[at-l] The ethics of snoring......

[thornel@attglobal.net (W F Thorneloe)]

One option for the CPAP user is to consider surgical intervention. Since 
electricity is not available on the trail, CPAP will not be available. 
There are several techniques, all painful and pretty predictably effective. 
There are some who recommend oral airways or oral contraptions designed to 
thrust the tongue forward. Few can tolerate a real airway without gagging 
and choking. The contraptions are not demonstrated to be effective in 
rigorous studies.

Alcohol tends to complicate sleep apnea by causing even more disruption to 
sleep architecture as well as reducing respiratory effort. Smoking tends to 
add to upper airway congestion and restricted airway.

Sleep apnea is a great deal like going to bed, with a madman placing a 
pillow over your face every few minutes. Frequently, we find folks who 
never sleep more than 3 minutes without interruption. This is quite a 
miserable situation for everyone involved.

OrangeBug

At 01:04 PM 3/5/2002 -0500, Farina6@aol.com wrote:
>He has since seen a doctor and uses a CPAP(?) machine at night (which I 
>found out THIS ski trip, works wonderfully!).  What would a sleep apnea 
>sufferer, like my brother, do on the trail?  Just take a chance and forget 
>about it?
>
>OB mentioned that smoking is correlated somehow.  Is alcohol consumption 
>also?  It seems so from my experience.