Ask Dr. Park About Sleep Apnea

Please don't think I was knocking Dr. Park in any way. I'm well aware of the help people get from him... but coming from a lifetime of processing research papers for med. journals for many MD's, I just thought it was a good idea to throw a bit of caution in there. There are so many celebrity-type of people these days pushing whatever agendas they have and while Dr. Park probably does not really fit that category as such, it doesn't hurt to keep an open mind on things. That's all.

Julie wrote:Please don't think I was knocking Dr. Park in any way. I'm well aware of the help people get from him... but coming from a lifetime of processing research papers for med. journals for many MD's, I just thought it was a good idea to throw a bit of caution in there. There are so many celebrity-type of people these days pushing whatever agendas they have and while Dr. Park probably does not really fit that category as such, it doesn't hurt to keep an open mind on things. That's all.

Yours was a good and perfectly balancing comment IMHO, Julie. And I appreciated GaryG's first-hand experience as well.

The day people quit openly sharing well-intended and rational views on this message board, is the day I'll paddle along to the next tropical island in cyberspace...

-SWS wrote:

Julie wrote:Please don't think I was knocking Dr. Park in any way. I'm well aware of the help people get from him... but coming from a lifetime of processing research papers for med. journals for many MD's, I just thought it was a good idea to throw a bit of caution in there. There are so many celebrity-type of people these days pushing whatever agendas they have and while Dr. Park probably does not really fit that category as such, it doesn't hurt to keep an open mind on things. That's all.

Yours was a good and perfectly balancing comment IMHO, Julie. And I appreciated GaryG's first-hand experience as well.

The day people quit openly sharing well-intended and rational views on this message board, is the day I'll paddle along to the next tropical island in cyberspace...

Agreed, and I'll meet you there. (Don't forget to pack the margarita machine!)

-SWS wrote:

Julie wrote: I would hate to see people... ignore or reject much of what else is out there in OSA research land.

Given our motley and analytically argumentative "vast crowd"... I honestly don't think you have much to worry about, Julie.

Hey, who's argumentative? What do you mean by that? Argumentative in what way? Do you have evidence that there are actually arguments here?



Well said, -SWS.

I would say that this whole OSA/CPAP thing needs as many "celebrity" types as it can get.

I have quoted Dr. Park many times, myself. But hey, he once quoted me, a patient new to PAP therapy, in a forum! How many doctors do that--quote US as patients? It impresses me that he reads the posts of patients in forums and at times interacts with patients online and in person, away from his practice and away from the context of his published works.

Dr. Park is interesting in how he encourages open dialog on controversial subjects. I am glad he is willing to take that risk in so public and balanced a manner. He says some things "out loud" that need saying but few are willing to say. Sure, no one person has all the answers, and he has made it clear that he does not claim to have them. After all, he humbly moderates public interviews to highlight the work of others. I can understand why some might bristle at any remote hint of self-promotion by a professional in a forum such as this one, but I believe it is more a matter of his using himself to promote the cause. And that is how it has to be done in this day and age, in my opinion.

I believe that his posts, as well as his manner in person the few times I have spoken with him face-to-face, prove him to be a perfect gentleman and a caring man when dealing with patients and professionals alike. If more authors, sleep doctors, and surgeons followed his example in those areas, I would go out of my way to quote them too.

jeff

I bit--I'll be calling in on Tuesday unless something gets in the way. 5pm is tricky for me.

I bought Sleep Interrupted on Rooster's recommendation and I'm not sorry. I've only scanned it so far. What I've read makes sense. If there is a message as to what to do next with the information in the book it's eluding me so far, but as I said I haven't read it cover to cover yet.

Since the purchase I'm frankly put off by the number and sometimes the style of the follow-up emails that seem to want more of my dollars. It's hard these days to tell which online entrepreneurs are worth the investment and hard not to paint certain types of email and web pages with the same brush as "lose 10 pounds in 10 days (with no work)". I'm withholding judgment and my pocketbook for the moment. Again, the book set well with me and I'm in exploratory mode. Gerry, thank you for sharing your personal experiences with Dr. Park.

GaryG wrote:[.

Julie, I went to Dr. Park last week as a 2nd opinion for my deviated septum and inflamed turbinates. He has great enthusisam for the field of OSA. He means well, although perhaps he may be somewhat over-advertised on the web. He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events. I had an appointment with him and he spent about 45 minutes with me in discussion. He is all for patients being actively involved in their therapy, and encourages it.[/quote]

Gary, I was wondering if you told Dr.Park of your pressure experiment or brought some reports with you. If so, did he have anything else to add?

GaryG wrote: I went to Dr. Park last week as a 2nd opinion for my deviated septum and inflamed turbinates. He has great enthusisam for the field of OSA. He means well, although perhaps he may be somewhat over-advertised on the web. He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events. I had an appointment with him and he spent about 45 minutes with me in discussion. He is all for patients being actively involved in their therapy, and encourages it.

Gary, Any new courses of action? Did he perform a laryngoscope?

DoriC wrote:He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events.

I'm curious too, is there any advice about this, or does one just go by how you feel (i.e. refreshed after sleep)?

Rested Gal writes...Dr. Park's point #5 seems to agree with your good observation, Captain_Midnight: 5. They constantly monitor the data from their machines to work with the sleep doctor and equipment company, making constant adjustments and fine tuning various settings.

