Natural Sleep Apnea Remedies for Better Rest

Making my rounds at work one morning I came across a cook sitting in a chair, slouched and looking like death warmed over. I asked if she was OK.

She said, "I have apnea, sleep with a machine, it woke me 150 times last night."

I said, "Oh yeah, I used to have apnea." She was incredulous. Used to???

So I told her my story. As a teen I had sleep apnea a couple of times a night. But unlike most, I would wake up during each bout. I would be totally paralyzed, even my breathing muscles. I would struggle until I was about to pass out. Then suddenly I would take a big breath, like somebody drowning.

One day I took a potassium pill, and that night the apnea was gone. A couple of years later I had a bad fever, which causes you to lose potassium, and the apnea came back. I took another potassium and it was gone. Now I take potassium now and then as a preventative.

The secret here is that potassium, along with magnesium, help to operate our autonomic muscle system, the ones we don't have to think about. These muscles keep our jaw shut, our posture straight, and keep us breathing while we sleep. And that's why potassium may help with snoring, bed-wetting, even crib death. If you eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies you probably get plenty of potassium. But most of us eat too much sugar and salt, which cause us to excrete potassium.

To make a short story long, next morning she was there again, still looking like death warmed over. She said, "I didn't sleep a wink again, but this time for another reason. I took a potassium pill before bed, and in the next 6 hours I peed away 8 pounds! " This lady had ankles as big as my thighs, - edema, and the potassium was making her lose that water.

Part b:

We had a secretary in our office that liked to run marathons. You could always when she ran a race because for the next week she would slouch and look exhausted. She overheard me tell someone about the cook, and she asked if potassium might help her. I told her it couldn't hurt.

That weekend I filled in for the night shift guy. Middle of the night I walked past the darkened office, and heard a high speed ticking sound. In the back of the office there was a single task light on, and this secretary, furiously typing about 500 words a minute. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

Her reply, "I took 2 of those pills, and now I have so much energy I don't know what to do with it."

"Cut back on the dose! " I said. Consequently her recovery time from marathons went from 1 week to 1 day.

I started taking Betaine HCl with Pepsin, a long time ago, but only took one or two with each meal. Well I got frustrated, because my digestion didn't seem to be much better, so I started increasing slowly, adding one or two additional capsule each day. Finally, my digestion got better, my reflux WENT AWAY, and guess what else happened? Yes, MY APNEA WENT AWAY TOO. I no longer snore loudly and wake up hundreds of time a night. Most mornings I wake up in exactly the same position I went to sleep in, and I remember my dreams. I won't say how many capsules I take, because everyone is different, but I will say it looks like I had ZERO stomach acid of my own. Also my yeast symptoms have gone, and I no longer crave something all the time. I finally feel satiated, and have lost 10 pounds. I feel better in so many ways I can't list them all.

I am so urgent to share what I have learned, but really don't know how to get the word out there. I guess I could write a book, lol. I want to shout this from the rooftops, but then they'd put me away.

I have not have anymore occurances of apnea ....

Many, many thanks to Earth Clinic and the large family of contributors, I no longer have this problem!

I'm a 42 yr. old woman, I'm overweight but have lost quite a lot of weight the past 6 months after switching to low GI foods. I'm generally healthy for being a big girl. My dad suffers from severe sleep apnea, and I've inherited snoring from mum's side of the family. Mum also has high blood pressure and heart rhythm disorder, and I've had high blood pressure and heart palpitations in the past when I was 20 kilos heavier than I am now.

I work irregular shifts and was using natural melatonin in a low dose (0,1 mg) to regulate my sleep, but I recently found out that when I didn't take melatonin, the sleep apnea didn't occur.

So I stopped using melatonin. I sensed my blood pressure was running a bit high due to stress and I started to take one or two tablespoons of unfiltered, raw ACV, straight from the spoon, before bedtime and before brushing my teeth. I don't mind the taste and have no problems swallowing the ACV quickly.

Haven't had any apnea since then! No more melatonin for me, ACV it is.

The basic problem is in your autonomic muscles, the ones that work without you having to think about them. When they don't work right you might have a slack jaw, limp wrists, slouching problem, snoring, bedwetting, edema, and apnea.

Minerals are the answer, but particularly potassium and magnesium. We eat mass quantities of salt and sugar, both of which make you excrete potassium. The little bit you get in a banana isn't enough.

My apnea stopped with a single potassium pill. It's a dirt-cheap supplement, won't hurt and will probably help. You might have to up the dosage for several days to get the sodium/potassium back in balance.

