Talk:Sleep apnea

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Some text in this article was originally taken from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sleep_apnea/sleep_apnea.htm (public domain)


Contents

[edit] Shocked that this article lacks a section on driving

I recently went to my doctor for hypersomnia and was told I might have sleep apnea. I wanted to schedule a test but first had to sign a paper claiming that I had read the risks of driving w/ sleep apnea. It is basically a print out of this: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/Sleep%20Apnea/index.htm

I asked my doctor if they can revoke my license for having sleep apnea and he said most likely not, but that I can get sued for being in a crash. It's unlikely I will get sued if I am being treated, but I decided to just not get tested and will resort to self-medicating my fatigue with amphetamine. ANYWAY! My point is that this is a big issue with sleep apnea and some states are thinking about revoking licenses from people who have sleep disorders.

I would appreciate if somebody can look more into this and put up section in the main article. I have added a stub to get the ball rolling. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.249.64.128 (talk) 21:08, 3 December 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Order of central and obstructive sections

To me having the section for the less common form of apnea appearing first seems counterintuitive. If this was recommended as an article by a sleep lab for patients to read it would be preferable for the most common cause to occur first, with less common following. Please correct me however if the current order was used for a particular purpose.-- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.124.78.211 (talk) 13:11, 25 December 2006 (UTC).

This reader also agrees with this recommendation. OSA is always listed first in general information articles about sleep apnea.
Unfortunately, it appears that when this was rearranged, the "treatment" section got misplaced. I moved it back to its proper place, since all the treatment information is about OSA, not CSA. — Lawrence King (talk) 05:00, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Public Examples"

Do we really know that every single one of these people has sleep apnea?

From the standpoint of being an encyclopedia, it's important that we meet these key policies here:

More important than that, however, is that we're pronouncing stuff to the world about people's personal medical health. Anything we write here has to meet Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons.

I suggest either deleting the whole section or else deleting any name that's not footnote with a reliable source. --A. B. (talk) 12:50, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I second the call to remove the section simply because it adds nothing to the article 207.157.65.2 20:18, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Word up. Removed. 130.126.196.123 04:23, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Polysomnograph

It appears that managing OSAS without polysomnography is actually pretty well possible.[1] JFW | T@lk 07:10, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Build to a higher than "jewish" level (hypercapnia).

I am a layman reading this article, but was quite disturbed when I read the following: "the concentration of carbon dioxide will build to a higher than jewish level (hypercapnia)", someone with the expertise please clear up such nonsense.

80.165.240.102 09:34, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Martin Hansen, Denmark

A vandal inserted "jewish" on 14 February; I spotted and reverted this about 45 minutes later.[2][3] Are you still seeing that somehow 2 days later? If so there's some sort of software bug that needs reporting.
In any event, thanks for the report. --A. B. (talk) 16:48, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Central Sleep Apnea

There is no "Treatment" section. Can this please be added? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sjschultz (talk • contribs) 06:55, 20 February 2007

I added a very tiny bit, but hopefully someone can add more. — Lawrence King (talk) 05:07, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "New Method: Throat, Jaw and Tongue Exercises"

This section appears to be advertising. Any qualms with a major rewrite? --Wootonius 23:17, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

  • This was totally spam inserted here and into Snoring article. I have removed it and warned the user. --killing sparrows 23:59, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Page separation

This page has grown into a huge size. I think it should be separated. Perhaps OSA and CSA can have their own page.--Countincr ( T@lk ) 20:31, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I think that three pages are currently wanted:
  • sleep apnea to introduce the general concept and explain that there are three major types: obstructive, central, and complex
  • obstructive sleep apnea, and
  • central sleep apnea.

