Solidarity HealthShare Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Oertle shares some reasons more adults are struggling with sleep disorders including sleep apnea in this recent interview with Bob Sansevere of The BS Show. He also shares what some of the sleep specialists are saying causes these disorders versus how some lifestyle changes could make all of the difference.

Bob Sansevere (00:00):

We are joined by Dr. John Oertle, the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer for Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org. Doctor, I want to talk about sleep apnea. I have it. I have a C-PAP. My father had it, never had a C-PAP because they didn’t have him back then, but I would hear him snoring and in the middle of the night he’d snore, then hear that noise where there’s nothing and he’d do a little cough or choke and then he’d start breathing again, which is what sleep apnea is. But there’s a report out, and this is as someone with sleep apnea, and I know there’s many people who have it and have been treated for it, and many people who have it will refuse to go to get treated. And many people have been told they have sleep apnea. I don’t want to wear that C-PAP, so I know a lot of people have it, but there’s a report claiming it’s tied to 50% increased risk for memory issues, which is good that I’m taking all these supplements for my brain. So how bad is this for sleep apnea?

Dr. John Oertle (01:03):

Oh, Bob, I’m so grateful to be talking about this topic this morning because this is where sleep apnea is a huge issue that we see in over the last 20 years we’ve been studying sleep apnea and how does our sleep affect other areas of our health. So this study really illuminates the great example of how sleep apnea or that difficulty being able to get oxygen while sleeping can affect our cognitive capacity. But it’s not just the cognitive, I mean also again, just how well is the brain. So memory, yes. I’ve also, again though, just when I think about the brain and it not having great memory, I think also all the other cognitive examples of neurocognitive dysfunction that goes on that I get concerned about that it could potentially lead to. And we know that that’s the case, but it’s also leading to, and I think the biggest thing is the cardiovascular system.

(01:58):

So we also see, again, yes, it causes memory issues, but is that memory issue caused because the blood flow is not getting to the brain effectively. And so this is where when you’re looking at oxygen and blood flow to these essential organs, this is where you start to be able to see all these other diseases start to pop up in correlations to sleep apnea. And this is where, so one, I want to talk about those other conditions, but yes, if you have sleep apnea, it needs to be taken care of because you have lack of oxygen getting to not only the brain, but you’re getting it to all the other essential organs. And without oxygen and great blood flow to the actual essential organs, then you’re going to have deficits in all these other areas. So some of these areas, again, cardiovascular is the big one.

(02:46):

What you start to be able to see is that it’s tied to high blood pressure, it’s tied to strokes, it’s tied to increased clotting, it’s tied to, again, even heart and risk for heart attacks. And it’s also tied to diabetes when we see, and it’s also tied to low testosterone and hormonal imbalances in men, which leads to muscle wasting, right? Or all of these other areas where if you’re looking at an anti-aging, how do you maintain your longevity longer into the future? Again, this is one of these areas that is critical to make sure that you’re actually making things that you’re treating a root cause that’s making things feel better. And so solidarity, I’m a Chief Medical Officer at Solidarity, and we love sharing into things that are root causative analysis to be able to make sure that our outcomes are better and it actually is a better cost to the rest of the community. But sleep apnea is one of these to be able to ensure that we’re able to treat that root cause to prevent all these other diseases and that you can actually live the life that God meant you to live long into your old age.

Bob Sansevere (03:54):

Well, and because you mentioned, I mean I’ve never had a stroke, never had a heart attack, but I do have, and it’s under control, the Type Two diabetes. And I’ve certainly dealt with that. And what’s interesting, when I was first diagnosed, it was 15 or more years ago, and the guy that diagnosed had in Minnesota, he was at the forefront of sleep apnea and he had told me that virtually he could look at somebody and know if they have sleep apnea because if you have an 18 inch neck or more, you generally have sleep apnea because the bigger you are doesn’t mean that for lack of a better term, that your airway is bigger. It’s basically we all have the same size, but the bigger your neck, it could be pressing fat against it or be putting more pressure. So I mean people that have weightlifters and people that are just bigger, that is an issue with having sleep apnea. Right?

