Chinese and Alternative Medicine for Sleep Apnoea

[C-PAP]

Sleep apnoea is treated totally differently in Chinese medicine. Does anyone know much about it? I had a visit with a Chinese medicine doctor (actually a friend) last week. She stuck a whole lot of needles in me and gave me some herbs ...all this crazy talk of CPAP and chronic sinusitis ...she wasn't truckin with any of it.

I Googled and found a sort of a link ...oh this forum says I can't post clickable links because I'm a nobody ...you'll have to Google yourself if you are interested.

Does anyone have experience of this. Don't knock it, it's a different approach that has worked for thousands of years ..pretty ancient stuff. There's a lot that western medicine can't deal with. Maybe a bit of this and a bit of that is the right approach?

[surferdude2]

No, I have no experience with it, but the real kicker would be if what she did to you helped at all. I'm always open to other methods.

Dude

[kaiasgram]

A couple of years ago I was introduced by chance (socially) to a doctor who is a specialist in Chinese medicine. I thought "Aha, here's my golden opportunity!" and the first thing I did was ask him if there was anything in Chinese medicine that would liberate me from my CPAP machine. He burst out laughing and when he was able to stop he told me that he himself uses a CPAP machine, as does his 80-something year old legally blind mother. That was the end of that conversation.

[rivraton]

My wife swears by acupuncture and talked me into trying it for a chronic cough. I have only had 1 session and have not felt any effect as of yet, I will keep an open mind for now. Did your friend say how log it takes to get results?

[rivraton]

A couple of years ago I was introduced by chance (socially) to a doctor who is a specialist in Chinese medicine. I thought "Aha, here's my golden opportunity!" and the first thing I did was ask him if there was anything in Chinese medicine that would liberate me from my CPAP machine. He burst out laughing and when he was able to stop he told me that he himself uses a CPAP machine, as does his 80-something year old legally blind mother. That was the end of that conversation.

So your saying it will not help sleep appease nor cure blindness...

[DocWils]

We looked into Chinese medicine a lot in this country as there was debate whether to include it in the basic insurance package - TCM, as it is called here cannot do anything for simple OSA so far as we can see. Actually, I have mostly doubts about it in any form. The areas that showed themselves useful to some extent were certain herbal applications, the concept of well balanced chi, which really is talking about your lifestyle, something we western docs are always banging on about, and the limited but real usability of acupuncture, which works for certain, limited functions. But we found no strong scientific grounds to accept the practice as in any way superior or equal to western medicine - it got accepted into the insurance anyway, because of political pressure by a lot of ignorant people forced a plebiscite (the five now covered are anthroposophic medicine, homoeopathy, neural therapy, phytotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine, if your therapist is certified by their "governing body" whatever that means - utter rubbish, pretty much, and in two cases, dangerous as well).

So, to answer your question, no, there is no basis in science for a cure to sleep apnoea, or at least to OSA.

[Barbz]

We looked into Chinese medicine a lot in this country as there was debate whether to include it in the basic insurance package - TCM, as it is called here cannot do anything for simple OSA so far as we can see. Actually, I have mostly doubts about it in any form. The areas that showed themselves useful to some extent were certain herbal applications, the concept of well balanced chi, which really is talking about your lifestyle, something we western docs are always banging on about, and the limited but real usability of acupuncture, which works for certain, limited functions. But we found no strong scientific grounds to accept the practice as in any way superior or equal to western medicine - it got accept into the insurance anyway, because of political pressure buy a lot of ignorant people forced a plebiscite (the five now covered are anthroposophic medicine, homoeopathy, neural therapy, phytotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine, if your therapist is certified by their "governing body" whatever that means - utter rubbish, pretty much, and in two cases, dangerous as well).

So, to answer your question, no, there is no basis in science for a cure to sleep apnoea, or at least to OSA.

Agree about the sleep apnea, but as an individual who is extremely sensitive to traditional Rxs...I have had to explore the world of alternative meds. I am a 15 year cancer survivor and Chemo saved my life, but changed it in so many other ways.

Luckily my other conditions are not serious...so it is ok for me to explore.

I have found BASIC help with curcumin for tingling in feet, valerian for sleep. I use cinnamon and honey to help cholesterol....proof in lab work here.

[C-PAP]

We looked into Chinese medicine a lot in this country as there was debate whether to include it in the basic insurance package - TCM, as it is called here cannot do anything for simple OSA so far as we can see. Actually, I have mostly doubts about it in any form. The areas that showed themselves useful to some extent were certain herbal applications, the concept of well balanced chi, which really is talking about your lifestyle, something we western docs are always banging on about, and the limited but real usability of acupuncture, which works for certain, limited functions. But we found no strong scientific grounds to accept the practice as in any way superior or equal to western medicine - it got accept into the insurance anyway, because of political pressure buy a lot of ignorant people forced a plebiscite (the five now covered are anthroposophic medicine, homoeopathy, neural therapy, phytotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine, if your therapist is certified by their "governing body" whatever that means - utter rubbish, pretty much, and in two cases, dangerous as well).

So, to answer your question, no, there is no basis in science for a cure to sleep apnoea, or at least to OSA.

Thank you for your thorough and informed response. As mentioned in another thread, my profound lethargy and failed response to CPAP seems to be related to chronic ethmoid sinusitis. That is something that western medicine is very poor at managing, and may possibly be something the Chinese system could help with. Currently the western ENT specialist has me on another round of prednisone, antibiotics and steroid sinus washouts. Surgery an option but unlikely to help also.

[GeoffD]

If you use Chinese medicine to treat sleep apnea, you'll be sleepy an hour later.

[under pressure]

If you use Chinese medicine to treat sleep apnea, you'll be sleepy an hour later.

<Giggle>