Thanks for the info, RG! (And thanks also for the diplomatic grace in barely revealing that I could have just read the link).

I will absolutely look into Dr. Parks website and book(s).

Kind regards all for a Happy New Year!


.

GaryG wrote:

Julie wrote:The only thing that worries me here is that Dr. Park seems to be cropping up more and more on the forum in one way or another and I would hate to see people beginning to assume that, while he may be very knowledgable, he is some kind of guru, and ignore or reject much of what else is out there in OSA research land. The science is too new to be coming to final conclusions yet and I think we should just keep that in mind.

Julie, I went to Dr. Park last week as a 2nd opinion for my deviated septum and inflamed turbinates. He has great enthusisam for the field of OSA. He means well, although perhaps he may be somewhat over-advertised on the web. He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events. I had an appointment with him and he spent about 45 minutes with me in discussion. He is all for patients being actively involved in their therapy, and encourages it.

Gary

A great heads-up on the value of Dr Park. We old-time regulars know of his merits.

It sometimes seems that we here at cpaptalk are so into every aspect of the therapy that we are ready to 'slay dragons' we come up against such as even professionals who seem 'slow off the mark'.

cpaptalk is pretty much state-of-the-art in the sense that we have a 'ton' of very talented (& sometimes aggressive) non-medical people (who have their own expertise fields) who in turn have come together here in battle against 'OSA/CA' (which unfortunately is an immature branch of medicine) & many of us are ready to shred anyone who gets in our 'apparent' way. !

Dr Park is a welcome medico who is clearly doing a good job in reaching us plebs !.

DSM

DoriC wrote:

GaryG wrote:Julie, I went to Dr. Park last week as a 2nd opinion for my deviated septum and inflamed turbinates. He has great enthusisam for the field of OSA. He means well, although perhaps he may be somewhat over-advertised on the web. He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events. I had an appointment with him and he spent about 45 minutes with me in discussion. He is all for patients being actively involved in their therapy, and encourages it.

Gary, I was wondering if you told Dr.Park of your pressure experiment or brought some reports with you. If so, did he have anything else to add?

Of course I came with all of my results. And he looked thru them. He's more interested in how I felt vs the numbers.

rooster wrote:

GaryG wrote: I went to Dr. Park last week as a 2nd opinion for my deviated septum and inflamed turbinates. He has great enthusisam for the field of OSA. He means well, although perhaps he may be somewhat over-advertised on the web. He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events. I had an appointment with him and he spent about 45 minutes with me in discussion. He is all for patients being actively involved in their therapy, and encourages it.

Gary, Any new courses of action? Did he perform a laryngoscope?

I don't now what it was, but he did do the deal where he inserted a tube thru the nostril and took pictures of the septum and turbinates. And he spent some time reviewing the pictures with me, showing and explaining them, and how one side was perfectly fine, contrasting with the other side.

Before suggesting a course of action for my septum and turbinates, he came up with a small experiment for me to try. He told me to try Afrin for 3 nights, try the breath rite nasal strips for 3 nights, and possibly try both for 3 nights. He also told me to google "nozovent" and look into trying that as well. And he told me to take notes, to see what works the best. Based on my results, he would recommend the type of treatment to pursue.

I did walk away thinking perhaps he is a bit too interested in pursuing surgical options for septum/turbinates, but maybe I'm making a big deal out of this. He is interested in improving the patients breathing experience.

Tried Afrin for 2 nights, and nose felt way too dry (and my numbers shot up). Tried nasal strips for a couple of nights, and these are great for me. So still plugging away.

However, as a side point, I tried to fill out a patient survey on a link I was sent which didn't work, and then sent a note on that, only to receive a canned reply about his upcoming lecture, instead of a reply to my concern. So I'd say he has to work on his email system, but heck, anyone can have a bad day.

Scarlet834 wrote:

DoriC wrote:He does put the current CPAP machines in perspective, by mentioning that I most likely have UARS events (breathing stopping less than 10 seconds), and as of now, most machines do not measure these events.

I'm curious too, is there any advice about this, or does one just go by how you feel (i.e. refreshed after sleep)?

He commented on how new this whole field is. He did mention there is a new machine out that does measure these events, but didn't mention the model.

Gary,

I have a deviated septum and would like to try the "experiment". What is the experiment supposed to determine? (e.g., whether septoplasty would "cure" your sleep disordered breathing?). Can you please give me very specific details on how to do it? (e.g., # of sprays per nostril, how close to bedtime, use with CPAP or without, etc.) What outcome are you looking at (e.g., how tired you feel the next day, what your AHI is on the machine for that night, or what)?

Thanks!

Before suggesting a course of action for my septum and turbinates, he came up with a small experiment for me to try. He told me to try Afrin for 3 nights, try the breath rite nasal strips for 3 nights, and possibly try both for 3 nights. He also told me to google "nozovent" and look into trying that as well. And he told me to take notes, to see what works the best. Based on my results, he would recommend the type of treatment to pursue.

The PR System One REMStar Auto claims to detect, but not treat, RERAs. Not sure what it uses as a proxy for a true RERArousal, as obviously it can't tell if there has been an arousal.

He commented on how new this whole field is. He did mention there is a new machine out that does measure these events, but didn't mention the model.