Friday, February 15, 2008
Welcome to the sleep apnea site
| Welcome to the Sleep Apnea Site. I created this site to discuss the problems of sleep apnea and how it has affected me. It’s estimated that close to 1 out of 15 Americans have sleep apnea which is around 6% of the entire population of America. More global sleep apnea statistics can be found here. It gives an estimated results and breakdown by country. As you look at the number of sleep apnea cases, one thing primarily stands out. The number of people who are affected and those that remain untreated. Personally, I find this stems from two main reasons outright denial and lack of knowledge pertaining to this condition. In more developed countries, sleep apnea had been long documented and there are special clinics that specializes in these sleeping disorders. Unfortunately in my case, sleep study was something very new and not many doctors, especially general practitioners here in Singapore knew much about it or were able to determine the symptoms for sleep apnea at that time. In my case, my doctor continue prescribing medication for high blood pressure and hypertension. Prior to the time of my diagnosis, in 2002, there were also hardly any articles in the news papers or magazines about this serious condition. I was also very surprised that sleep apnea had not be upgraded in terms of importance and education only until much later. I believe that the situation has gotten better over the years in terms of recognition especially here in Singapore as shortly after 2003, health insurance forms now had a section that primarily deals with sleep apnea and if you were to declare that you have sleep apnea now, there will not only be an extra premium, but most insurance companies will NOT cover you for any major illnesses such as heart related ailments like a heart attack or stroke. These also generally includes all the other forms of heart related condition due to high blood pressure, including major organ failure of the kidneys as well. In other words everything can now be associated with sleep apnea some way or another so many of your insurance benefits will unfortunately have to be disqualified. Denial is also another major problem, and I found this to be one of the problems why many sleep apnea cases have been left untreated. I personally know of a few individuals whom have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea problems after undergoing a sleep study to monitor for potential sleep apnea. They were simply just not open to the available treatments or are just plain stubborn to continue with treatment which usually involves the use of a CPAP machine. In some cases, they had all the tell tale signs of a classic sleep apnea problem, but just simply refused to take the sleep test to determine if they have a problem. The statistics are staggering, but sometimes it make me wonder if the patient really died of a heart related complications such as a heart attack, obesity, stroke or kidney failure or was it simply all aggravated by the fact that the patient was suffering from sleep apnea that resulted or in some cases accelerated these problems by causing other medical complications. I believe the statistics for those with untreated sleep apnea are even higher than what’s originally reported. 1 out of 15 people in the US would be grossly underrated! The aim of the sleep apnea site, is to provide knowledge and awareness. Hopefully by sharing my personal experiences and ordeals, it will give you a better understanding about what sleep apnea is all about, the treatments that are currently available for sleep apnea and how one can regain control of their lives and have a pretty close to normal existence once again. The threat of sleep apnea is very real, it can kill and ruin lives. So please, if you’re doing research or reading up on sleep apnea please take this condition very seriously. Trust me, once you’re decide to get treatment, your quality of life will be greatly enhanced. I hope you will find this site as informational and helpful as I did during my personal journey with sleep apnea. Labels: sleep apnea |
