SleepGuy wrote:Now featuring an outstanding quote from a Doctor stating that OSA is like being assaulted every night all night by your own sleep disorder . . . .that if someone tried to smother you with a pillow all night you'd call the police!
just perfect!
Previously, I have posted here that every night, all night long, your subconscious mind is "awakened" to the deafening sound of an Air Raid siren at 120 decibels, and a very bright flashing red strobe light rapidly blinking the word:
SUFFOCATION
over and over. Way worse than the most annoying car alarm going off, at least as far as the body perceives it.
There is no physiologic signal stronger than oxygen deprivation to the brain. The body would and does choose to shunt blood (and the precious oxygen it carries) from any and all organs, including the heart, to be sure the brain gets first dibs. (Obviously, there are certain disorders where the issues get very complicated, but I don't want to stray from the basic facts with too much detail).
It's as if the body arouses with a JOLT, and accompanying that is a tremendous flood of stimulants and stress hormones, such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol. We all know the "fight or flight" syndrome. It's the Sympathetic Nervous system at work.
Suppose somebody were to sneak up on you in the dark and lunge at you when you least expect it. Your heart races, the endocrine system instantly pumps out inordinately powerful stimulants. During sleep for those with OSA we are incessantly confronted with a similar phenomenon and the accompanying RED ALERT, each time our oxygen levels drop below the "Thresh Hold". (Another cruel twist is to just hover around that critical desaturation level, getting just enough oxygen on board to avoid the arousal, but not enough to provide the oxygenation that the body needs to stay healthy. The desaturation graph is remarkable for a very precipitous drop around the mid to upper eighty percent range for most people).
Repetitive apneic events disrupt the normal physiologic interactions between sleep and the cardiovascular system. Sleep fragmentation, with its accompanying increased sympathetic activation triggers vascular endothelial dysfunction, increased oxidative stress, inflammation, increased platelet aggregability, metabolic dysregulation and undoubtedly helps initiate and accelerate the progression of cardiac and vascular disease. Persuasive data implicate OSA in the development of hypertension, and OSA contribute to cardiac ischemia, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and cerebrovascular disease and stroke.
At least if you have been lunged at and gotten away, you KNOW to avoid ever going down that dark alley again. OSA, conversely, does not tip its hand. Your conscious mind has virtually no recollection of the dozens and dozens of times your Sirens and Alarms have abruptly gone off during your night's sleep. Often times, the only evidence that it occurs at all is grim, and can be found in the obituary column.
Are you sleeping with the Enemy?
SLEEPY can be CREEPY. Know Your SNORE SCORE.
I'd still love to see bumper stickers and eye candy on waiting room pamphlets, etc, that tell the story a little bit differently than what common perception is.
I hope it doesn't seem too repetitive to mention again the subject that I alluded to here:
Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:10 pm
I had a mini brain storm today about how to change public and medical perception to better understand that "sleepy", as cuddly and cute as it can sound, may be a very subtle sign that something more ominous, even deadly, may be brewing.
Sleepy. It sound so innocuous. So dreamy. So, benign. So go have a nap, if you're sleepy. I'll bring your blankie, and maybe some cookies and milk. People seem peaceful when they are getting their refreshing sleep. Just makes me want to layout in a hammock and have a snooze, a siesta. Makes me want to have the luxury of "sleeping in" on the weekend.
Siesta, snooze, a nap. I think Somerset Maughm said the two most beautiful words in the English language were "summer breeze".
Sleep - the Silent Assassin.
Nah, too strong, but we have to be able to bring into the public and medical eye the notion that sleepy may be very fine, but it can also be the ONLY early tipoff to a very deadly disease, a disease that is devastating and often fatal when undetected.
The other notion I think needs to be in the front of the public cranium is that, if sleepy can be creepy, they also need to know that a simple little test can put their mind at ease, or even save their life. I know from personal experience that patients hang on every word awaiting the quantitative results of their labs and their radiographic studies (MRI, CT, x-ray, etc.) Bottom line is that they need to know that something is measurable, and that there is normal (or negative), or it's abnormal (e.g. too high, too low, etc.).
How many patients know that snoring can be evaluated in the same way? If you're sleepy, get more rest. Do you have iron poor blood? Get geritol! Has your get up and go gotten up and went? Lots of people will use the word "tired", or "worn out", when a more accurate description might very well be "sleepy". Maybe you're tired because you're a "restless sleeper", a "light sleeper", or you're "depressed". All fairly vague, hard to measure notions.
If you tell a doctor that you're "tired", it conjures up all sorts of explanations, On the other hand, if you tell a doc that you're "sleepy,"l I believe it conjures up something quite significantly different to most docs. And it's a difference that makes a huge difference. It may seem subtle, but it is a numbers game and any tipoffs that lead the doctor to understand that your chief complaint is "sleepy" (
not "tired") are going to payoff in lives saved. It really is that simple.
So, what if people were very well aware that snoring (and it's cousin, sleepiness) were quantifiable, and measurable with reliable results?? You cannot believe how many people come to the doc and say " I want an MRI. I want to know what's going on inside there." Anywhere there is a suspected problem, the MRI is requested. And I can see why.
Why don't people know to request a simple "at home" ovenight sleep study when they have complaints of overwhelming fatigue and sleepiness? 'Tis not my area of expertise, I 'm just learning myself, but I know there are sleep strips, and other fairly cheap, simple tests besides the PSG.
So, without further ado, here's something that people need to know:
Are you sleeping with the Enemy?
SLEEPY can be CREEPY. Know Your SNORE SCORE.
Do you think that is a message with impact, that conveys what is described above? We need some PR, and the right kind, if this is going to get the attention it deserves. BTW, if y'all think the slogan is a non-starter, I can handle that, too. But it kind of grabbed me because it is simple, a little scary and that is the entire extent of my "marketing" expertise.
And so ends another late night ramble . . .