Respiratory Therapy Driven

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Quick Request for Information.
2008-01-15 01:50:00
We use the Voldyne Incentive Spirometer and it has the predicted volumes for patients with the age over 20. But how do you calculate the predicted volume's for patients under the age of 20? We currently have a 13 year old patient who had surgery and the Doc wants I.S. done and we have a protocol on doing these but we cannot find a proper predicted volume.If anyone has a chart or calculation for this could you do me a favor and leave a message with this information..Thanks for any help.
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My Mirror RT.
2008-01-14 11:09:00
Back again for episode ... Umm something or another.OK so I live in a small RT cave at a small hospital in a small town on night shift. I also happen to be the only RT on at night, besides my mirror RT who works the nights I don't work. Which if you think about it is kind of funny in the way of social interaction type thing. You see here we only have a total of 9 people here in my RT department and the other night shift person is the only person I really don't know all that well. Why you ask? It's because there are only 2 of us night shifters here and if I'm working he is off and if he is working I'm off so with this little interesting arrangement we never really see each other, we will never really attend the same function together, we will never meet out with coworkers to have a drink together, nothing. The only real interaction we have together is over the phone if one of us wants to make a switch of shifts. I hear stories and anecdotes of him, some good, some bad, some inte...
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Military Occupational Speciality: 91V10.
2008-01-09 12:53:00
Life in the Respiratory Therapy school where I went was and entirely different experience than the standard college Respiratory course I think I am safe to say. I only say this because I did my schooling in the U.S. Army and with this post I am going to try and explain what my school was like. Now keep in mind that I didn't go through the college course for Respiratory Therapy at all so I really cannot compare the two with personnel experience but my comparison comes from other RT's who went the standard route of college. So here is my story of sorts on how I did it.This all started when I was over in Mogadishu Somalia and my first 4 years of enlistment was coming to a end and I had some choices to make: Stay in as a Medic, change MOS (Job), or get out and be a civilian. I wasn't ready to get out(ETS is acronym for basically get out) yet and I figured that I should go for more schooling if I wanted to become more marketable if I ever decided that I wanted to ETS in the future. At...
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Military Occupational Speciality: 91V10.
2008-01-09 12:53:00
Life in the Respiratory Therapy school where I went was and entirely different experience than the standard college Respiratory course I think I am safe to say. I only say this because I did my schooling in the U.S. Army and with this post I am going to try and explain what my school was like. Now keep in mind that I didn't go through the college course for Respiratory Therapy at all so I really cannot compare the two with personnel experience but my comparison comes from other RT's who went the standard route of college. So here is my story of sorts on how I did it.This all started when I was over in Mogadishu Somalia and my first 4 years of enlistment was coming to a end and I had some choices to make: Stay in as a Medic, change MOS (Job), or get out and be a civilian. I wasn't ready to get out(ETS is acronym for basically get out) yet and I figured that I should go for more schooling if I wanted to become more marketable if I ever decided that I wanted to ETS in the future. At...
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We have a Drought!!!
2008-01-09 12:26:00
This is just a FYI and a call for anymore information.So my little department here is down to just 2 Nasal Cannula Humidifiers (AKA Bubblers) here in my hospital. Where have they all gone?OK word around here has it that the FDA has decided to put stronger rules or whatever on the Sterile water for Inhalation and how it's made and packaged, so they have not stopped the companies from making anymore at this time. What more do they want? Extra sterilization, better packaging, fruity flavors? Hell I don' t know.What I do know is that is what we are told here at my Cave and that there is a nationwide shortage now of Bubble humidifiers for nasal cannulas. Has anyone else head of anything about this, or can anyone find any articles on this topic that is current ... I have found some from 2003 but am looking for something more current.Oh well just thought this was interesting and would like to know if anyone else out there in Respiratory land has been told anything.Drive on and keep ...
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We have a Drought!!!
