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The Apnea Patient's News, Education & Awareness Network |
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The Apnea Patient's News, Education & Awareness Network |
We recently were able to interview author Sally Soest about her book, Snoring and Sleep Apnea. We hope you'll find this interview of interest.
APNEANET: Sally, your book has gained recognition as one of the two best books available for sleep apnea patients and family members. Can you tell us what your book is about?
SOEST: It is about getting an accurate diagnosis and the appropriate treatment for sleep apnea, and about dealing with the long-term treatment issues. The first author, Dr. Ralph Pascualy, is a world-class sleep specialist, so the book is medically accurate. The second author (me) is the wife of a person with sleep apnea, and I made sure that the book is written in terms that an average person can easily understand and touches the issues that have touched our lives and the lives of our many sleep apnea friends.
APNEANET: Why did you choose the title?
SOEST: The title is "Snoring and Sleep Apnea: Personal and Family Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment." Snoring, because that's the symptom that sends most people to the sleep clinic. Personal and family guide, because sleep apnea is a personal problem that invades the privacy of the bedroom, and because the family is so important and so significantly affected by long term treatment of sleep apnea.
APNEANET: Can you tell us about yourself as an author? What's your background?
SOEST: I am a medical writer with a masters of science in zoology, and I managed to squeeze all the freshman medical school courses under my hat at one time or another. My masters research and thesis (a thousand years ago) were on circadian rhythms -- basically, the sleep/wake cycle. My interest in sleep disorders brought me full circle, back to my original field of interest.
APNEANET: How did you come to write this book?
SOEST: My husband, an Olympian snorer, was diagnosed with sleep apnea in about 1985. There was no patient information available about sleep apnea so I began reading the medical literature. The more I read, the more I was convinced that other people needed comprehensive information about the long-term effects of this complicated disorder, and support to help them understand the options for treatment. Dr. Pascualy also saw the need for accurate patient information, so the book was born.
APNEANET: Are you still current in the field?
SOEST: Yes. I research and draft a quarterly newsletter on sleep disorders for medical professionals (published by Providence Sleep Disorders Center in Seattle), so I keep up with the medical literature. Also, we just finished updating the Snoring and Sleep Apnea for the third edition, which will be out in May, 1999, so I've read all the latest information. I've managed to attend about 8 annual APSS meetings, but unfortunately missed the 1998 one in June (Editor's note: The APSS is the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, which host an annual scientific conference on sleep disorders).
APNEANET: What do you think of some of the newer developments in the apnea world?
SOEST: CPAPs are lighter and quieter, and creative mask alternatives are appearing, all of which will make CPAP easier to tolerate. Research is zeroing in on the control of the pharyngeal muscles during sleep, and may lead to some sort of "pacemaker" to keep the throat from collapsing. Sleep docs are starting to realize that if they can offer more one-on-one support to people starting out on CPAP, more people will be able to use it successfully all night, every night. (Duh. Seems like a no-brainer, to me, but sometimes the docs get focused on the wiring and the plumbing and ignore the person.) On a sour note: I am just paranoid enough to believe that people with sleep apnea are at risk of being taken advantage today of by some new developments, unless and until better standards and regulations are put in place. Two examples:
1. Smart PAP is a mixed blessing (IMHO). It may be a more user-friendly treatment, and even necessary for some very severe patients. However, (a) it is expensive; and (b) it widens the door for unscrupulous street-corner sleep apnea treatment. A CPAP vendor (with a stake in maximizing profit) sells a smart-PAP to an untested patient and tells him to go home and try it, with no sleep test and no adequate follow-up care. What are the chances that he has been accurately diagnosed? What are chances that he will stick with "that machine"? What are chances he will later on end up with cardiovascular problems from untreated sleep apnea? I don't like this picture.
2. LAUP and Somnoplasty are a huge temptation to some medical practitioners: quick, relatively risk-free, and extremely lucrative. The palate surgeries are both being "sold" by advertisements paid for by the equipment manufacturers and aimed at the desperate spouses of snorers. Big risk of inappropriate treatment, IMHO, and big risk of leaving serious sleep apnea untreated. Somnoplasty to shrink the base of the tongue has just been FDA-approved for treatment of sleep apnea, and I'm sure it's going to sweep the country. However, the literature on classical (laser) tongue reduction surgery reports that, even in patients who have ALREADY had UPPP (and still have sleep apnea), only around 40% "respond" successfully to tongue reduction surgery -- and many of those "successes" still end up with an RDI over 10 and oxygen saturation under 90. So they'll probably STILL need treatment. I will be surprised if tongue Somnoplasty gets better results than that, but at least it's probably less risky. A bazillion people will want to try it, and you can just hear those cash registers jingling.
Always, always get a second opinion from an accredited sleep specialist before you decide on any surgery!
APNEANET: Why should an apnea patient read your book?
SOEST: Because it discusses all of this stuff:
APNEANET: Do you have any plans for newer editions?
SOEST: Absolutely! The completely revised and updated third edition is expected in May, 1999.
APNEANET: Thank you, Sally! We really appreciate your taking time to do this interview.
EMAIL THE AUTHOR:
If our readers have any questions of Sally Soest about her book, you can forward them to her by clicking on the link below. You can email Sally Soest at SallySoest@apneanet.org
READ A REVIEW OF THE BOOK:
For a review of Snoring and Sleep Apnea, click here to read the review posted on the web. Currently there is no known review posted on an internet site. We're still looking for one.
BUY THE BOOK!
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Snoring
& Sleep Apnea: Personal & Family Guide to Diagnosis & Treatment,
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