What’s The Cost Of Living Have to Do With Sleep Apnea?
April 24, 2008 11:12 pm Baby Boomers-At Risk For Unusual Reason, Current Events, Sleep Apnea and Snoring Solutions
Image by mlhradio via FlickrHave you been gasping every time you pull into the gas station to “fill ‘er up” and you watch the little $$ signs fly away out of your precious pocket book, while the gas prices go through the roof? There certainly is a cost to drive anywhere these days, and I don’t see it getting any better any time soon…
Are you personally experiencing, or know someone, who’s living costs are outstripping their monthly income as housing costs are skyrocketing, health-care costs, food costs and just about everything just costs more? It’s truly getting expensive to live.
Everyone knows that businesses have a “cost of doing business,” with the expenses they incur as they run the day to day operations of their business such as taxes, wages, overhead, disability insurance, worker comp, advertising, and on and on… there is a cost to run a business.
The fact is that there is a cost associated with just about any activity, and yes, even a cost associated with inactivity.
Sometimes doing nothing will cost more than doing something.. think of your car maintenance.What happens if you don’t change your oil, or let don’t change your brake pads? Your engine can seize up, or you find yourself replacing not just pads, but rotors, calipers and everything else… or worse, getting into an accident over something that didn’t cost that much to replace compared to the pile up that just happened. Yes, letting things go can have a huge cost associated with it doesn’t it?
So… what does all of this have to do with sleep apnea you may ask?
A few weeks ago I conducted a survey where I asked my subscribers what issues where important to them, and what were their concerns.
Of those surveyed 46.7% had concerns about having sleep apnea and 66.7% had questions about alternative treatments other than CPAP like an oral appliance. There were over 45% of people that were not treated but concerned! What opened my eyes was the next statistic.
85.7% of those surveyed were worried about the cost (expense) of getting treatment!
Yes, there is a cost of treatment, but there is an even greater cost of non treatment. The question I have for you is this: Which is greater? The cost of treatment or the cost of non treatment? This question gives new meaning to the term “Cost of Living.”
Here are some facts about the cost of living with untreated sleep apnea. Let’s put these in terms of value
Personal Cost:
| Fact: |
Cost: |
| Your heart now works harder to pump blood to your oxygen-starved brain. |
Shorter Life Span |
| Studies show a direct correlation between sleep apnea and strokes or heart attack. |
Greatly Decreased Life Span or Sudden Death |
| Sleep Apnea suffers overwhelmingly tend to be obese, as they are too tired to exercise, playing out a vicious cycle. |
Lack of energy; injury to organs and joints like hips and knees, making it even more difficult or impossible to exercise. |
| Increased risk of Diabetes. |
Daily injections of insulin, loss of limbs, premature death. |
| Increased risk of Dementia |
Lost connection with loved ones and slow death. |
| Lack of restorative sleep results in drowsy driving and traffic accidents. |
Higher insurance costs or loss of license. Someone else’s life or possibly your own. |
| Falling asleep and lack of focus at work. |
Lost productivity, loss of promotions or even losing one’s job from costly errors. |
Cost to Your Family:
| Fact or Potential Situation: |
Cost: |
| Your spouse cannot get restorative sleep because of your snoring. |
Increased risk of Diabetes and Obesity. |
| Your stroke or heart attack. |
Hospital costs; financial impact of your illness. |
| You’re too tired to travel or enjoy life. |
Relationship and intimacy are curtailed. Your spouse’s freedom and enjoyment of life are as well. |
| Your traffic accident because of drowsy driving. |
Injury or loss of life of family passengers. |
Cost to Society:
| Fact or Potential Situation: |
Cost: |
| Your advanced illness, hospital stays and/or disability. |
Increased cost of medical insurance and premiums. |
| Traffic Accidents |
Innocent victims and increased cost of public safety. |
Are the costs of not getting treated more than I’d ever want to pay?
Call now for a free consultation.
