“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always.”
- Oprah Winfrey (American Television Personality, Actress and Philanthropist – 1954 - )
Stop Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) causing hypoxia by seriously considering using BIPAP and Bilevel auto adjusting pressure machines. A person may be able to treat REM sleep issues, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and insomnia which may cause Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s and Awake Bruxism. In addition, Sleep Disordered Breathing may cause Hypoxia when using CPAP and BiPAP and Bilevel machines.
To avoid confusion, BiPAP is a Registered Trademark owned by Philips Respironics. Bilevel refers to all other brands such as ResMed.
The explanation of how I treated and stopped Sleep Disordered Breathing causing hypoxia, REM sleep and Obstructive sleep apnea issues is going to be done on a practical level based on my own personal experience. I am not a medical doctor and there will be others with more knowledge and a medical background who can explain better from a technical point of view.
When your body doesn't have enough oxygen, you could get hypoxemia or hypoxia. These are dangerous conditions. Without oxygen, your brain, liver and other organs can be damaged just minutes after symptoms start.
Hypoxemia (low oxygen in your blood) can cause hypoxia (low oxygen in your tissues) when your blood doesn't carry enough oxygen to your tissues to meet your body's needs. The word hypoxia is sometimes used to describe both problems.
https://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/hypoxia-hypoxemia
On a previous blog post Use BiPAP and CPAP to treat REM Sleep and OSA issues which may cause Parkinson's and Dementia, I mentioned that over the last few months, I have been grappling with the issues of awake bruxism, obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia occurring during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep causing symptoms of Dementia. Awake Bruxism involves tooth clenching or tapping while you are awake which may drive you crazy and frustrated.
Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for the neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia and Parkinson’s disease. These disorders alone currently affect many millions of people around the world despite billions of dollars being spent on medical research.
Biogen lost $18 Billion in one day, but beyond that, what about the precious time that was wasted? And lives lost? To put it in perspective, there have been 146 drug failures in the last few years.
http://alzheimersprevention.org/18-billion-dollar-disappointment/
Cummings J, Reiber C, Kumar P. The price of progress: Funding and financing Alzheimer's disease drug development. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2018;4:330-343. Published 2018 Jun 13. doi:10.1016/j.trci.2018.04.008
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6118094/
On the blog post Coronavirus Deaths using Ventilators, BiPAP and CPAP, I detail the lack of education and training of the sleep and respiratory medical specialists and that the majority of sleep specialists do not regularly use the sleep apnea machines themselves. In addition, a number of the specialists are arrogant, have a lazy attitude to educating themselves and their patients and are not willing to really listen to the patient and the issues that they may be having using the sleep machine.
As detailed on the blog pages Why is CPAP Compliance Rate Low? and Secrets to Success: Answer is FREE, there is ample evidence showing that there are up to an estimated 80% or more than 15 million people who are non-compliant, failing and non-successful on sleep apnea therapy.
This is the reason for the quote at the top of the post by Oprah Winfrey.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always.”
It will be up to you to educate yourself on how the various BiPAP, Bilevel and CPAP machines truly work to overcome any Sleep Disordered Breathing and hypoxia which may cause Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Awake Bruxism!
From personal experience having had the symptoms of Dementia and currently cleared of those symptoms; I believe that the four issues together being REM sleep issues, obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and Awake Bruxism may be very early warning signs or markers of various neurodegenerative disorders.
It is my belief that it is possible that by treating these four issues together, a person may be able to stop or at least prolong the onset of REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD). By doing so, may prevent up to some decades later, RBD leading to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Parkinson’s disease and other disorders.
On previous blog posts, I raised five questions in relation to the treatment of these four issues. On last month’s blog post Stop CPAP REM issues and Sleep Apnea causing Dementia: Use BiPAP; there were three remaining unanswered questions.
What specifically causes Awake Bruxism?
Is it just REM sleep issues, obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia causing sleep disruptions during the night or is there something else involved?
Does obstructive sleep apnea occurring in all REM sleep periods cause Awake Bruxism or just one or two periods of REM sleep?
The answer to the last question and some of the first two questions were answered on the previous blog post.
In summary, Awake Bruxism was due to issues arising during the REM sleep period between 4 and 5 hours of sleep. This period makes up a large proportion of total REM sleep for a night.
In addition, I believe that it is essential for a person to preserve as much of the REM period between 4 and 5 hours of sleep for as long as possible. This is best illustrated by the graphical representation below comparing the sleep pattern of a Young Person to that of an Elderly Person. Note the lack of REM sleep and the periods of wakefulness during the period between 4 and 6 hours of sleep for an Elderly Person.
This is a graphical representation of the
amount of time a person
spends in wakefulness and in the different
stages of sleep throughout the night. It is easy to see how the young and the
old sleep differently during the night by looking at their hypnograms. The
elderly have more periods of wakefulness and less time spent in the slow wave
sleep of stages 3 and 4.
MARIA CONLEY M.D.
https://drconley.org/infographics/sleep-and-aging/
It is clear from various research articles that REM sleep is critical and essential for everyone to have in sufficient quantity and quality. Unfortunately, during REM sleep a person’s breathing may become irregular, erratic and shallow.
The challenge with obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and Awake Bruxism occurring with REM sleep issues is how to overcome these issues using sleep apnea therapy with CPAP, BiPAP and Bilevel machines.
To overcome this challenge, a question needs to be answered first is:
If Awake Bruxism is due to REM sleep issues; is there a specific event that occurs during the REM sleep period between 4 and 5 hours of sleep in addition to obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia which may explain the cause of Awake Bruxism?
The answer is: YES!
From personal experience, it is Hypoxia or oxygen desaturation occurring BEFORE obstructive sleep apnea. As I will demonstrate on the next blog post, it is the event of hypoxia occurring that has caused obstructive sleep apnea and subsequently insomnia during REM sleep.
By stopping hypoxia due to Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB), I was able to stop hypoxia causing obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia occurring during REM sleep period between 4 and 5 hours of sleep. As a consequence, I was able to stop Awake Bruxism and eliminate the symptoms of Dementia!
Understanding the risk factors for dementia is critical. We must pay closer attention to those with SDB, as they may be at higher risk for dementia. This is an important finding because SDB is common and treatable. The exact association between SDB and cognitive decline is not clear but is thought to be related to periods of reduced oxygenation to the brain.
Are sleep disorders associated with cognitive decline? About sleep-disordered breathing and obstructive sleep apnea | Neurology
https://n.neurology.org/content/88/5/e42
Sleep Disordered Breathing includes:
- Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- Central sleep apnea (CSA)
- Complex sleep apnea (combination of OSA and CSA)
- Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS)
From personal experience, there may be other reasons for Sleep Disordered Breathing.
Obstructive and Central sleep apnea are only classified as an apnea when the apnea is 10 seconds or more. Sleep Disordered Breathing may be due to “little” apneas of less than 10 seconds, flow limitations and respiratory/ breathing issues. These issues may not be included in the AHI (apnea-hypopnea index); however, they can cause disruption to your breathing and sleep especially where there is a cluster of them occurring during REM sleep.
Flow Limitation is when the airway experiences resistance and there may be only a small reduction in breathing of say 10%. This can still trigger sleep fragmentation and oxygen fluctuations.
When suffering from SDB it can only be apneas, hypopneas or only flow limitations or in some cases a combination of all 3. When suffering only from flow limitations it may cause severe sleep fragmentation and oxygen fluctuations that damage your sleep along with your mental and physical health.
https://www.sleeprenewal.co.za/sleep-disordered-breathing
Some nights in order to see what caused the Sleep Disordered Breathing; I needed to screen a 3-5 minute report of Flow Rate and Mask Pressure as there was nothing showing for apneas and flow limitations. In addition, I may review a report using “User Flags” and events of at least 5 seconds as you can have a cluster or a number of apneas including “little” apneas occurring in a short period of time. These reports can be obtained by using the free SleepyHead and Oscar software. (Links are on right hand side).
How does Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease arise?
Below is an example of a diagram detailing the current thinking by medical specialists.
Association between obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Abbreviation: Aβ42, amyloid-β42.
Sleep disorders are emerging as a biomarker for prodromal dementia.
Winnie Pao, MD
https://practicalneurology.com/articles/2019-june/sleep-disorders-dementia
A new study indicates that the brain goes through a “cleansing” process while you sleep.
Experts say this cleansing washes away proteins that accumulate during the day and can help lower the risk of dementia.
The exact process taking place involves our glymphatic system, a waste clearance system for our central nervous system. While we’re awake, precursor proteins called amyloid-betas spike and accumulate in our brain. During our sleeping hours, our brain flushes these amyloid-betas, preventing them from forming into plaque and damaging our neurons.
Without adequate sleep, our brain can’t effectively wash away these precursor proteins. Their accumulation has been associated with a higher risk of dementia due to the damaged neurons.
How can Sleep Disordered Breathing and hypoxia or oxygen desaturation cause obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and Awake Bruxism?
When these issues arise during REM sleep, how may they lead to the onset of REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD) and some decades later to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Parkinson’s disease and other disorders?
I suggest to a number of medical specialists that serious consideration should be given to amending their thinking and the diagram above on how neurodegenerative disorders may arise.
On the next blog post, I will use my sleep data reports obtained from SleepyHead/ Oscar software to explain how this situation may occur.
Further details of the combination of REM sleep issues, obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and Awake Bruxism and how they may be early warning signs or markers of a diagnosis of REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD) and subsequently Parkinson's disease, Dementia and Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders are on the following blog posts:
Oct 20: Use BiPAP ST machines with iVAPS or AVAPS for REM sleep issues
Nov 20: Use BiPAP and CPAP to treat REM sleep and OSA issues which may cause Parkinson's and Dementia
Dec 20: Stop CPAP REM issues and Sleep Apnea causing Dementia: Use BiPAP
Feb 21: Stop Insomnia, Hypoxia and REM sleep issues causing Alzheimer's: Use BiPAP
Mar 21: Use BiPAP to prevent Alzheimer's Dementia caused by REM sleep issues
Apl 21: What BiPAP Settings prevent Alzheimer's due to REM sleep breathing issues?
May 21: Can Different BiPAP Machines prevent Alzheimer's Dementia?
Jul 21: Stop Alzheimer's Dementia using BiPAP with AVAPS or iVAPS
Aug 21: Can Alzheimer's be due to Sleep Position on Back using CPAP?
Feb 22: How to stop Alzheimer's Dementia and Amyloid Protein using BiPAP?
Should you be having side effects and issues with your sleep apnea therapy; CHANGE what you are doing so that you can wake up feeling refreshed and energized each day.
“Have courage. Be adventurous and Go for it! Overcome your fear.”
- Mrhelpful