2008-01-09 12:26:00
This is just a FYI and a call for anymore information.So my little department here is down to just 2 Nasal Cannula Humidifiers (AKA Bubblers) here in my hospital. Where have they all gone?OK word around here has it that the FDA has decided to put stronger rules or whatever on the Sterile water for Inhalation and how it's made and packaged, so they have not stopped the companies from making anymore at this time. What more do they want? Extra sterilization, better packaging, fruity flavors? Hell I don' t know.What I do know is that is what we are told here at my Cave and that there is a nationwide shortage now of Bubble humidifiers for nasal cannulas. Has anyone else head of anything about this, or can anyone find any articles on this topic that is current ... I have found some from 2003 but am looking for something more current.Oh well just thought this was interesting and would like to know if anyone else out there in Respiratory land has been told anything.Drive on and keep ...
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30 Minutes past tired.
2008-01-06 11:37:00
First off Happy New Years everyone and I hope it's a great one for you all.So anyways this is my weekend to work and we consider our working weekend to be Friday and Saturday for us 2 night shifters here at my small Hospital and this is why I'm 3o Minutes past tired which in my opinion why I'm so awake right now, I'm past tired but it makes work easier so I'm not falling asleep here.Friday started early trying to find someone to cover my first 4 hours of my 12 hour shift. Why would I do that, well my daughters (9 and 10) are on a private swim team here in my town and they have a meet this weekend out of town which would of been Saturday and Sunday, BUT the coach put them in to do their first Mile (1650 yards) race. Now as swimmer in High School myself and a proud Dad there is no way I'm missing this. Of course they have to be at the pool at 15:45 and school gets out at 15:35 so of course we have to pull them out early with no complaint from my girls and drive 45 min's away to...
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30 Minutes past tired.
2008-01-06 11:37:00
First off Happy New Years everyone and I hope it's a great one for you all.So anyways this is my weekend to work and we consider our working weekend to be Friday and Saturday for us 2 night shifters here at my small Hospital and this is why I'm 3o Minutes past tired which in my opinion why I'm so awake right now, I'm past tired but it makes work easier so I'm not falling asleep here.Friday started early trying to find someone to cover my first 4 hours of my 12 hour shift. Why would I do that, well my daughters (9 and 10) are on a private swim team here in my town and they have a meet this weekend out of town which would of been Saturday and Sunday, BUT the coach put them in to do their first Mile (1650 yards) race. Now as swimmer in High School myself and a proud Dad there is no way I'm missing this. Of course they have to be at the pool at 15:45 and school gets out at 15:35 so of course we have to pull them out early with no complaint from my girls and drive 45 min's away to...
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Chips Anyone?
2008-01-01 06:00:00
Well I found this kind of interesting, the first of this medical device that I've had a patient actually using. OK let me explain this one.I was doing a ECG on a patient in the ER tonight and the ECG machine was picking up a lot of artifacts on the tracing so I readjusted all my leads and checked my wires and disconnected the lead to the ER monitor and still the same with the artifacts but the ECG machine was saying it was detecting muscle tremors. Now here is the part the that I though was quite interesting the patient said to me "Could it be the chip a doctor had implanted in her when she had heart surgery last year?" so now I'm curious and I ask her what chip is she talking about and she continues to tell me that it was told to her after the surgery that the doctor implanted a microchip in her with information of her surgery for future knowledge.Now I start thinking maybe this is one of the RFID chips that I have heard about which can carry your medical information. I'm thinki...
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Chips Anyone?
2008-01-01 06:00:00
Well I found this kind of interesting, the first of this medical device that I've had a patient actually using. OK let me explain this one.I was doing a ECG on a patient in the ER tonight and the ECG machine was picking up a lot of artifacts on the tracing so I readjusted all my leads and checked my wires and disconnected the lead to the ER monitor and still the same with the artifacts but the ECG machine was saying it was detecting muscle tremors. Now here is the part the that I though was quite interesting the patient said to me "Could it be the chip a doctor had implanted in her when she had heart surgery last year?" so now I'm curious and I ask her what chip is she talking about and she continues to tell me that it was told to her after the surgery that the doctor implanted a microchip in her with information of her surgery for future knowledge.Now I start thinking maybe this is one of the RFID chips that I have heard about which can carry your medical information. I'm thinki...
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It's Pouring!!!
