by on March 12, 2012

I Stop Snoring!

When my son Jose suggested I blog and write an ebook on Snoring and Sleep Apnea, I was reluctant to take the time and effort. But lots of snoring patients also asked me to share my experience and over a period of 35 years dealing with this complex illness, I thought… why not… so through SnoreFreeSleep.com, I will be writing A-Z about snoring and sleep apnea – the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and everything you need to know.

Snoring and Sleep Apnea is not a silent killer anymore, it is a noisy killer. Sleep Apnea can really kill you if undiagnosed in a very short period. Snoring and sleep apnea in children is also little discussed, so I will be posting articles related to snoring in kids.

If you would like to receive free tips from Snore Free Sleep, subscribe for more updates (just add your name and email address below):

I appreciate your readership and support. I will be updating the site with more posts frequently, so please follow us on twitter @SnoreFreeSleep and like us on facebook @SnoreFreeSleep. May God Bless, heal and comfort those who read this site – stop snoring and sleep well!

Dr Paulose

Isn’t it time for you to shout… “I Stop Snoring!” Learn more from Dr Paulose about how to enjoy snore free sleep. His treatment involves the most advanced in medical history.

Filed Under: Sleep, Snoring, Tips, Treatment
by on May 11, 2013

Snorefreesleep.com: Shutting Down Soon

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I haven’t been able to keep on posting to Snorefreesleep.com as time constraints and I’m thinking of shutting down this blog. The interesting articles will be migrated to my main site www.drpaulose.com. You’ll have an additional 30 days to access the posts after the shutdown. After that, all blogs will be permanently erased. If you are interested to get similar posts in future please subscribe to www.drpaulose.com

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your encouragement and I hope you will be as supportive as you have been.

drpaulose

 

Filed Under: Sleep, Snoring, Tips, Treatment
by on March 29, 2013

Snoring Treatment Videos

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Are looking for a cure for snoring and Sleep Apnea? I would recommend you may subscribe to drpauloseYouTubeChannel. You may see some interesting video uploads related to snoring and sleep apnea in this Channel.

Since last 10 months I have uploaded nearly one thousand video clips in my You Tube Channel, mainly ENT, Laser and Plastic Surgery procedures which were performed in a small Christian mission hospital-Jubilee Hospital Trivandrum, Kerala in south India.

All started like a fun after my son Jose gifted me a Flip camera for my birthday. After seeing some of the uncut informal video clip uploads, many viewers encouraged me to upload more and more “real live operations” which they found very informative and transparent.

I must admit, the video clips are not professional, and the ambience of the theatre is not splendid as one can imagine a mission hospital of this type in India.

I thank my technicians and OT nurses in “shooting” these clips. Thanks to my anesthetic colleague Dr.Thomas who contributed a lot in this venture.

Thank you my viewers and subscribers for their support and comments.

If any one would like to get regular uploads, please subscribe.

http://www.youtube.com/user/drpaulose1

 

Filed Under: Treatment
by on February 10, 2013

Why Use Oxygen Concentrator?

Oxygen concentrators function by removing nitrogen in the ambient air and delivering highly-concentrated oxygen to the patient through tubes or face masks. A common oxygen concentrator is capable of continuous oxygen output measured in liters per minute.

Oxygen therapy is a way to get more oxygen into your lungs and bloodstream in patients with hypoxemia. Some people need extra oxygen all the time. Others need it from time to time throughout the day or overnight. A doctor will prescribe how much oxygen you need, based on blood tests. He or she will tell you how much oxygen to use per minute and how often to use it. It is used for people with diseases that make it hard to breathe, such as COPD, cystic fibrosis, or heart failure. Oxygen therapy can make it easier to breathe. The Oxygen being a drug is used under strict medical supervision.

Oxygen can be delivered to your home in tanks, or cylinders, or it can be produced in your home by a machine called an oxygen concentrator. The oxygen concentrator is getting more popular. Oxygen concentrators are the less expensive, more convenient, and safer options to compressed oxygen in metal tanks.

Oxygen Concentrator

An oxygen concentrator actually extracts the oxygen from the air around you and concentrates it. The nitrogen in the air is then released into the surrounding ambient air. The oxygen concentrator then delivers this concentrated oxygen to the patient.

How it works?

Room air is drawn into the machine through a series of filters, compressed to a pressure of 4 atmospheres, and passed into a column containing zeolite, aluminum silicate. Nitrogen is trapped by the zeolite, while oxygen passes through. Before the column becomes saturated with nitrogen the flow of air is switched to a second column; the first column is vented to atmosphere (regenerated), discharging most of the nitrogen, and the remainder of the nitrogen is removed by back flushing the column with a small flow of oxygen from the second column. As the second column approaches saturation the process is reversed.

