Sleep Disorders Expert Allen Blaivas, M.D. shares Sleep Disorders management news and commentary at MySleepCentral.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68 en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/ http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/31736/dr-questions Mon Jun 23 11:30:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D.   I would like to continue answering some of your very interesting questions.  As before, in the interests of brevity some of the questions will be shortened.   Question:   I've been using CPAP for the past 8-9 years and have now become dependent on it to sleep.  I've lost more than 40 pounds and wonder how and if I will know that I no longer need the machine?  Am I now dependent upon it for life? ... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/31736/dr-questions http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/6852/sleep-health Mon Jun 02 04:13:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. Today let's focus on other health effects of sleep deprivation on the body. It should be noted that much of the research in this area is evolving and we are constantly learning more about the bad effects of sleep loss. High Blood Pressure (and possibly diabetes and heart disease?) The body senses sleep loss as a “stress-inducing” state, which raises levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline and other similar body transmitters.... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/6852/sleep-health http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/18030/sleep-apnea Mon May 12 07:35:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. Do you snore? Do you have trouble sleeping because your spouse "rattles the walls" with their snoring? Are you are a little overweight and not fully refreshed by your sleep? Do you doze off a lot and just feel like you lack energy during the day? Then maybe the best holiday "gift" you can give yourself or significant other is an evaluation for sleep apnea.   Ironically, we haven't really talked much about the most common sleep disorder -... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/18030/sleep-apnea http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/26792/questions-2 Fri May 02 14:03:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D.   I wanted to get back to your sleep questions.  Please see my disclaimer on last blog.  These questions and answers are meant to be educational and not to be used to replace your own physician.   Question: REM Behavior disorder (RBD) sounds interesting.  What if the person, in this case a nine year old child is somewhat awake or walking about and talking, is that related to RBD? I'm 29... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/26792/questions-2 http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/25247/sleep-part-1 Tue Apr 15 14:24:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. The original mandate of this blog was to help readers with answers to some of their sleep related questions. Since we have been covering many topics in detail, I have not really had the opportunity to answer your questions, so now is my chance. I greatly appreciate your interest and questions and will try to answer at least some of them. In the interest of space, I will attempt to paraphrase some of the longer questions. Also, and most... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/25247/sleep-part-1 http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/22837/apnea-cpap Tue Mar 25 11:09:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. Let's continue with some of the treatments for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We left off talking about continuous positive airway pressure, better known as CPAP. As we mentioned, CPAP, with the air pressure it pushes out, acts as an air splint to keep the airway from collapsing during sleep. We also touched on the fact that many patients have some difficulty, at least initially, getting used to the force of the air.  Why can't the... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/22837/apnea-cpap http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/21870/sleep-apnea Mon Mar 17 15:23:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. We spoke extensively about the surgical treatment options for OSA in our last blog. I wanted to hit upon one last type of surgery and complete a discussion of other treatment options. The most successful surgery for OSA is called a tracheotomy. It entails making a small whole in the trachea (wind pipe), which effectively bypasses the entire upper airway, and is able to cure sleep apnea. Despite its great success at treating sleep apnea, it... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/21870/sleep-apnea http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/21865/sleep-apnea Mon Mar 17 14:50:00 -0400 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. In our most recent blog, we were talking about positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy, which usually takes the for of continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP. Though PAP is the "gold standard" and the most effective therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), we noted that many patients have difficulty maintaining its use over the long term. We also discussed some of the techniques a good sleep center will utilize to improve the... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/21865/sleep-apnea http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/20372/cpap-apnea Thu Feb 14 13:52:00 -0500 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. We have covered the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using polysomnogram and reviewed some of the controversy regarding use of home sleep testing for OSA. Now it is time to discuss some of the treatments. We will spend most of the time talking about the most common and by far most effective treatment- continuous positive airway pressure, better known as CPAP. What is CPAP and what does it do? CPAP is a device that is attached... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/20372/cpap-apnea http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/19304/it-work Thu Jan 17 15:36:00 -0500 2008 Allen Blaivas, M.D. Let's continue talking about obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We already discussed some of the symptoms and signs, as well as the significance of untreated OSA and the related diseases such as stroke, heart attack, and diabetes.  Today we will focus on the polysomnogram (PSG), the test used to diagnose OSA, as well as most other sleep disorders. Again, if we break down the words it won't seem so mysterious- poly means many, somno... http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/68/19304/it-work