What did people do before CPAP?

[lullaby]

Sleep

[chunkyfrog]

Sleep; or die trying.

[peterg]

Sleep; or die trying.

I read on this forum that they would sometimes do a tracheoctomy (cut a hole in the throat and put a breathing tube on). the prefect soliution for those who cannot face a mask or can't afford a machine.

(people in the old days were also more allowed to beat their wives and kids first thing in the morning , go to war, drink themselves to death in good company without paying too many taxes , and blame the other races).

[Kairosgrammy]

My brother and sister were both diagnosed with OSA before I was. My sister wasn't even that bad a snorer but she still had severe apnea. I would say my mother had severe apnea. Snoring was horrid and I remember the irregularity and gasping and such. She died at the age of 49 due to cardiac arrest. My brother and sister probably both had sleep apnea from childhood. They are both deceased and I'm convinced that had they been diagnosed years ahead of when they were finally diagnosed, they would be alive today along with my mother. It's even possible my father had sleep apnea but he was also an alcoholic so it was hard to determine what was what with him. I have two brothers still living, one who has heart problems who probably have OSA but don't think they do.

Researchers say OSA has a genetic component. I have severe OSA (AHI=66.7) with a short but large diameter neck and very small airway. Half my throat is closed off by large tonsillar pillars (I never had my tonsils out).

[chunkyfrog]

Alcoholism often starts out as self-medication.
Depression quickly comes to mind; but sleep disorders/lack of restful sleep, make sense, as well.
As long as alcoholism is treated as a moral, rather than a medical issue, there is no hope for a cure.
A-A has too much power for science to ever be used in the treatment of alcoholics.
Most of us are naturally so disgusted at drunken behavior,
it is too easy to ignore the fact that it may be more a matter of illness than of moral weakness.
Just my opinion-and even MY prejudices get in the way.

[ChicagoGranny]

What did people do before CPAP?

Wake up dead.

[JohnBFisher]

... What did people do before CPAP? ...

They died. My grandfather had all the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea. His snoring was frightening. It runs in my family. My mother has it. I have it. My daughter has it. ... But when my grandfather was alive, it was not understood or diagnosed. He died at a fairly early age of 62. He just never woke up from his afternoon nap. I have no doubt his sleep apnea led to his early death.

[Kairosgrammy]

Quite true. That's why I really don't drink. There is a marked tendency for it to run in families so I figure if I don't drink, I'll be fine. I guess by the age of 60, I might be safe. Alcoholism, I know is a disease, but the behavior of the alcoholic can do a lot of damage in families, particularly when the alcoholic doesn't admit that he does have the disease. For years, he ruined every holiday because he'd end up throwing an alcoholic fit of some sort. It took a lot of effort to come to terms with the behavior and even knowing it is a disease, really does little to alleviate the damage an alcoholic's behavior does to a family. My father, after his first round of heart attacks, went to rehab on the doctor's orders. He checked himself out after maybe a week. He died a year later. Sad. He was such in intelligent guy but just could never accept that his alcoholism was damaging his body and his mind.

Alcoholism often starts out as self-medication.
Depression quickly comes to mind; but sleep disorders/lack of restful sleep, make sense, as well.
As long as alcoholism is treated as a moral, rather than a medical issue, there is no hope for a cure.
A-A has too much power for science to ever be used in the treatment of alcoholics.
Most of us are naturally so disgusted at drunken behavior,
it is too easy to ignore the fact that it may be more a matter of illness than of moral weakness.
Just my opinion-and even MY prejudices get in the way.