"Apnea, meet your old friend allergy."
Question:
Just wanted to again address this idea of sleep apnea being the insidious, long-term consequence of simple nasal allergy. Of the Bernoulli implosion of airway structures due to increased airflow velocity within the upper airway to compensate for allergic restriction of the inlet proper. One argument against this might be the following: "Oh, the idea that allergy is implicated in the origins of sleep apnea has already been thought out and invalidated. There are thousands of researchers, ya know. They have already considered whether allergy may the etiology of apnea, but have resoundingly discounted the idea and have moved on to more viable and plausible etiologies." However, if this were a depiction of what really happened, then why do physicians today deny and discount the all-pervasive and ubiquitous allergy in CPAP compliance, and in long-term success of CPAP? After all, is it not true that allergy is the single most pervasive complicator of CPAP success in all of CPAP history? Is it not true that virtually every apneic you know has some allergic response, barring having not yet been allergy tested? Many allergies present only as membraneous inflammation, and nothing more. Personally, I am riddled with allergies per sophisticated testing, but I don’t sneeze often or hock up many green loagies or blow yellow gelatin out my nose. If the idea of allergy being correlated with apnea has already been denounced, then why the rampant ignorance about allergy AFTER treatment? Why are so MANY physicians in so MANY clinics so reticent to discuss allergy for optimal CPAP success? Isn’t it almost peculiar? <Black Helicopter Mode "ON"> Is this knowledge already in existence, this knowledge that apnea is nothing more than matured allergy, but is suppressed not only from the public, but from most of the researchers (or none at all, you take your pick) to keep the good old governmental funding pouring into the sleep sciences as held tenable by the "National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research"? Is this governmental organization a legitimate think tank or just another contrived and vague department to funnel governmental funds under the guise of a respectable directive? <Black helicopter Mode "OFF"> If they can’t even see blatant allergy post-CPAP, what makes us believe they can see it pre-CPAP? If researchers do not perform, and soon, the simple experiment of precluding an original allergic connection to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, then they are wasting our childrens’ time and money. Such a study would be so straightforward it would hurt your funny bone. Correlations could be made to the number and type of allergens which an apneic reacts to, the prevelence of such allergens in the apneic’s geographical locale, and, the direct proportions of the number and intensity of allergens and allergenic reaction, to the severity and maturity of the sleep apnea. A kid could do such an experiment. For instance, let’s say a person is allergic to grasses, weeds, cats, dogs, butterflies, dirt, and water. And let’s say this person has been diagnosed as severe sleep apnea with severe desaturations. Now, let us say that another person is allergic to only grasses and weeds. And let’s say this person has been diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea with moderate desaturations. Might a linear correlation avail itself here? Furthermore, complicating factors, such as degree of reactivity for each allergen, could be implemented into the equation; or, percentage models could be designed for geographical prevalence of said allergens, and then assimilated into the correlation. The RDI and desaturations in a state of breached obstruction could be one marker of maturity, or for "dating" the age of the apnea. The fact of the matter is that because of the rampant denial and ignorance and stupidity and oppressive omission that the medical community has for the role of allergy in treatment efficacy, this is prima facie evidence that any role allergy may have played in etiology is as equally, if not moreso, obscured from scientific view, whether intentionally or not. And if someone doesn’t spend my research taxation money to study the role allergy plays in apnea, and soon, then, well, humpf, well, let me tell you, why, well, this won’t be the last you’ll hear of Earnest T.! They’ve already sold us devices without regard for long-term compliance. Not only should we be livid regarding this profitable and apathetic oversight of theirs, but now they expect us to tolerate their disregarding the allergy component ENTIRELY, as if we can be bounced around like ignorant saps who will follow like sheep? To the sleep researchers, I would like to humbly suggest: STUDY ALLERGIES, AND NOW! Doug —–== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==—– http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
Response:
I think my allergies are associated with my apnea. The irony is that strong decongestants would help if they didn’t keep me up all night!! When I finally do get sleepy, it seems that I sleep better.