2007-12-28 11:52:00
Remember that "Wow it's been really slow for awhile now" thing I wrote a couple posts back? Well it's over now, tonight has become hell night, so I'm not able to blog about what I wanted to but I will at a later time.Well I've been hit with a ton of COPD patients tonight along with multiple Chest Pain which cause use to do EKG's. It's just been crazy and we are assuming that it was the nicer weather that awoke all the bacterias up and now it's getting colder and we are expecting 3-9 inches of snow today, so yep weather and barometric pressure change can really effect those people with COPD and it's happening tonight at my little hospital. It's also happening at my wife's big hospital were she is a ER nurse, they have been just as busy.Here in my little slice of heaven I am the only RT on a night so I'm running all over with the new patients we are getting and I'm only able to write a little due to forgetting to get the chance to do the controls on our ABG machines so ...

It's Pouring!!!
2007-12-28 11:52:00
Remember that "Wow it's been really slow for awhile now" thing I wrote a couple posts back? Well it's over now, tonight has become hell night, so I'm not able to blog about what I wanted to but I will at a later time.Well I've been hit with a ton of COPD patients tonight along with multiple Chest Pain which cause use to do EKG's. It's just been crazy and we are assuming that it was the nicer weather that awoke all the bacterias up and now it's getting colder and we are expecting 3-9 inches of snow today, so yep weather and barometric pressure change can really effect those people with COPD and it's happening tonight at my little hospital. It's also happening at my wife's big hospital were she is a ER nurse, they have been just as busy.Here in my little slice of heaven I am the only RT on a night so I'm running all over with the new patients we are getting and I'm only able to write a little due to forgetting to get the chance to do the controls on our ABG machines so ...

Need a Harmonica player for your band?
2007-12-27 05:57:00
I found this interesting article from the Arizona Republic about a program at the John C. Lincoln hospital in Phoenix Arizona.Basically it is a class put on by Mike Clark, a registered respiratory therapist at the hospital where patients with mainly COPD are learning to play the Harmonica . By using the harmonica these patients can hear exactly how they are breathing along with learning a instrument and getting some PEP therapy along with it I'm sure. They used to use therapies for strengthening their lungs by blowing out candles, walking treadmills or blowing up small balloons but it sounds like this one is a bit more fun.I have to say therapy must be easier to do and stay with it is interesting and fun. Can't help but be a little impressed with this "alternative therapy". I have noticed over the years that the people who do get this highest amount on their Incentive Spirometry seem to have played some type on instrument in the past, mostly it seemed to be a trumpet like instrumen...
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Need a Harmonica player for your band?
2007-12-27 05:57:00
I found this interesting article from the Arizona Republic about a program at the John C. Lincoln hospital in Phoenix Arizona.Basically it is a class put on by Mike Clark, a registered respiratory therapist at the hospital where patients with mainly COPD are learning to play the Harmonica . By using the harmonica these patients can hear exactly how they are breathing along with learning a instrument and getting some PEP therapy along with it I'm sure. They used to use therapies for strengthening their lungs by blowing out candles, walking treadmills or blowing up small balloons but it sounds like this one is a bit more fun.I have to say therapy must be easier to do and stay with it is interesting and fun. Can't help but be a little impressed with this "alternative therapy". I have noticed over the years that the people who do get this highest amount on their Incentive Spirometry seem to have played some type on instrument in the past, mostly it seemed to be a trumpet like instrumen...
More About: Band , Player

Deadtime....
2007-12-23 09:30:00
Ok just did 2 posting but this is kind of interesting to any night shifters out there.My wife and I have been watching this show called Paranormal State which is basically about ghost and paranormal hunters. Its a show where the video the actual hunts and the attempt to contact and remove the paranormal activity, this in not a Docudrama its real footage.Anyways there is a time called Dead time which they say is when there is the most paranormal activity and this time is between 3:00am and 4:00am. OK if this is true and we work in hospital where people die and there are surely ghost around, maybe we should keep our eyes open during this time. Kind of eerie.What do you think, seen any ghosts at your hospital? I have at another I worked at in Germany while I was in the military, but I will keep that story for a later post.Keep calm.

Deadtime....