~Mama to Many~

Melatonin is generally contraindicated in people who have sleep apnea because sleep apnea causes sagging of the upper airway muscles and melatonin can contribute further because of its muscle relaxing effects, but this is in people who already have sleep apnea. Melatonin does not cause sleep apnea, but it definitely can worsen existing sleep apnea in some people.

The test for sleep apnea requires being hooked up to equipment while you sleep at home or in a test facility. That is the only way to know for sure if you have sleep apnea. A doctor can not just examine you and know whether you have sleep apnea or not.

I have a friend who has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and uses a CPAP for his sleep apnea. He takes melatonin every night and told me it helps put him to sleep with no problems whatsoever and has done it for years now. He only uses 5 mg per night and says it usually puts him to sleep in 5 minutes or less, but I'm sure the CPAP is a mitigating factor in why he is able to tolerate melatonin at just 5 mg/night.

You said you don't have sleep apnea at all and of the three symptoms you mentioned, gasping, waking up and palpitations are typically seen in sleep apnea. Did you actually have a diagnosis of sleep apnea once you started getting these three symptoms? The following Mayo Clinic article discusses 10 common sleep apnea symptoms :

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obstructive-sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20352090

Here are 10 common symptoms they mentioned in the article :

Symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include:

• Excessive daytime sleepiness.
• Loud snoring.
• Observed episodes of stopped breathing during sleep.
• Waking during the night and gasping or choking.
• Awakening in the morning with a dry mouth or sore throat.
• Morning headaches.
• Trouble focusing during the day.
• Mood changes, such as depression or being easily upset.
• High blood pressure.
• Decreased interest in sex.

The above list is what I have typically seen in people with sleep apnea as well as the symptoms you mentioned. Snoring is a very common one.

You may have a problem with the double supplement you are taking of magnesium plus melatonin because that combination can be very relaxing, but if it is sleep apnea you are experiencing, that is likely a preexisting condition that you may have not yet been diagnosed with. Not everyone can tolerate melatonin and that may be the case for you, but melatonin does not cause sleep apnea, but it certainly can help expose an existing condition of sleep apnea. You might talk to your doctor about this so he can test you for sleep apnea. Many people with sleep apnea are not even aware they have it until the symptoms become severe enough to realize there is a problem.

Art

Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disturbance problems in America. It ruins the sleep of an estimated 25 million Americans on a regular basis. The condition prevents the sleeper from entering REM and Delta sleep causing them to become anxious, cantankerous and tired during the day. There are very serious health consequences of prolonged sleep deprivation. Additionally, due to the nature of the condition, it causes blood oxygen levels to be lower than normal for very prolonged periods of time. This is damaging to the brain and heart in particular.

Presently, there are several ways in which the problem is addressed. Initially, the patient is told to lose weight, drink less alcohol and quit smoking. With just a smidgen of insight into human nature, anyone can figure out how unsuccessful this approach will be. Beyond that, surgery is offered to reduce obstruction in the inhalation pathway. This has provided some success, but the procedure is painful and often provides no relief. The last option is for the patient to purchase a CPAP device. This is a forced air mask, worn during sleep, that insures proper inhalation. Most patients are not willing to go to this expense or to endure this level of machinery and the resultant nasal irritation.

What has continued to plague the appropriate treatment of this condition is that none of the "solutions" address the actual cause of the problem. Being over-weight does not cause this problem, smoking does not cause this problem, sleeping on ones back does not cause this problem. So what then, does cause the problem?

Cause of the condition:

When we start to fall asleep, we move from stage one (drowsiness) into stage two sleep. Stage two sleep is the transition stage before entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM sleep is where we dream. Dreaming is critical to a good nights sleep. When we enter stage two sleep in preparation for dreaming, muscular activity is inhibited. It is called "reduction of muscle tonus". This is a function that occurs primarily to keep the dreamer from physically acting out the movements of their dreams since the part of the brain that controls muscular movement cannot tell the difference between you dreaming of walking down stairs and you actually walking down stairs. This muscular inhibition is absolutely necessary. It is accomplished by suppressing the flow of signals from the brain along the spinal cord. Unfortunately, as we age, a couple of problems develop.

The first problem is that the muscles of the soft palate in your mouth become weaker. This allows the soft palate to sag. This is not particularly unusual since most people are not professional vocalists and don't exercise their soft palate. As we age and levels of HGH drop, many muscles in our body atrophy to a lower level of capability.

