Sleep Apnea Stories

Emma is joined by Dr. Allan Pack, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.  Together they discuss:

* How obstructive sleep apnea patients don't fall neatly into one category.

* Use of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and other questions to group participants based on their sleepiness and how likely they were to doze.

* Looking at participants in different sleepiness groups and what happened to their sleepiness after 2 years of CPAP.

* Some theories on why people might remain sleepy despite CPAP adherence.

* Dr. Pack talks about the future of diagnostics in sleep using wearables and telehealth.

* Developing biomarkers for obstructive sleep apnea.

Find out more about Dr. Pack and his research here 

This episode is sponsored by 

Inspire https://www.inspiresleep.com/

Airway Management https://tapintosleep.com/

BetterHelp https://www.betterhelp.com/emma

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @sleepapneastories

Email Emma at [email protected]

www.sleepapneastories.com

Disclaimer: this episode of the podcast includes people with sleep apnea discussing their own experiences of medical procedures and devices.  This is for information purposes only and you should consult with your own medical professionals before you start or stop any medication or treatment.

Emma finishes up season 6 with an update on her own journey to improve her sleep apnea.  She covers:

* Her progress with using removable palate expansion appliances and switching from DNA appliances to an mmRNA appliance - seeing airway expansion on a CBCT scan.

* Consulting with an ENT on nasal inflammation solutions.

* Emma explains working with a sleep tech to improve her CPAP settings.

* Simple things that can help some people with sleep apnea - sleep position, inspiratory muscle trainers, myofunctional therapy exercises and buteyko breathwork.

Throat Exercises - https://youtu.be/2nq8YjWIIUI - Dr Vik Veer on his great youtube channel explaining the exercises he has his patients do to strengthen their oropharyngeal muscles.

Buteyko Breathwork - https://buteykoclinic.com/ - they have a lot of free resources including youtube videos with breathwork exercises.

Emma's Article with pics of palate expansion - https://rtsleepworld.com/2022/04/29/seeing-red-my-palate-expansion-journey/

Graham Stoney's blog article on palate expansion techniques from a patient perspective - https://cfs-survivors.org/blog/2020/10/27/why-i-chose-dna-over-homeoblock-mse-dome-mma-and-agga/

Follow the podcast on Instagram @sleepapneastories

This episode is sponsored by: Somnomed https://somnomed.co/en/find-a-clinic/ and Bleep Sleep

Special offer for Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners:

Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners get 20% off Bleep Sleep DreamPorts when shopping with the unique links and codes here:

https://www.sleepapneastories.com/services

Disclaimer: this episode of the podcast includes people with sleep apnea discussing their own experiences of medical procedures and devices.  This is for information purposes only and you should consult with your own medical professionals before you start or stop any medication or treatment.

Emma is joined by Dr. Mike Pagano, a dentist specializing in oral appliance therapy and Mike Durkee, Executive Director of the Wounded Veterans' Relief Fund.  Together they discuss:

* Dr. Pagano and Mike Durkee both share details of their active duty military service.

* Some of the systemic problems preventing oral appliance therapy from being used more widely in the military.

* Dr. Pagano explains a dental sleep medicine program he started at Fort Riley, KS to treat soldiers with obstructive sleep apnea using oral appliances.

* Mike describes his personal journey to diagnosis with sleep apnea and how he went straight to treatment with a CPAP.  He is disappointed he didn't hear about oral appliance therapy at the time of diagnosis.

* Coverage of oral appliance therapy by medical insurance in the United States.

* The need for much more education among dentists, sleep specialists and the general public about the availability and accessibility of oral appliance therapy.

* Future developments in oral appliance therapy tracking chips making it possible to track objective data on a patient's compliance and their treatment efficacy.

* Mike explains the common life circumstances faced by veterans, including homelessness and unemployment, and how the WVRF helps with these.

Learn more about the Wounded Veterans' Relief Fund here: https://wvrf.org/

Learn more about Dr Pagano's dental practice specializing in oral appliance therapy for sleep apnea here: https://vatotalsleep.com/

Follow the podcast on Instagram @sleepapneastories

This episode is sponsored by: Somnomed https://somnomed.co/en/find-a-clinic/ and Bleep Sleep

Special offer for Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners:

Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners get 20% off Bleep Sleep DreamPorts when shopping with the unique links and codes here:

https://www.sleepapneastories.com/services

Disclaimer: this episode of the podcast includes people with sleep apnea discussing their own experiences of medical procedures and devices.  This is for information purposes only and you should consult with your own medical professionals before you start or stop any medication or treatment.