2007-12-23 09:30:00
Ok just did 2 posting but this is kind of interesting to any night shifters out there.My wife and I have been watching this show called Paranormal State which is basically about ghost and paranormal hunters. Its a show where the video the actual hunts and the attempt to contact and remove the paranormal activity, this in not a Docudrama its real footage.Anyways there is a time called Dead time which they say is when there is the most paranormal activity and this time is between 3:00am and 4:00am. OK if this is true and we work in hospital where people die and there are surely ghost around, maybe we should keep our eyes open during this time. Kind of eerie.What do you think, seen any ghosts at your hospital? I have at another I worked at in Germany while I was in the military, but I will keep that story for a later post.Keep calm.

Cardiorespiratory Therapist?
2007-12-23 08:52:00
So why does it seem that the duties of EKG's always fall in the hands of us RT's? Where we trained in cardiology, or given the knowledge of ECG/EKG's or even doing these tests on patients? I know I was never given a class on this type of testing during my schooling, but it the powers that be seem to think that EKG's should fall onto us RT's. Now I'm sure this isn't the case for all RT's who work in Hospitals, but so far in the last 11 years doing this it seem to be the standard where I have worked.Now being a male RT doing EKG's can become a little touchy at times, but we must know to remain professional at all times also. Ok now I'm not trying to sound perverted but really is it to hard to ask for a hottie patient to do a EKG on every now and then, I think not. Really think about it what is our EKG population like and the problems the come with it.As a man we have to handle these women's breasts which are in general terms a taboo region just to bear in front of a st...
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Cardiorespiratory Therapist?
2007-12-23 08:52:00
So why does it seem that the duties of EKG's always fall in the hands of us RT's? Where we trained in cardiology, or given the knowledge of ECG/EKG's or even doing these tests on patients? I know I was never given a class on this type of testing during my schooling, but it the powers that be seem to think that EKG's should fall onto us RT's. Now I'm sure this isn't the case for all RT's who work in Hospitals, but so far in the last 11 years doing this it seem to be the standard where I have worked.Now being a male RT doing EKG's can become a little touchy at times, but we must know to remain professional at all times also. Ok now I'm not trying to sound perverted but really is it to hard to ask for a hottie patient to do a EKG on every now and then, I think not. Really think about it what is our EKG population like and the problems the come with it.As a man we have to handle these women's breasts which are in general terms a taboo region just to bear in front of a st...
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Moments of Busy.
2007-12-23 07:39:00
As you might of noticed from my last post that we are really not all that busy here in my RT Cave, but we do have our moments of busy and last night was one of them.I get here at my normal time of 1830 figuring on a pretty decent night. I do the normal thing, put my coat and my food in my locker and fridge and then page the RT on shift to see if they need any help, usually it's a "Nope, I'll be right up.". Well not this tonight it was more of a "Could you get started on the treatments and meet me in the ICU, or I'll find you when I'm done." Ok still nothing to really get me thinking busy, I mean our treatment load is 2 QID's and one Q4, sure I can knock that out.After I get those 3 really tough nebs (sarcasm) done I head off down to the ICU to see if my partner needs any help, well yep she does with a patient who is vented. Now I notice that she is bagging this patient and the vent is next to her and running, so I ask whats going on? She had been bagging this patient for o...
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Moments of Busy.
2007-12-23 07:39:00
As you might of noticed from my last post that we are really not all that busy here in my RT Cave, but we do have our moments of busy and last night was one of them.I get here at my normal time of 1830 figuring on a pretty decent night. I do the normal thing, put my coat and my food in my locker and fridge and then page the RT on shift to see if they need any help, usually it's a "Nope, I'll be right up.". Well not this tonight it was more of a "Could you get started on the treatments and meet me in the ICU, or I'll find you when I'm done." Ok still nothing to really get me thinking busy, I mean our treatment load is 2 QID's and one Q4, sure I can knock that out.After I get those 3 really tough nebs (sarcasm) done I head off down to the ICU to see if my partner needs any help, well yep she does with a patient who is vented. Now I notice that she is bagging this patient and the vent is next to her and running, so I ask whats going on? She had been bagging this patient for o...
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Where's the patients?