The second problem is that the communication between the diaphragm and the brain becomes somewhat obstructed. The nerves that reach the diaphragm emanate from the spinal column at C3, C4 and C5. These are cervical vertebrate that are right at the insertion of the upper trapezius muscles. The upper trapezius muscles are the most common expression of stress and tension in humans. This tension reduces the intervertebral foramen from which the nerves emanate and restricts the nervous flow along the root of the nerve through direct restriction. Unfortunately, a large amount of this tension is residual and does not dissipate when the subject enters stage two sleep.

The result of this is that upon entering stage two sleep, the muscle tonus holding the soft palate out of the air-way is reduced. This allows the soft palate to sag into the airway. While this is happening, the same inhibition of muscle tonus is attenuating (reducing) the signals to the diaphragm on an already obstructed communication channel. The result is that our breathing becomes shallower and shallower due to insufficient signal strength to the diaphragmatic muscles.

As our breathing becomes shallower, the blood oxygen level drops. In a young and healthy individual, this would elicit stronger and deeper breathing from the control system that regulates these activities. In an older individual with restricted nervous flow to the diaphragmatic muscles, there is no residual ability to increase for the purpose of offsetting the inhibition caused by stage two sleep entry and restricted nervous flow due to muscular tension in the neck region. Consequently, the respirations reduce in intensity and the blood oxygenation drops.

The blood oxygen level drops and the normal proportional control loop is un-able to maintain the desired level. This is where the safety back-up system comes in. When the blood oxygen level gets low enough and the carbon dioxide level gets high enough, the brain intervenes and causes the body to make a large and immediate inhalation. This causes a large pressure differential in the pharynx and literally sucks the sagging-soft palate into the airway. This obstructs the flow and causes a loud "SNORT" awakening the subject. Most times, the subject is not fully awakened and thus isn't aware that this is even happening. They just return to stage 1 sleep.

Upon awakening or return to stage 1 sleep, the inhibition causing the reduction of muscle tonus for entry into stage two sleep is released and respiration begins again in a somewhat normal manner. As the subject starts to drift off to sleep again, they move into stage two, the muscle tonus drops, the soft palate sags, the signal to the diaphragm diminish and the cycle repeats. The resulting snorting awakenings typically occur every minute or so.

The Solution:

So you see, the problem is not the sagging soft palate. The problem is not the rapid inhalation that sucks your soft palate into the airway. The problem is the reduced ability of the signal from your brain to produce sufficient breathing amplitude from your diaphragm. If your breathing was sufficiently deep enough, then you would not make a rapid inhalation, suck your soft palate into the airway and snort; disturbing your sleep.

The appropriate solution is not to cut flesh from your pharynx or to use heavy equipment to force air into your lungs. The appropriate intervention is to accentuate the ability of the brain to communicate with the diaphragm so that you breathe deeply and steadily.

Now that we have accurately characterized the problem, the solution becomes obvious. Sure it is beneficial to strengthen the muscles of the soft palate. Yes it is advantageous to reduce muscular tension in the neck. Both of these things will make a noticeable improvement in the condition. However; the most dramatic impact can be made by the administration of just a few common herbs.

Lobellia is used in small doses as a respiratory stimulant. In larger doses, it has the opposite effect. This herb, when taken before bed, can actually increase the quiescent level of respiration sufficiently so as to avert the dangerous drop in blood oxygen level that occurs upon muscular inhibition. It can maintain deep steady breathing through the stage 2 sleep period. Since it can have some un-settling effect on the stomach, it should be used in conjunction with Meadowsweet to eliminate any slight nauseous feeling.

Thyme has traditionally been used to enhance pleural activity and makes an excellent contribution to maintaining sufficient respiratory amplitude. To round out the combination, Chamomile aids the subject in relaxing and Cramp Bark helps the upper trapezius muscles to relax.

This bouquet of herbs relaxes muscles that restrict nervous flow, increases drowsiness, enhances respiration and protects the stomach lining. It represents a wholistic natural solution to sleep apnea. It is non-habit forming and no-preconditioning is required. This herbal combination is the essence of Sleep Apnea Relief available from Nature's Rite.Utilizing a natural approach to solving the sleep apnea problem can be liberating and rewarding. You may very well avoid surgery or CPAP use.

I don't know how long you have been here, but EC has always concentrated on peoples experiences for well over two decades now!