The life of the zeolite crystals can be expected to be at least 20,000 hours which in most situations would give about 10 years’ use. The gas emerging from the columns ( 95% oxygen) passes through a small reservoir chamber and a flow control system to the patient. Most domiciliary sized machines can produce a flow of up to 4 litres/minute of oxygen. Higher flows result in a loss of concentration, and most machines are flow-limited to prevent this from occurring.

o2niveda3

How to Use it

To breathe the oxygen, most people use a nasal cannula .This is a thin tube with two prongs that fit just inside your nose. Children and people who need a lot of oxygen may need to use a mask that fits over the nose and mouth.

Portable Oxygen concentrators can be carried in your hand bag weigh around 2-3 kg, but the Home use machine on wheels weigh 10-15 kg. Portable machine gives pulse mode and Home machine supply continuous mode O2 delivery.

gym

Other health benefits

Doctors prescribe oxygen therapy for patients with lung or heart disease who have low levels of oxygen in their blood. Those with low oxygen in the blood can make them feel tired and short of breath. Oxygen therapy will give you extra oxygen and may help them feel better, do more, and even sleep better. But it must NOT be used at night in patients having snoring and sleep apnea as it can wash away the carbon dioxide drive keeping them breathing. But it can supplement CPAP patients in day time.

Recent times the oxygen therapy is getting more commercial in India.

Oxygen Parlor/Bar

Oxygen parlors and Bars are coming up in urban areas. The oxygen concentrators are used in Yoga clubs, Sport club, beauty parlors and internet café. There is no need of taking concentrated oxygen in normal people if you breathe fresh air, but if you are in closed chamber with no proper ventilation, it might help.

Oxygen Facial

There is a claim that breathing concentrated oxygen improves the facial glow and complexion and even removes the dark eye shadows.

Yoga and Oxygen

In principle it should help to improve the oxygen level during Pranayama if some one using concentrated oxygen.

Final Comment: Oxygen is a drug; it should be used under medical supervision.

(*One can buy it or rent it out this machine in Trivandrum)



(An oxygen concentrator is a device providing oxygen to a patient higher concentrations than available in ambient air.
Mr.Raghavan explains the health benefits of oxygen concentrator in modern life.Does it increase the complexion, does it help the sportsman,the yoga students and the hardworking IT guys…Please find out…For more details: go to http://drpaulose.com

 

Filed Under: Sleep, Tips, Treatment
by on January 30, 2013

Pulmonary Function Test in Snoring and OSA

(Pulmonary Function (Lung) test is a series of breathing tests where you will be required to breathe in different patterns through a mouthpiece. These patterns may require you to breath fast, take big breaths in, empty your lungs out and hold your breath. When it is altered, ventolin inhaler is given and the test is repeated after 5-10 mnts.
In cases of OSA the test is valuable to rule out asthma, bronchitis, COPD, ILD etc. The PFT is altered in obese and COPD snoring patients.)

PFT (Pulmonary Function Test)must be included in the investigation work up of all the OSA patients before considering CPAP or surgical options.
Many of the snoring and obstructive sleep apnea patients complaints of difficulty to breathe and it is important to rule out any associated COPD or unrelated chest pathology like asthma, chronic bronchitis or restrictive lung diseases. So I do pulmonary function tests ( PFT) as a preoperative test to determine if the patient is medically able to tolerate sleep disorder surgery. Abnormal PFT can be seen in some obese snoring sleep apnea patients.

PFT1 benny

About Pulmonary Function Test- PFT-Spirometry

A lung function test is a series of breathing tests where you will be required to breathe in different patterns through a mouthpiece. These patterns may require you to breath fast, take big breaths in, empty your lungs out and hold your breath. The respiratory scientist conducting the test will talk you through each process. A lung function test is a simple, non-invasive way to examine the lungs and your breathing. The PFT measures the patient’s lung capacity and ability to move oxygen into the blood. It is a very important test to evaluate for common lung conditions such as asthma, emphysema or COPD.

The test can be repeated after giving ventolin inhaler to see any difference in the reading.

It will take around 45 to 50 minutes to complete the breathing test.

Before the test tell the patient not to smoke 6 hours before the test if smokers. Do not use inhalers or nebulizer four hours prior to the test.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) have been found to coexist in many patients, who are at increased risk of respiratory insufficiency. In a large series of consecutive sleep apnea syndrome patients, an obstructive ventilatory defect defined by a FEV1/VC ratio (forced expiratory volume in one second/vital capacity) below 60% was found in 10% cases, which is probably higher than the prevalence of COPD in the general population. .

Obesity, smoking and asthma secondary to gastro esophageal reflux (GERD) may have contributed to the decrease in expiratory flow rates. An increased frequency of gastro esophageal reflux has been reported in OSA patients.

Filed Under: Sleep, Snoring, Tips, Treatment
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