2007-12-17 08:02:00
Now I'm not complaining but it can get a little boring around here without patients to work with. Yes I'm talking about having no patients through the night and this is my 4Th shift in a row where it's been like this. Actually we have only 7 total patients that require our RT expertise, which is 5 more than there was 3 days ago.It is damn cold here lately with a lot of snow and ice around so maybe the cold is killing all the Bactria's off so nothing to get anyone sick. That's not true the Flu is running through my house. My 9 year old had a Asthma flareup with vomiting from the Flu which then went to my 9 month old who has been vomiting for 4 days now, but better today. Now did anyone know that doc's don't give medication to babies anymore to help stop the vomiting? I didn't!!! Nor did my wife the ER nurse, but the pediatrician said there was a study of some sort and they don't recommend anti-vomiting meds anymore for babies, so we just had to keep washing his sheets...
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Where's the patients?
2007-12-17 08:02:00
Now I'm not complaining but it can get a little boring around here without patients to work with. Yes I'm talking about having no patients through the night and this is my 4Th shift in a row where it's been like this. Actually we have only 7 total patients that require our RT expertise, which is 5 more than there was 3 days ago.It is damn cold here lately with a lot of snow and ice around so maybe the cold is killing all the Bactria's off so nothing to get anyone sick. That's not true the Flu is running through my house. My 9 year old had a Asthma flareup with vomiting from the Flu which then went to my 9 month old who has been vomiting for 4 days now, but better today. Now did anyone know that doc's don't give medication to babies anymore to help stop the vomiting? I didn't!!! Nor did my wife the ER nurse, but the pediatrician said there was a study of some sort and they don't recommend anti-vomiting meds anymore for babies, so we just had to keep washing his sheets...
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Does smoking drive our profession?
2007-12-03 07:49:00
Is it possible that smoking drives out profession? Is it also possible that the patient load of our profession could be decreasing significantly in the future?This is just maybe a theory I have thought about but let me explain myself. If you look at the patients who we give nebulizer tx's to on a regular basis the majority of them are COPDer's and Asthmatics in trouble. Now say we cut out the COPDers and notice how much our census will drop because to me it seems that I see more COPDers than I do asthmatics so if we see less of them our census goes down right, also with more education and better use of medications there can be less of the admitted in the hospital. Here is a article showing this.Self-Management Education for COPD Patients Cuts Hospital AdmissionsThere are a couple of sites that have shown that study that I have found, but I'm only going to post one for now.Another way to look at my thoughts on how our census will decrease in the future goes like this: The majority...
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Does smoking drive our profession?
2007-12-03 07:49:00
Is it possible that smoking drives out profession? Is it also possible that the patient load of our profession could be decreasing significantly in the future?This is just maybe a theory I have thought about but let me explain myself. If you look at the patients who we give nebulizer tx's to on a regular basis the majority of them are COPDer's and Asthmatics in trouble. Now say we cut out the COPDers and notice how much our census will drop because to me it seems that I see more COPDers than I do asthmatics so if we see less of them our census goes down right, also with more education and better use of medications there can be less of the admitted in the hospital. Here is a article showing this.Self-Management Education for COPD Patients Cuts Hospital AdmissionsThere are a couple of sites that have shown that study that I have found, but I'm only going to post one for now.Another way to look at my thoughts on how our census will decrease in the future goes like this: The majority...
More About: Profession , Drive , Smoking , Fess

A Good Holiday.
2007-11-25 06:40:00
Well I haven't written in awhile due to the holiday's, I was a little busy. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I did.So what's new in my RT world. Well as we know I work in a smaller hospital and one thing I recently noticed is that our ICU is being used as a Drunk Tank, or detox for alcohol. Well what I mean is lately we have had a bit of patients in the ICU who were just in for alcohol poisoning as their diagnosis, in my opinion they were just intoxicated, drank a bit to much and maybe a little depressed due to the holidays coming up. Yes this is a small town hospital and from what I have heard there is only like 6 police in this town so really that probably don't have the resources to service these people in the jail like they did on the Andy Griffith show when Otis would get drunk and then come to the station to sleep it off. Now really is this a good place to put these people? All of them have been men and normally the majority of RN's working in the ICU are ...
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A Good Holiday.
