Guidelines for Sleep Apnea Patients

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, Dr. Philip R. Westbrook, Chief Medical Officer of Advanced Brain Monitoring, Inc., recommends you do the following:¹

• Always inform all your physicians that you have sleep apnea and how that disorder is being treated. If possible, show him/her a copy of this report.
• Tell a spouse or responsible persons the details of your diagnosis and treatment so they can inform the physician in an emergency situation.
• Avoid narcotic (opioid) pain medications such as morphine, which can lead to life-threatening hypoxia (low oxygen), even in patients with mild sleep apnea.
• Avoid alcoholic beverages (or use with moderation) within 3 hours of bedtime.
• Avoid (or use with caution) sleeping pills and other medication known to cause sedation.
• If you smoke, quit. You are three times more likely to have sleep apnea if you smoke than if you never smoked or stopped smoking. For more information or to get help with quitting, visit www.smokefree.gov.
• Avoid sleeping at high altitude. Altitude can make the loss of oxygen that occurs with sleep apnea worse.
• If your sleep apnea causes you to be sleepy, avoid operating a motor vehicle or other machinery potentially dangerous to yourself or others until you are adequately treated.
• If you are being treated with CPAP, always take your CPAP machine with you if you are being admitted to a hospital.
• If you are overweight, lose weight. Sleep apnea is strongly linked to obesity. For more information or to get help with weight loss, visit www.obesity.org.

¹Westbrook PR. Dr. Westbrook's Rules for Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Sleep Matters 2007;9(1):12.