Dr. Jonathan Greenburg
888-31-SNORE
April 25th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Very good article and interesting facts about 88% of people being afraid of treatment costs. I too was afraid of the cost ago but I realized not treating my apnea and snoring was a horrible mistake.
I’d recommend people research all aspects of apnea and question if “position” is a contributing factor. If so, perhaps you should try using a positional t-shirt. Sleeping on your back vs side can make your apnea much worse. If you decide to use CPAP or an oral retainer consider treating your position too, it could make a serious improvement.
Visit www.antisnoreshirt.com to see what a positional t-shirt looks like.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Hey Sean,
I appreciate your post. It also looks like you have found some relief with a shirt that helps “reposition” you when you sleep. I guess you are selling them.
You bring up a really great issue though. What causes sleep apnea, and what’s an effective way to treat it, no matter what it costs.
Sleep apnea and snoring, in a large percentage of the cases is caused by an obstruction. That is why they call it obstructive sleep apnea.
If you don’t address the obstruction, you don’t really treat it.
What is the obstruction? It’s the tongue! Effective treatment of sleep apnea, has to address the tongue.
This is why our patented oral appliance has an 85% success rate. The only other treatment that has a higher success rate is a CPAP machine.
Big problem though… over 60% over people who are prescribed CPAP don’t comply with treatment. It’s cumbersome, ugly and they hate it!
So… the point is, if your snore shirt addresses the tongue, then you have an effective treatment. If not it possibly might only be for the mildest of snoring cases and not the type of high risk apnea cases I am discussing in this post.
Take care… and I wish you the best.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Dr. Greenburg,
I appreciate your post, very informative but you still don’t talk at all about the price of this “patented” oral appliance. Real people don’t have money sometimes and put off treatment because of that. They have to put food on their tables too.
Can you at least let me know what I am looking at as far as the price of this thing?
Thanks,
John
April 25th, 2008 at 1:37 am
John,
I really appreciate your question and hope to shed some light on this for you.
I wouldn’t want you to not be able to feed your family in order to get treatment, I agree with you. On the other hand, I certainly would want you to be around long enough to enjoy your family!
Practically speaking though, there is no way to give you a real number without a consultation. You wouldn’t call up a dentist and say, how much to fix my teeth? The dentist would have to look in your mouth, take x-rays, see if you have cavities or need a root canal, then you get a real idea of what it’s going to cost you.
This is why we are offering a free consultation to get you in the door so we can take a look at what you need.
We sit you down in a chair, and see if you have a obstructed airway with a special device that actually measures the airway with sonar.
The first reading we get is just you breathing normally. Then we put in different pieces of spacing wax to move your jaw forward, then wax to simulate our oral appliance.
We then go over the readings with you. The fact is that there are people who come in who don’t need treatment. They just need some behavioral modification. Lose some weight and exercise. This advice is part of the free consultation.
For those that need treatment. There are a variety of options. Some patients are covered by Medical. Others have insurance that covers a portion of the treatment.
For others, who have no coverage, we have an interest free payment plan that can be as low as $49 per month.
If you find that you have sleep apnea and you need treatment, I think that less than it would cost you for a Starbucks every day, you could reduce your risk of death and enjoy your family…well it’s worth it, don’t you think?
Take care John, and if you are in the Los Angeles area, call me. Let’s chat. I’d love to meet you.
Dr. Greenburg DDS
888-31-SNORE
April 28th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Hi John, I agree with your emphasis on the tongue and that’s exactly why the Anti Snore Shirt works so well.
I tried wearing an oral retainer but found to completely cure my apnea and snoring I had to advance my lower jaw to far forward for comfort.
I’ve had excellent success treating my snoring and apnea my combining both treatments. I now only sleep on my side and wear the oral retainer. Sleeping on my side allows (in my case) for only a minor jaw advancement making it much more comfortable and effective.
I agree that you’re patients and viewers should visit you or their local sleep specialist and get a consultation for an accurate diagnosis. During the consultation I’d encourage your patients to ask if sleeping on their sides would help make their problem easier to cure.
Thank you,
Sean
www.antisnoreshirt.com