What scientific studies do show is how a specific molecule, such as melatonin reacts in many people as opposed to just one person. If it reacts similarly in 70 or more people, that is very useful information worth sharing. To only use or accept individual anecdotal reports or just homeopathy as your basis for decision making in health issues is very limiting, but when you also consider studies where possibly hundreds of people have similar beneficial experiences that completely broadens your potential for resolving many health issues.

Nothing works for everybody and melatonin and homeopathy are no exception. My preference is to consider all available options and not limit my chances for helping recovery from health problems because I arbitrarily decide that one or two options are the only viable options, when in reality there are many options at are disposal that we can chose from to try and alleviate what ever health issues we are dealing with or trying to resolve for friends.

Given the potential that all health modalities have to offer us to alleviate are ills, why would you want to arbitrarily limit those options?

Art

You either do exercises to strengthen the throat tissue or a second possibility that over time your teeth and jaw clenching at night has caused your teeth to close tight at night and so the throat aperture to be less open when asleep.

Use a mouth guard to keep your teeth apart 5mm and you should get more oxygen during sleep reducing the oxygen requirements for the body's organs and so a lessening n blood pressure also and no snoring.

just some out of the box thinking.

I go back and they will fit me with various breathing aids and see which one I need to not get into this state. Again, my advice to all is not to get old. Control what health problems that you can because those that you can't control will make your life about as interesting as you can stand.

========ORH=========

https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/lungs.html

The post:

06/12/2010: Bill from San Fernando, Luzon, Philippines writes: "The Thyroid, Iodine and Asthma

Here is an article which might help people suffering with lung problems in general. This interesting article is by Dr David Berry who specializes in the use of dessicated thyroid and lugol's iodine with respect to asthma and lung problems and whose research, experience and advice in this area is extensive and is, perhaps, a good illustration as to why adequate amounts of iodine are so necessary and important in our diets.

Here is what he has to say:

"In the mid 1980s I had a chronic asthma patient who developed an inflammation of his thyroid. After consultation with an endocrinologist he was put on Eltroxine (T4). One day when the patient came in later he mentioned that the thyroid treatment improved his asthma considerably. At the same time, my office receptionist had severe asthma since the age 12 requiring constant medications and multiple hospital visits. She knew about the results on this patient, she asked if she could try thyroid as well. I started her on 180 mg of desiccated thyroid and within a month raised her to 250 mg. This was in about 1986. She has been free of asthma symptoms since then. She still takes some medication occasionally but has not been in hospital for asthma since.

Encouraged by these results, I proceeded to work my way through all of my chronic asthma patients. At the time there were 22 severe asthmatics who came into my office on a regular basis for asthma attacks. Some came into the office once a month (or more often when in trouble) and some twice a year. Over about a 2-3 year period I gradually put all of them on desiccated thyroid. All patients improved tremendously. I would not say all of them were completely cured but the improvement was striking. Two things followed from this. By 1990 all asthma patients were on thyroid and thus from 1990 to 2002, I did not see another acute asthma attack in my office and none of these 22 patients came in for their asthma. The other slightly embarrassing problem was for a few months my waiting room became quite slow because of the absence of these asthma patients. From there I went on to learn what other benefits thyroid medication might have.

So it is my impression asthma is a low thyroid problem which can be better controlled and dealt with by thyroid treatment. Two patients who have been on these doses of thyroid for more than 15 years have had bone density tests show their bone density was completely normal. Prednisone (cortisone) used for acute severe asthma attacks has more serious potential for causing bone problems. Thyroid treatment, especially with supplementary iodine (Lugol's one drop daily) does not alter bone density short term or long term.

The only literature I can find on asthma and thyroid hormone was from the early part of the last century when many physicians found thyroid improved asthma. One 1911 study in a large Paris asthma clinic found thyroid treatment effective treatment for asthma. (1) However, adrenaline was discovered at the same time. Consequently all severe asthma patients went on daily injections of adrenaline for many years. The potential for using thyroid to help asthma was gradually forgotten. There was a study in 1968 in which they used growth hormone and thyroid to treat asthmatic children. They attributed the improvement to the growth hormone not the thyroid. (2) It has been noted repeatedly that asthma incidence is increasing in all age groups. I feel this is the result of a lower intake of iodine occurring in many families from decrease consumption of table salt. (3-6) The lower intake of iodine tends to make thyroid glands work poorly and cause hypothyroidism and thus increase the chances of asthma in those who are susceptible.

