My career has been mostly in the medical communication editing area. Helping physicians write great articles about a topic that interests them and getting those articles published. Unfortunately, that meant that I spent a lot of time sitting at a desk. The result is that my spine has developed problems that make it painful to stand or walk for extended periods. The low back pain can extend down one or both legs.The pain can vary between mild and severe. More severe pain needs more aggressive treatment and can even be a medical emergency.

The orthopedic physician I saw said that the treatment is ‘minor’ surgery on my spine to relieve the pressure on the nerves. Since when has any surgery on the spine been minor? A quick review of the information that is available on the Internet suggests that there are risks that the surgeon doesn’t want to talk about. My sister-in-law is a nurse who spent some time working on an orthopedic ward – she said that she has seen side effects that I don’t want any part of. So, I want to explore alternative treatments.

• Sleeping – sleep on my side, with a small pillow between my knees. This seems to help, although I usually wake up with the pillow somewhere else
• Surgery – the orthopedic doctor suggested ‘minor’ surgery to relieve the pressure on the nerves in my spine. When has spinal surgery ever been ‘minor’?
• Chiropractic adjustments – my chiropractor has changed his method of adjustments based on the MRI that I have cysts between the lumbar 4th and 5th vertebrae
• Spinal extension – also called inversion therapy. I don’t have an inversion table (paid link – see end of post) like this, but I do have an exercise machine that allows me to lie upside down at an angle of about 30 degrees. I only need to do it for about 5 minutes each day
• Infrared heating pad – very helpful for me. It allows me to sit and apply the heat for an extended period
• Pain relief – I have been lucky to not need to take anything stronger than ibuprofen. Opioids are suggested to help, but the risk of addiction, and other effects, have been well reported. So I choose not to go that route

So, having synovial cysts (or any kind of back injury) can be very painful. It can stop you from enjoying life. You must get professional medical advice before trying any ‘alternative’ treatment. However, there are treatments that do work (I am slowly getting better) and are therefore well worth considering after appropriate medical consultations.

Note: I may receive small compensation from any paid links included in my posts. I do not endorse any of the items linked unless specifically stated – please do your own research to identify the best product for your needs.

I saw today that the World Congress on Sleep Apnea is holding it’s tenth congress in Rome. They only meet every 3 years, so don’t look for one next year. The last one was in Seoul, Korea, but that web site is no longer active.

I am not going, as I am not a physician, and do not work in the sleep apnea world – I just live in it as a patient. I was particularly interested in a couple of items on the agenda for discussion on Rodshealth.

1. Philips Respironics is organizing a symposium on CPAP compliance. Participants are going to be hearing about the rationale for using CPAP, with the question of how much is enough being asked. They are also going to hear about interventions that will improve CPAP compliance from a PR person, then something about the role of behavioral interventions in improving CPAP compliance.

   I wonder if they will address what seems to be a frequent mantra of those who work in this area that the straps should be pulled as tight as possible? Getting the patient set up right at the start of their treatment is extremely important for improving adherence to the treatment program (I prefer adherence to compliance because I choose to follow the treatment). 
    

2. In the introduction to the Congress, Dr. Christian Guilleminault notes that sleep disordered breathing is responsible for many health-related problems, especially cardiovascular diseases. There will be no arguments from those who have sleep apnea that inattention, daytime sleepiness, systemic inflammation, and grinding of the teeth are associated with sleep apnea – they were in my case.

   Dr. Guilleminault goes on to note that sleep apnea “is induced or enhanced by obesity leading to fat deposition within the tongue and neck.” As pointed out, which comes first is not easy to identify.

The last point raises a question that I have often seen in the forums – will my sleep apnea be cured if I lose weight? My own opinion is that it all depends on which came first. I am not obese, although I am overweight. As a child I was definitely not overweight – almost the opposite, in fact. Yet I had symptoms that I now recognize as being possibly related to sleep apnea. There is no way to confirm that I had sleep apnea that long (50+ years!), but the possibility of being able to stop using the CPAP through weight loss is intriguing.

This looks like a scientifically very interesting meeting, and I hope I will be able to go through the abstract book over the next few months and highlight some of the interesting studies. Meantime, I will continue to work on my exercise program, my diet, and taking good quality vitamins to support my diet and exercise program.

As those who have been following my blog for a little while know, I have sleep apnea. Recently, I have started getting it under better control by adjusting a few things that don’t need a doctor’s permission. For example, I turned off the humidifier, using just the fan part of the CPAP machine. The first night I did that, I disconnected the humidifier and attached the hose directly to the part that contains the fan.

I kept waking up during the night because the fan had seemed to become very noisy. I could understand why people complain about the noise of CPAP machines. My wife also commented that it was noisier than usual. So the next night, I reattached the humidifier, but did not put any water in it. When I turned the machine on that night, I made sure the humidifier was turned to zero, allowing the air to pass straight through without being moistened.

My apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) was coming down closer to 1 event per hour, but then I had a night where I couldn’t sleep. The next day I saw somewhere that a low dose of melatonin might help with getting to sleep. I was able to pick up some 1.5 mg tablets at Walmart. I took one that night – out like a light, and slept well. Apparently, there were some strong thunderstorms during the night. I vaguely remember hearing something, but turned over and went back to sleep. Obviously, the melatonin worked for me! However, it is not something I want to take every night. It makes me feel too sleepy the next day!

I was interested to know what had happened to my AHI, so first thing in the morning I took the data card from my CPAP machine and read it into my computer (it is a standard card, so there was no difficulty there). The software told me that my AHI was 0.9 – the lowest it has been for several months. Of course, this was only one night, and I have to continue for several more nights before I can claim I have found the fix that helps my machine get my apnea under control. You certainly have to be persistent with these darned machines, but it is still better than the alternatives.

With my apnea under better control, I am feeling like I want a nap less and less during the day, and I am even starting to exercise more. I am starting to look forward to getting on my bicycle again – it has been a while since I did that. When I lived in New Zealand a few years ago I cycled around Lake Taupo – it took me all of a very long day, but the feeling when I finished was absolutely amazing. I wasn’t racing, but I also wasn’t last ! Nothing like that planned for now, but may be tomorrow I will go out and do 15 to 20 miles – just for fun. Here is a pic of Lake Taupo – it looks huge …

Cycling around here took all day ...