Emma is joined by Renata Nehme, a Myofunctional Therapist and founder of the Airway Circle.  Together they discuss:

* Beginning as a Dental Hygienist and then discovering Myofunctional Therapy training.

* Renata's own story of mouth breathing as a child which she thinks affected her facial development.

* How Myofunctional Therapy can help people with sleep apnea as a secondary therapy, not a first-line treatment.

* Issues in parenting affecting kids' airway and facial development.

* The different ways a tongue-tie can be released.

* Renata talks about setting up the Airway Circle, a group to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among airway professionals.

Follow Renata on Instagram @myomoves

www.myo-moves.com

Follow Airway Circle on Instagram @airwaycircle

www.airwaycircle.com

Follow the podcast on Instagram @sleepapneastories

This episode is sponsored by: Somnomed https://somnomed.co/en/find-a-clinic/ and Bleep Sleep

Special offer for Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners:

Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners get 20% off Bleep Sleep DreamPorts when shopping with the unique links and codes here:

https://www.sleepapneastories.com/services

Disclaimer: this episode of the podcast includes people with sleep apnea discussing their own experiences of medical procedures and devices.  This is for information purposes only and you should consult with your own medical professionals before you start or stop any medication or treatment.

Emma is joined by Ryan Jensen, a professional football player with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Together they discuss:

* Working as a professional athlete and not getting the good quality sleep needed for recovery from training sessions.

* Ryan's journey to diagnosis with sleep apnea and his familiarity with CPAP because his parents both used one. 

* Using a full face mask and struggling with leaking.

* Trying DreamPorts by Bleep Sleep and finding it a better solution than the full face mask.

* Becoming a role model as a professional athlete speaking publicly about living with sleep apnea.

Follow Ryan on Instagram @redman7715

Follow the podcast on Instagram @sleepapneastories

This episode is sponsored by: Somnomed https://somnomed.co/en/find-a-clinic/ Band Bleep Sleep

Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners get 20% off Bleep Sleep DreamPorts when shopping with the unique links and codes here:

https://www.sleepapneastories.com/services

Disclaimer: this episode of the podcast includes people with sleep apnea discussing their own experiences of medical procedures and devices.  This is for information purposes only and you should consult with your own medical professionals before you start or stop any medication or treatment.

Emma is joined by author and journalist, James Nestor.  His book "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art" was released in 2020 and became an international bestseller.  In the book, James discusses how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly - and how to get it back.  Together Emma and James discuss:

* Some of the issues with the current medical system and its approach to treating sleep apnea.

* Getting to the root causes of sleep apnea.  

* Premolar extractions, braces, and headgear - how these orthodontic practices can impact growing faces and airways.

* CPAP headgear pushing faces backward over time and why that's a problem.

* How James has grown new bone in his face and improved his breathing using a palate expansion appliance.

Connect with James, order his books or find his social media handles at https://www.mrjamesnestor.com/

You can find an excellent Q&A about sleep apnea with Dr. Steven Y. Park on James Nestor's website here: https://www.mrjamesnestor.com/faq

A great article by Karin Badt on premolar extractions for orthodontic treatment:

https://karinbadt.medium.com/premolar-extractions-for-orthodontic-treatment-2190344bc7bf

Emma mentioned Project Sleep's Rising Voices speaker training program.  We need YOUR STORY!  The more people with sleep apnea we can find to share their stories, the more we can raise awareness and improve access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment.  If you have sleep apnea and would like to work with Project Sleep to create a presentation you can give in your community and in the media, click here:

https://project-sleep.com/2022-rising-voices-application-now-open/

This episode is sponsored by: Somnomed https://somnomed.co/en/find-a-clinic/ and Bleep Sleep

Sleep Apnea Stories podcast listeners get 20% off Bleep Sleep DreamPorts when shopping with the unique links and codes here:

https://www.sleepapneastories.com/services

Disclaimer: this episode of the podcast includes people with sleep apnea discussing their own experiences of medical procedures and devices.  This is for information purposes only and you should consult with your own medical professionals before you start or stop any medication or treatment.