Originally published July 17 2005
Current study focuses on connection between asthma and sleep disorders
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
An emaxhealth.com article reports on an ongoing study that asks patients with severe asthma to report on breathing problems they experience while sleeping.
When asthmatics are awake, they can turn to their inhalers to open their airways.
But when they sleep, many of them continue to struggle with breathing, and an understanding of their sleep-related problems may help doctors better diagnose and treat their patients' asthma, according to new University of Michigan Health System research.
Symptoms of sleep apnea and other breathing problems during sleep are common among people with asthma, according to the research, which is being presented today at the American Thoracic Society's 2005 International Conference in San Diego.
Given this preliminary finding from an ongoing study, researchers say doctors should examine their asthma patients' sleep patterns more often, especially when the patients continue to have trouble even with regular use of inhalers and other common asthma treatments.
Most participants were being treated for asthma with inhalers and other medications, but they were still symptomatic, says Mihaela Teodorescu, M.D., a pulmonary medicine specialist, research fellow in sleep medicine and a lecturer at UMHS, who is presenting the findings at the ATS meeting and who is leading the study.
In addition, 55 percent of these people said they experienced excessive daytime sleepiness.
Although the study is still ongoing, Teodorescu says the early findings should encourage doctors to consider sleep apnea as a possible aggravating condition in their asthma patients.
These early findings offer one more reason people should be tested for sleep disorders, a vast majority of which are under-diagnosed, says Ronald Chervin, M.D ., M.S., director of the Sleep Disorders Center and Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Laboratory at UMHS.
"We might be able to control some of these patients' asthma better if we could identify and treat their apnea," says Chervin, associate professor of neurology at the U-M Medical School.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml