Question:
Can you please help us help many of our site members?

Many of our members suffer from sleep apnea, which can be a seriously debilitating disease. 80% of people with sleep apnea don't know they have it. They may wake up hundreds or even thousands of times during the evening. The resulting fatigue prevents people from working productively and sometimes results in suffers falling asleep behind the wheel. WLS is a pretty good cure for that. Still many people with sleep apnea may go several months or even years before having bariatric surgery. I need two things. First, I need a list of the top 10 sleep apnea networks/centers in the country. By this I mean major regional networks where a central owner/administrative office operates a large number of clinics. My goal is to establish referral contracts with them. This site is capable of identifying perhaps 400 people each month who could benefit from sleep apnea testing. I want to help these people. Second, I need to know what 1-3 national professional associations there are to cover sleep apnea. Is there, for example, a "National Association of Sleep Apnea Professionals" ?? Sleep Apnea is treated by both respiratory specialists and also by neurologists. Perhaps each of these fields has a sleep apnea association. I want to know how to get the membership listings of each of these. Once I have them, I can set up a sleep apnea center list similar to the surgeon list on my site. Thank you so much in advance for your help. Your efforts here now will make a big difference weeks or months down the road for many people.    — ericklein (posted on June 19, 2000)

June 19, 2000
Eric, One of the best I found is http://www.sleepnet.com/needsleep.html It deals with not just Sleep Apena but with several other sleep disorders. It has database similar to ours here at AMOS -- members helping other members. It a good place to learn about CPAP machines and different treatments for sleep apnea. However, many on that list are fairly hostile to WLS. Regards,
   — Sharyle L.

June 19, 2000
Dear Eric,
   — James R.

June 19, 2000
Dear Eric, It was such a pleasure to meet you in person at the ASBS conference this past weekend. KareMor orally absorbed sprays have two products that can help with sleep problems. For mild complications, our spray Melatonin has been know to help. The other product is in our anti-aging, "Lifestyle Advantage" program. With this program, KareMor orally absorbed sprays has replaced 83 pills a day or 25 hundred a month! Much of the bariatric community are very interested in this revolutionary nutritional system. More information can be found at www.credden.mybsns.com or email @ [email protected]. Oral absorbed sprays are the future of nutrition. -James Redden
   — James R.

June 20, 2000
What do oral sprays have to do with assisting with sleep apnea?
   — Paula G.

June 20, 2000
Apparently there are some oral sprays being designed to temporaily shrink the tissues in the throat and soft palate. The goal being to minimize the obstruciton in the airway. Also some people use a steroidal spray like Flonase nightly to relieve nasal congestion. A third type of spray used is simply a saline spray, which help keep the nasal and throat passages moist while on the CPAP. I looked at Sleepnet, the apnea site similar to this one, but their database is still rather clumsy and difficult to move around in and I wasn't able to find more specific information. Sharyle
   — Sharyle L.