Any feedback on Sleep Apnea supplements?

[kennmcb]

There are a lot of good reviews on Amazon for this Sleep Apnea Aid from Natures Own. Seems to help with breathing. Anyone ever try supplements? RNA/DNA? Antioxidants? thanks

---

actually it's called Natures Rite Sleep Apnea Relief All Natural Supplement

[Beej]

You'll need to look up each individual ingredient to see if the individual properties could be helpful.
These include: Lobelia, Meadowsweet, Thyme, Chamomile and Cramp bark.

[kennmcb]

they seem to be helpful ingredients

[Walla Walla]

WARNING!  Be very careful when it comes to taking so called all natural Supplements. My sister took a all natural liver cleansing supplement and ended up in the hospital. Turns out the supplement poisoned her liver. 3 months later and shes still recovering. Doctor said it happens a lot.

[CTcentrals]

+1 on the warning.

If you're not confident in your knowledge about supplements please make sure to consult medical or naturopathic doctor, preferably one familiar with your medical history.  Some places require herbalists to have extended education to be registered or certified to practice. Or do your own in-depth research and then double check.  Some supplements are fairly benign and have a history of being fairly safe, if more or less effective use for targeted issue, like chammomile noted above. However, it tends to lower blood sugar, so that might be an issue for someone. lt is a mild blood thinner which might be an issue if taking blood thinning medicine.  If you're taking benzos (e.g., like xanax) it may make you more "calm" than you want. It is metabolized by the liver and can affect any other medication that is metabolized by teh liver, etc., etc.  I'm not against supplementation, particularly for specific conditions where efficacy has been demonstrated, but please be careful.

Whatever you do really depends on what definition of "sleep apnea" you're using and what you want the supplement to do.

ct

[DeepBreathing]

Reading the manufacturer's description of this product doesn't engender a great deal of confidence that it can in any way treat obstructive sleep apnea. For a start, the description of how apnea occurs is wrong, and seems to combine elements of both obstructive and central apnea. Some of the ingredients can have serious side effects including adverse interactions with a range of prescription medications.

Lobelia: Side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, dizziness, tremors, and more serious effects. Overdose may cause many serious toxic effects including sweating, convulsions, fast heartbeat, very low blood pressure, collapse, coma, and possibly death.

Meadowsweet can induce the symptoms of asthma in susceptible individuals. May also interact with aspirin.

Thyme is a nice herb. Can also be used to treat fungal infections of the toe nails and is an ingredient of mouthwash. It probably won't hurt you but it won't do anything for your apnea.

Chamomile is a relaxant which may interact with blood thinning medications.

Cramp bark seems to be a muscle relaxant, but there is precious little proper documentation to be found.

There's nothing in this lot to prevent collapse of the airway - in fact I suspect the chamomile and cramp bark may be counter-productive. Several of the ingredients can have adverse effects and/or interact with prescription medications. Taking something because it's "natural" is a silly approach. Oleander is "natural" but you wouldn't want to eat that. Arsenic and cyanide are "natural" but won't do you a lot of good. My personal recommendation is to stick with proper medications which have been through double-blind placebo controlled trials.

[Walla Walla]

Well I guess you wouldn't have sleep apnea after death.

[HalfAsleep]

If there were a medically successful and proven way to cure apnea, we would all have been cured long ago with a daily pill, and pharma companies would be raking in the profits. Sayonara to CPAP, sleep studies, worried spouses, cranky mornings....

Supplements are an unregulated industry. There is no way to know what exactly is in a given bottle, and marketing claims can be fatal.

IMO.

[PaulaO2]

Yeah, I just don't see how popping a pill can help with OSA. It is a "muscle relaxes, flaps in the breeze, then falls under its own weight, dragging its neighbors down with it" thing, not a nutritional/mineral deficiency.

Now, if they could invent a pill that kept the throat muscles awake while the rest of the voluntary muscles in the body sleeps, well, that might do it. Wouldn't be good for it or you, but hey.