Cervical Positional Effects on Snoring and Apneas

[Snoredog]

Check this out, it is worth a read:

http://med.stanford.edu/school/psychiatry/humansleep/

Here it is in PDF format:
http://www.sro.org/pdf/2446.pdf

[woozle]

wow - thanks so much for bringing that here - that is great stuff - I am trying to figure out why my mild osa went to severe last yr for now apparent reason - and I figured out that the base of my neck started to really hurt like 3 months before I started getting severe osa - and since the pain in my neck is EXACTLY in line with my tongue/pallete - I really wonder if maybe something is pushing where it shouldnt' from my neck area - I have the dreaded abnormal and smaller neck size, not typical larger neck size for osa

so this article really helps and I'm gonna bring it to my next doc appt. to see if I can't get more inof on the neck and relationship etc. and see if I get my neck fixed if that might help the osa go back to milder
where - anyway, thanks

[oldgearhead]

Wow that doesn't say much of anything!

Were the subjests using their xPAP machines?
Did they have to sleep on their backs?
How about a diagram of the pillow?
I find the CPR position to be very uncomfortable, don't you?

[Sleepless in St. Louis]

Look at the pdf oldgearhead that was posted. Link to the website goes nowhere fast, but the pdf has the article the OP was trying to get across.

[Slinky]

I never had a sleep problem of any kind UNTIL a whiplash in 1994. I haven't slept good since. Tho, thanks to PAP, I am doing better now. Despite clear radiological evidence of cervical hyperextension and a small bone chip not one medical professional I've seen since has made any acknowledgement of a possible connection w/my sleep and that whiplash despite my repeatedly insisting I had NO sleep problems UNTIL that whiplash. Duh!

That whiplash ended my lifelong habit of sleeping on my stomach. THAT alone should have tipped someone off that there was a connection. It sure did me! Sleep apnea never occurred to me, but I sure was very much aware that my sleep problems had SOMETHING to do w/that whiplash!

[drbandage]

I can't wait to read this! I just love the title alone.

Thanks for sifting through the "stuff" to get the most relevant info out there for those of us who are active in treating ourselves.

More later after I read it.

Thanks.

[Katerama]

Slinky, I was SO glad to read your post. Prior to my whiplash, I suffered from plain old insomnia - I couldn't fall asleep. But since I wasn't really tired either, it didn't bug me too much.
Suddenly, after a car accident, I was exhausted, falling asleep all the time, and having many different kinds of sleep related problems. I finally had a sleep study and was diagnosed with OSA. I am 99% certain that I didn't have it before the accident. Unfortunately, there was no literature out there to correlate this, so I'm reduced to labeling it a coincidence.
However, since you experienced the same thing, perhaps someone will start studying the possiblity that changes in neck structure post-whiplash has some effect on apnea??

[Vader]

I never had a sleep problem of any kind UNTIL a whiplash in 1994. I haven't slept good since. Tho, thanks to PAP, I am doing better now. Despite clear radiological evidence of cervical hyperextension and a small bone chip not one medical professional I've seen since has made any acknowledgement of a possible connection w/my sleep and that whiplash despite my repeatedly insisting I had NO sleep problems UNTIL that whiplash. Duh!

That whiplash ended my lifelong habit of sleeping on my stomach. THAT alone should have tipped someone off that there was a connection. It sure did me! Sleep apnea never occurred to me, but I sure was very much aware that my sleep problems had SOMETHING to do w/that whiplash!

I wonder how many of us suffered whiplash as a result of a car accident?
It would be interesting to find out if there is a correlation with OSA, and to what degree.

An awful lot of people have experienced whiplash from car accidents.
I'd dare say most people have, or at some point will be involved in a car accident as some point in their lives.
I was in an accident a little over 40 years ago, and I'm starting to feel the effects of arthritis in my neck as well.

The only reason I stopped using my UMFF mask was because it's been aggravating my neck, the way that bulky mask props it up on the pillow. My Doctor told me to stop using a cervical pillow, because it can also prop your neck up too much.
In addition, I now use a smaller mask, which is definitely quite helpful in that regard.

[Guest]

I had a car accident and severe whiplash several years ago, though most of my sleep symptoms were present before then. Still, I think that many of my worst symptoms have gotten worse since the accident.

Rachael (can't login from work.)

[Slinky]

It took me several months after the whiplash before I discovered that sleeping on a down pillow allowed me to sleep considerably better. The down pillow squishes down so much thinner than a regular pillow.

My husband had experienced a whiplash several years prior and it took about 2 weeks before the pain subsided. So I FOOLISHLY refused a trip to the hospital and didn't go to the doctor until some THREE weeks after the whiplash when I still had a lot of pain, etc. Too late for effective treatment.

Also, altho I didn't hit my head (seatbelt on) and didn't "pass out" I did "black out", excruciating pain across my forehead, couldn't see, couldn't move, but I COULD hear traffic sounds and people asking if I was alright. I just couldn't see, move or respond. I don't know how long that lasted, it seemed like forever, but I am sure was just a matter of a minute or maybe even seconds.

To this day tho, you can see the difference in my posture. I have a much more "head forward" position than prior to the whiplash. We were surprised to notice that in two pictures taken, one about 2 months prior to the accident and the other about 6 months after the accident.