2007-11-25 06:40:00
Well I haven't written in awhile due to the holiday's, I was a little busy. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I did.So what's new in my RT world. Well as we know I work in a smaller hospital and one thing I recently noticed is that our ICU is being used as a Drunk Tank, or detox for alcohol. Well what I mean is lately we have had a bit of patients in the ICU who were just in for alcohol poisoning as their diagnosis, in my opinion they were just intoxicated, drank a bit to much and maybe a little depressed due to the holidays coming up. Yes this is a small town hospital and from what I have heard there is only like 6 police in this town so really that probably don't have the resources to service these people in the jail like they did on the Andy Griffith show when Otis would get drunk and then come to the station to sleep it off. Now really is this a good place to put these people? All of them have been men and normally the majority of RN's working in the ICU are ...
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Mean Patients Suck!
2007-11-16 07:18:00
Is it just me or does anyone else find it fun to antagonize Mean Patients ?You know the ones who come into the hospital but don't want anyone to do anything with them and are just plain mean and unruly. Now these are the ones I like to stay in the room with and just keep irritating them. The ones that yell "Get the hell out of my room!" when you come in. Now is the time to institute operation sarcasm, within limits but it can be a fun game.Then there are the ones who tell you to "Get that f*&^ing thing away from me, I can't get any damn sleep around here." Well sir your not here to sleep only to get that infection out of your body and when you finally get home then you can sleep. There are many patients who don't realize that a hospital isn't a place for rest and relaxation, no it's not R & R time, it's healing time. If your admitted to the hospital it's because you need some extra help that you cannot get at home and you will get this help all night long. In rea...
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Mean Patients Suck!
2007-11-16 07:18:00
Is it just me or does anyone else find it fun to antagonize Mean Patients ?You know the ones who come into the hospital but don't want anyone to do anything with them and are just plain mean and unruly. Now these are the ones I like to stay in the room with and just keep irritating them. The ones that yell "Get the hell out of my room!" when you come in. Now is the time to institute operation sarcasm, within limits but it can be a fun game.Then there are the ones who tell you to "Get that f*&^ing thing away from me, I can't get any damn sleep around here." Well sir your not here to sleep only to get that infection out of your body and when you finally get home then you can sleep. There are many patients who don't realize that a hospital isn't a place for rest and relaxation, no it's not R & R time, it's healing time. If your admitted to the hospital it's because you need some extra help that you cannot get at home and you will get this help all night long. In rea...
More About: Suck

Pro Atheletes and Respiratory Problems
2007-11-11 09:13:00
Sitting around watching University of Illinois (I take classes through here) beat #1 ranked Ohio State University in football WOOhhooo, I began thinking. What Pro Athletes are out there who have respiratory related problems? I've heard of Pro Athletes who have asthma so there must be more than the couple I have heard of, so the search began. Not only did I have a good amount with asthma but a bunch of information on Pro Athletes with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). I found an article from Sleep Review about Pro Athletes and OSA which was a bit suprising and I will try to make a synopsis of the main points I thought was interesting, but of course feel free to read the whole article.More than 10 years ago, a trend became evident that a high incidence of asthma appeared to be a common condition across the athletes. Numerous Olympic athletes in recent years have been diagnosed with some form of asthma.The incidence of sleep apnea cuts across the entire populace, there is increasing evid...
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Pro Atheletes and Respiratory Problems
2007-11-11 09:13:00
Sitting around watching University of Illinois (I take classes through here) beat #1 ranked Ohio State University in football WOOhhooo, I began thinking. What Pro Athletes are out there who have respiratory related problems? I've heard of Pro Athletes who have asthma so there must be more than the couple I have heard of, so the search began. Not only did I have a good amount with asthma but a bunch of information on Pro Athletes with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). I found an article from Sleep Review about Pro Athletes and OSA which was a bit suprising and I will try to make a synopsis of the main points I thought was interesting, but of course feel free to read the whole article.More than 10 years ago, a trend became evident that a high incidence of asthma appeared to be a common condition across the athletes. Numerous Olympic athletes in recent years have been diagnosed with some form of asthma.The incidence of sleep apnea cuts across the entire populace, there is increasing evid...
More About: Problems