Dr. John Oertle (04:51):

Bob, that’s exactly right. So again, it puts you at risk for sleep apnea, having a bigger neck as far as this goes. And so one of those areas, because blocking for everybody out there, it’s where your airway is not getting it’s fully clear at night, so you’re stopping your breathing and it’s restricting the oxygen to get through during your nighttime hours. And so when you’re restricting things that are going to open it on up, that’s what essentially these devices, your CPAP device are something that’s going to help put pressure in through the actual nose and your airway to keep that open. But even things just as if it’s minor, one of the things I like to be able to suggest are a couple of these areas where treating even the root cause. If you’re saying I can’t stand my C pap, well, okay, well some things that you can do when oftentimes losing weight will also help increase, take some of just a weight loss just in general.

(05:52):

Also lymphatic massages to the actual neck and so much of it is lymphatic congestion in the neck. There’s so much lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels are the little areas that are draining fluids. And so when things feel a boggy or when things have a little bit more, they just don’t feel as firm, lymphatic movement can help to reduce and move out some of those actual, the lymphatic material out of the neck and creating more of those contours to the neck. So I love lymphatic drainage as far as that goes. You can go online and look up YouTube videos on how to be able to do that for yourself or go see a lymphatic massage specialist to be able to do that. That can all be very helpful. The other things that I think about though too is that what are these areas when you think about when you’re sick or you have allergies and there’s more inflammation in these areas, there’s trying to be able to clear this out.

(06:47):

And so sometimes you have chronic inflammation or chronic allergies. So being able to actually treat those allergies or being able to treat that chronic level of inflammation so that you’re removing and reducing some of the obstruction of getting through sometimes chronic mold exposures. We’ve seen this in our members as far as this goes, and it’s actually chronic mold exposures can create that increase of inflammation in the nose and the sinuses and in the mouth and throat and tonsil area all restricting. So these are all areas where if you treat the root cause, Solidarity HealthShare shares into so many of these things to be able to find practitioners that are able to actually treat root cause being able to actually serve you as far as this goes, and looking at testing to be able to move things through. But again, this is where it’s incredibly important to be able to make sure that you’re going to find practitioners to see this because this is where, yes, if you have it and you absolutely have it or there’s a structural issue that you have to, then a C-P-A-P is necessary, but there’s so many other things that could be causing this to be able to actually get you healthy and make sure that it’s not just treating the sleep apnea, but like I said beginning it’s going to treat everything else in the body that’s related to lack of oxygen and the lack of blood flow.

Bob Sansevere (08:02):

Now, there were people or dentists who claim that specialists who make mouthpieces for sleep apnea. Are there any good alternatives to a CAP or is a CAP really the best alternative?

Dr. John Oertle (08:14):

Well, like I said, again, these other things that I’ve been discussing are certainly alternatives for a C Pap, but your dental as well, if you can go to see dentists. Sometimes dentists, there’s issues with the structure of our mouths and that’s a structural issue. And so if there’s a structural issue, then maybe your dentist will be able to actually take care of that for you. And that’s a great thing to be able to evaluate because, or even if it’s minor, sometimes people are like, maybe it’ll be, I can get those little breathing strips on the nose that open up the actual nose. Sometimes it’s minor enough that that can even help. So all of these things are incremental changes. The other thing I want to be able to share about too is that sometimes with sleep studies, so a sleep study is the way that you diagnose sleep apnea.

(09:03):

There’s sleep specialists that are able to diagnose that through a sleep study. But there’s also what we do at Solidarity is we share into home devices as well. You’d be able to actually hook yourself up to the monitors while you’re able to sleep at home instead of going to an actual facility to be able to do that. And then you’re able to talk with an actual sleep specialist from, again, when you actually do it at home, they record all the data. And I like this method only because of the fact that sometimes it’s uncomfortable to sleep in another person’s bed or being watched while you’re actually sleeping. And so that’s another complication that people are like, I don’t want to go, I don’t want to get diagnosed, I don’t want to go through all this rigmarole. And when you actually are able to say, well, there’s actually home sleep studies that are able to be done where they ship a kit to you and they record you and they actually are hooking you up to the device and you’re able to sleep in your own bed, that can become a lot better to be able to actually understand what’s going on.

(09:57):

And it’s a lot less to bite off for somebody to be able to get a sleep study performed

Bob Sansevere (10:03):

Well. It’s absolutely something that if you snore a lot or if you find yourself snoring or your friend or spouse or significant other tells you, Hey, you stop breathing when you’re snoring, you better get that checked. And also you need to check out Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org, a great alternative to traditional healthcare. Check it out, take a quick break. The BS Show will be right back.

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