Does anyone object to this approach? WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:49, 14 January 2008 (UTC)


Since there were no objections, I've started this process. The new OSA page should be ready for you within the hour. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:39, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pickwickian syndrome

In modern usage in the US, pickwickian syndrome is not the same as OSA. Pickwickian syndrome connotes usually very severe OSA associated with morbid obesity, along with restrictive lung disease due to the weight of the patient's chest wall upon the lungs. The result is severe hypoxemia and hypercapnea which often leads to cor pulmonale. Treating the OSA with CPAP often improves the condition greatly, as it gives the patient's diaphragm some rest which allows them to make a better breathing effort during the daytime. Tracheostomy is still used in extreme cases. If the patient can lose wieght that would obviously be the best. This is different than OSA as most cases of OSA that are seen do not involve daytime hypoxemia and hypercapnea, as the patients are not usually so obese as to have their chest walls literally squashing the life out of them. I'm not sure if this distinction holds true in the medical terminology outside of the US, but if so, the section on history should be changed to note that OSA is a component of pickwickian syndrome, but they are not equivalent. 139.127.225.36 12:17, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I wish medicine would follow the taxonomy standards of the sciences. Plant and animal species are characterized by descriptions PLUS voucher specimens which are preserved, e.g. in herbaria for plants. Then, that specimen and its description defines that species. If variations are found, e.g., in other continents, they are defined on basis of a new voucher specimen and labeled subspecies, variations, cultivars, or new species as per the taxonomy rules. I wish clinical medicine would follow the same rules. Then we wouldn't be discussing what really is this or that syndrome. Jclerman 13:56, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sleep apnea and obesity?

It's common lore that there is a high correlation between obesity and sleep apnea. i didn't notice anything about this in the article (though i did skim quickly).

If it's in there somewhere it might be good to make easier to find. if it's not there it would be worth adding.

Questions to address:

-- Is there a documented correlation between obesity and sleep apnea?

-- Is there a documented causal relationship?

-- If so, does losing weight tend to [reduce or eliminate] the sleep apnea? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.80.214.27 (talk) 14:01, 13 November 2007 (UTC)


My understanding is that there is a statistical correlation, but that it's not a causative link. I'll see if I can find some good data and insert it somewhere appropriate --Minerva9 (talk) 23:50, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] this is NOT a symptom

"The most serious consequence of obstructive sleep apnea is to the heart. In severe and prolonged cases, there are increases in pulmonary pressures that are transmitted to the right side of the heart. This can result in a severe form of congestive heart failure (cor pulmonale)." is in the symptom section. it is a RESULT. Please fix it. -Winter123 (talk) 09:04, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Is there any reason you couldn't fix it yourself?--NapoliRoma (talk) 18:38, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] CPAP == NIV?

The treatment described in the article as "CPAP" sounds very like the treatment prescribed for me, except that in my case it was called "NIV" (which is an initialism for "Non-Invasive (positive-pressure) Ventilation", "non-invasive" meaning delivered via a face mask rather than via a tracheostomy.  Are these in fact two slightly different treatments, or is this (as I suspect) simply another difference between AmericanEnglish and British English?

Perhaps this information could be checked further, and if verified, added to the article? 86.145.251.4 (talk) 09:38, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] CPAP section edited

I edited the paragraph about CPAP to include a reference that cites CPAP as the most common form of treatment for sleep apnea --Minerva9 (talk) 23:44, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Section references

Should the Section references for Clinical details be merged into the References section? Temporaluser (talk) 22:11, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

That'd be nice, but I'm not sure what parts of that long section these references are supposed to support. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:35, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] External links

Wikipedia's external links policy and the specific guidelines for medicine-related articles do not permit the inclusion of external links to non-encyclopedic material, particularly including internet chat boards and e-mail discussion groups. Because I realize that most normal editors haven't spent much time with these policies, please let me provide specific information from the guidelines:

  • This page, which applies to all articles in the entire encyclopedia, says that links "to social networking sites (such as MySpace or Fan sites), discussion forums/groups (such as Yahoo! Groups), USENET newsgroups or e-mail lists" are to be avoided.
  • This page deprecates ""helpful" external links, such as forums, self-help groups and local charities."
  • This medical-specific page reinforces the pan-Wiki rules, with a note that "All links must meet Wikipedia's external links guidelines, which in particular exclude discussion forums."

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and while it may occasionally be useful to patients or their families, it is not an advertising opportunity for support groups. Please do not re-insert links that do not conform to the standard rules.

I have also removed a recent addition because it had nine Google AdSense advertisements for every eight short sentences that might be construed as content. Any editor, BTW, is welcome to read all of the rules and perform an "audit" in the remaining links. Thanks, WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:06, 24 April 2008 (UTC)