and ventilators used to treat sleep apnea in 2021 because of concerns that foam used to reduce noise from the devices could degrade and become toxic, carrying potential cancer risks. Philips said it had reached what is known as a consent decree that spells out the improvements it needs to make...

Professor Danny Eckert says his research team has examined shortcomings in some people's response to the popular continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP) and found that adding combinations of therapies gets impressive results in those who are unable to tolerate CPAP. Oral appliance therapy (OAT) is an effective treatment for many people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but does not fully control OSA in about 50% of cases. This study aimed to control OSA in individuals who have an incomplete response to using only OAT, with the solution being to use additional targeted therapies informed by each individual's specific causes...

(11:52 video) The youtuber know as "Essential Craftsman" was chronically exhausted and taking several naps per day. He also snored. Then he was diagnosed as having both central apnea and obstructive apnea, causing him to wake up 32 times per hour. He had very little REM sleep and experienced night terrors (waking in a panic). He spent years and $ thousands on treatment, including CPAP and BiPAP. He finally found success with a DIY treatment using sports tape (kinesiology tape) to tape his mouth shut at night. He cut small slits in the tape to allow a small amount of...

Obstructive sleep apnea, a form of sleep-disordered breathing, is common in children and adolescents and may be associated with elevated blood pressure and changes in heart structure. "The likelihood of children having disordered breathing during sleep and, in particular, obstructive sleep apnea, may be due to enlargement of the tonsils, adenoids or a child's facial structure, however, it is important for parents to recognize that obesity also puts kids at risk for obstructive sleep apnea," said Carissa M. Baker-Smith, M.D. "Sleep disruptions due to sleep apnea have the potential to raise blood pressure and are linked with insulin resistance and...

*Losing fat in your tongue can alleviate symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). *Researchers used an MRI to see how weight loss affected the upper airway. *Experts say understanding the link to tongue fat may help them treat people with OSA. Losing weight can help your sleep, according to a new study that found tongue fat can increase your risk of sleep apnea. The study says that losing fat in your tongue can alleviate symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The condition occurs when people stop and start breathing during sleep. Patients wake up randomly during sleep and often snore....

Losing weight is an effective treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), but why exactly this is the case has remained unclear. Now, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that improvements in sleep apnea symptoms appear to be linked to the reduction of fat in one unexpected body part -- the tongue. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the effect of weight loss on the upper airway in obese patients, researchers found that reducing tongue fat is a primary factor in lessening the severity of OSA. The findings were published today in...

According to a report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a team led by Dr. Richard Schwab, the chief of sleep medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, used MRI scans to look at how weight loss affected the upper airway. They say that lowering tongue fat is a primary factor to ease the severity of OSA. Though we already knew weight loss can improve symptoms, Schwab said research hasn’t looked at fat loss in the tongue. In 2014, Schwab conducted research that found patients with obesity and OSA had larger...

When someone is depressed and having suicidal thoughts or their depression treatment just isn't working, their caregivers might want to check to see if they have obstructive sleep apnea, investigators say. That's true even when these individuals don't seem to fit the usual profile of obstructive sleep apnea, which includes males who are overweight, snore and complain of daytime sleepiness, says Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. "No one is talking about evaluating for obstructive sleep apnea as a potential cause of treatment-resistant depression,...

Researchers have found that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can improve depression symptoms in patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. Using data from the Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular Endpoints (SAVE) trial led by Flinders University, the new study has found a significant decrease in cases of depression after patients received CPAP treatment for their sleep apnea. This is by far the largest trial of its type and one of very few studies reporting such an effect, says Professor Doug McEvoy from Flinders University.

A bad night's sleep may result in a spike in blood pressure that night and the following day, according to new research led by the University of Arizona. The study offers one possible explanation for why sleep problems have been shown to increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death from cardiovascular disease. Overall, those who had lower sleep efficiency showed an increase in blood pressure during that restless night. They also had higher systolic blood pressure—the top number in a patient's blood pressure reading—the next day. "Blood pressure is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular health,"...

Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person’s breathing pauses during sleep. The pauses may be brief or last several minutes, according to information from the National Institutes of Health. Fisher, 60, suffered a medical emergency on an international flight on Dec. 23. Her mother, longtime movie star Debbie Reynolds, died the following day. ... Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, said he was not surprised by the results... “I would tell you, from my perspective that there’s certainly no news that Carrie did drugs,” Todd Fisher said. He noted that his sister wrote extensively about her drug use, and that...

- The nighttime breathing difficulties of obstructive sleep apnea have long been linked to an increase in cardiovascular risks. However, a new study throws confusion into that link. While treatment with CPAP did lower sleep apnea symptoms, it did nothing to lower users' long-term odds for heart attack, stroke or heart-related death. ... McEvoy believes that, for one thing, prior observational studies may have "overestimated" the link between sleep apnea and cardiovascular outcomes. If the link is weaker than was thought, then curbing sleep apnea might not bring about as big a heart benefit as hoped, he reasoned. Another factor...

I've had issues with sleep for a lot of my life, off and on. Currently I have the "can't stay asleep, can't go back to sleep" form of what my doctor has diagnosed as insomnia. Mild to moderate Sleep Apnea appears to be at least a contributory factor.

Can anyone recommend a good CPAP supplies website?

About 28 million Americans have sleep apnea, which causes repeated awakenings and pauses in breathing during the night, sometimes resulting in loud snoring and gasps for air. For decades, the standard treatment has been “continuous positive airway pressure.” A mask worn at night pushes air into the nasal passages, enabling easier breathing. C.P.A.P. reduces and in some cases completely prevents episodes of apnea. But the mask is like something from a bad science fiction movie: big, bulky and obtrusive. Many patients simply refuse to wear it or rip it off while asleep. Studies show that about half of all people...

I was just diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and waiting for a my prescription for my CPAP machine. I'm just wondering if there are any Freepers who've had experience with CPAP. Any hints? Tips? Websites? Will I ever be able to stop using it?

Sleep apnea is commonly diagnosed by way of measuring airflow by nasal pressure, temperature, and/or carbon dioxide, through sensors placed in the nose. However, this method is uncomfortable to some and can potentially disturb sleep. But new research, presented at CHEST 2007, the 73rd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that remote infrared imaging can monitor airflow and accurately detect abnormalities during sleep, without ever coming in contact with the patient. The study indicates that the new method is ideal because it is portable and can monitor sleep in a natural environment. “Polysomnography...

LONDON (Reuters) - Kept awake at night by a snoring partner? The answer to your woes could lie -- believe it or not -- with the Australian didgeridoo. Researchers in Switzerland examined 25 patients who suffered from snoring and moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, both common sleep disorders. Half the group were given daily lessons in playing the didgeridoo, a wind instrument about 1.5 meters (yards) long which originated in northern Australia and is traditionally made from the trunk of a tree hollowed out by termites. The study, published in the British Medical Journal's online edition on Friday, found that...

BOSTON (Reuters) - The common form of sleep apnea, in which the throat closes off throughout the night, at least doubles the risk of stroke or death, a study released on Wednesday showed. The researchers at Yale University also raised questions about whether existing apnea treatments reduced that risk, the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed. A separate Canadian study also published in the journal concluded that breathing machines used to treat a form of apnea common in people with heart failure do not prevent death or the need for a heart transplant. About 4 percent...

The prevalence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and its associated attention, hyperactivity and concentration problems among American children has been steadily on the rise in recent years. The US Centers for Disease Control now estimates that eight percent of children suffer from ADHD, and more than half of them are being treated with drugs like Ritalin. But according to a study conducted by Israeli researchers, if your child is showing symptoms associated with ADHD, it's possible that they're suffering from sleep apnea or other sleep disorders. The researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Sleep Medicine Center conclude that ADHD-diagnosed children...