We know that by tracing radioactive thyroid hormone injected into animals shows the hormone concentrates in the aveoli of the lungs. These are the lower air sacs that we have to exchange oxygen with. Also for a good 100 years iodine preparations have been used on chronic chest problems and asthmatics. Iodine is excreted in the lung mucus. In fact iodine in excreted in all mucous secretions such as the mouth(saliva) stomach, bowels, cervix, and lungs. The iodine in the mucous likely helps to kill any bacteria or viruses. Thus both iodine and thyroid hormone are involved in lung physiology. For example most, if not all, sleep apnea patients are fixed with adequate doses of thyroid. Chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) also is helped by thyroid hormone treatment.

The amount of iodine in the lung mucus possibly explains the paradox that the Japanese who are amongst the heaviest smokers in the world also have one the lowest lung cancer rates. It is likely the high levels of iodine in their blood is excreted in the lung mucus. This iodine then by apoptosis (natural cell death)could be killing off any abnormal cells as they develop that are caused by the cigarette carcinogens. In addition iodine reacts directly with carcinogens and chemical to render them inactive. (7) The Japanese have had an average dietary iodine intake of about 10 mg for many centuries. If the level of iodine intake is above 2-3 mg daily then the thyroid gland becomes saturated within two weeks and does not take iodine up anymore. Thus the most of the iodine can then go to the other parts of the body to carry out iodine's mulitple important functions. The most important of these is relataed to killing off of pre-cancerous abnormal cells. Our intake of iodine as laid down by the WHO is around 15-200 micrograms. This is about one tenth the needed dose to saturate the thyroid gland. So most iodine or a large part of the dietary iodine in Westerners goes to the thyroid gland. This leaves less than optimal amounts going to the rest of the body."

Let me share my observations:

First of all both sleep apnea and atrial fib (heart arrythmia) happen often at the same time.

It is all to do with a stressor on the body.

For him it was if he ate artificial foods such as msg, vanillan (it is in 99. 9 % of all the candy bars out there not to mention cakes, etc. ), high fructose corn syrup, nutrisweet, etc.

Also food he was allergic to: chocolate and dairy, etc

AND SUGAR. People stop eating it. It caused all my health problems. Ever noticed the the whole world NEVER says someone is allergic to sugar. Well that is because we all are. It is poison.

He ate one very small cookie one day with actually health food sugar in it and had apnea that night.

He is quite sensitive right now because the hospital caused his slight every-once-in-a-while atrial fib to kick into high gear with giving him the wrong med.

EMF is a contributor and so are chemicals. People who clean for a living, or people who use toxic cleaners. Don't use them! Clorox has an effect on thyroid. Fluoride has an effect on thyroid and he was exposed in the hospital. And they feed you food with all the chemical junk in them. So how could someone ever recover!

Stress itself or overwork can do it as can sitting in front of a computer too long or cell phones. My husband worked before retirement in a company where they all used headsets and computers all day.

Atrial fib is a problem with an electrical connection in the heart. See the connection.

Our organs work together and one eects the other. I am a prime example. My liver- gallbladder attacks cause my heart to constrict- the whole left arm heart attack thing. But if I went to the DR. I would be put on heart meds. But I Know it is my liver! UGH!

Great input and explainations all over. Watch what you eat, how you eat it and test for food allergies.

also try Rife frequency

love Elsa

Potassium is pretty generic, and can be found in most any vitamin section of most any store. Tablets are limited to 99mg each. Start with 1, but I often pop 4 0r 5.

Bananas have about half the potassium they used to have. An apple a day used to do it, but not anymore. Farmed food in the stores is depleted. Fresh ORGANIC fruits and veggies are the best way to get potassium and magnesium.

Thank you for the feedback on melatonin. Not everyone tolerates melatonin and I have mentioned this in previous postings.

While melatonin does not cause sleep apnea, it certainly can exacerbate an existing case of sleep apnea because it can relax the upper airway and throat muscles and this would make an early stage undiagnosed case of sleep apnea very apparent. Obviously anything with melatonin should be off your list of supplements.

Art

He said he cured his A-Fib using bentonite clay and probiotics, suggesting the problem lies in the gut with toxicity. I have not been officially diagnosed with A-Fib, but something was wrong and since it runs in my family I knew I should take the symptoms seriously, so I tried Ron's remedy in the form of Dr. Schulz's #2 Formula (LOL! ) which also contains charcoal, psyllium, and more. The symptoms subsided for me! Between all 3 ingredients I have felt better... Ron was very persistent to get the word out, so you may want to try this remedy...Good luck!