Live data from Hacker News

Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

science.org

21–30 of 226 posts

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#21
post #7

I swear CPAP wouldn't get such a bad rep if the media would stop using pictures of men with obscenely large full face masks. The most commonly used CPAP mask is probably the minimalist Resmed P10 [1]. It looks a lot less intimidating than a bulky full face mask. And in most cases, full face masks aren't needed (no sources to cite, but titrating to the correct pressure allows most people to breathe through their noses…

Do you wear a cpap? It sucks. I have an OA now. And it also sucks.

My CPAP provides 3 massive life changing benefits:

- a proper night's sleep

- moisture that ensures I don't wake up with a massive sinus headache that destroys my morning

- letting my partner have a proper night's sleep

Any one of the 3 would be worth the minor inconveniences of a CPAP.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#22
post #15

It's definitely an interesting outcome and nice to see such a significant improvement in a clinical trial. And as the article states, there are questions that aren't addressed - does the reduction in obstructive events change the clinical symptoms such as daytime sleepiness? Intuitively you would think it does, but it should be measured in the trial. I also didn't see anything about adverse events during the trial. S…

A drug that deals with physical obstruction???

Does it make a sleeper want to be on their side? Is it a weight loss drug? Targeted area antiinflammatory? Cavity dialation?

For some snorers,bit would be an improvement based on that standard in my experience.

Exercise staying fit. Not getting fat and not drinking alcohol work for me.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#23
post #11
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have numerous good options to deal with high blood pressure, I wouldn't say this is really a problem. Many people take medicine for high blood pressure and live the rest of their lives completely unhampered.

Virtually any pill you have to take for life has negative side effects. Medicine made serious progress in all kind of ways but we don't have magic pills yet, even simple things like fixing a broken bone "only" has a 90-95% success rate without complications. Stay in shape, eat clean an exercise, once it's gone it's gone for good

AI can be timed for cures, or for "health regimens".

Which one do you think the drug companies like?

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#24
post #19

Or try, no booze, lose a bit of weight, increase cardio activity and sleep on your side. This works pretty well for obstructive but sadly not central apnea.

Central apnea is where your brain actively decides it doesn't want to breathe anymore? Nice..

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#25
post #7

I swear CPAP wouldn't get such a bad rep if the media would stop using pictures of men with obscenely large full face masks. The most commonly used CPAP mask is probably the minimalist Resmed P10 [1]. It looks a lot less intimidating than a bulky full face mask. And in most cases, full face masks aren't needed (no sources to cite, but titrating to the correct pressure allows most people to breathe through their noses…

Do you wear a cpap? It sucks. I have an OA now. And it also sucks.

I do, a ResMed AirSense 11 with a ResMed Mirage FX. Wonderful sleep, wonderful comfort, and no need for the water supplement.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#26
post #7

I swear CPAP wouldn't get such a bad rep if the media would stop using pictures of men with obscenely large full face masks. The most commonly used CPAP mask is probably the minimalist Resmed P10 [1]. It looks a lot less intimidating than a bulky full face mask. And in most cases, full face masks aren't needed (no sources to cite, but titrating to the correct pressure allows most people to breathe through their noses…

Do you wear a cpap? It sucks. I have an OA now. And it also sucks.

I wear one, and it’s great. I much prefer it to surgery or drugs.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#27
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have numerous good options to deal with high blood pressure, I wouldn't say this is really a problem. Many people take medicine for high blood pressure and live the rest of their lives completely unhampered.

Many people don’t take them nor do they want the side effects, so of course it’s a problem. Every heart attack story I know of off the top of my head involves a man who didn’t want to take his blood pressure meds.

This is a good example of survivorship bias. You're fixated on the few heart attacks you do know and overlooking the vast troves of people who never developed issues once treated.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#28
post #11
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have numerous good options to deal with high blood pressure, I wouldn't say this is really a problem. Many people take medicine for high blood pressure and live the rest of their lives completely unhampered.

Virtually any pill you have to take for life has negative side effects. Medicine made serious progress in all kind of ways but we don't have magic pills yet, even simple things like fixing a broken bone "only" has a 90-95% success rate without complications. Stay in shape, eat clean an exercise, once it's gone it's gone for good

This largely misses the point. While many people develop high blood pressure due to lifestyle choices, there's also a large amount of people who have high blood pressure for completely unrelated reasons. Staying fit and healthy is good, but it doesn't protect you against the genetic lottery.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you wear a cpap? It sucks. I have an OA now. And it also sucks.

My CPAP provides 3 massive life changing benefits: - a proper night's sleep - moisture that ensures I don't wake up with a massive sinus headache that destroys my morning - letting my partner have a proper night's sleep Any one of the 3 would be worth the minor inconveniences of a CPAP.

My CPAP does the first two. But generally if you get event the tiniest leak (and it's hard to stop all the leaks) it's very noisy for my partner. My masks leaks so little that I have between 0 and 1 events per hour but it's still annoyingly loud so my partner usually sleeps in our guest bedroom. If I could take a pill instead I would do so gladly. That being said my CPAP machine typically reduces events by 98% or so, so 56% just isn't going to cut it.

Re: Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial

#30
post #14
post #4

I worry about developing sleep apnea, not only for the effects on my health, but also on my relationship with my partner. A medicine that treated sleep apnea would be revolutionary for so many people.

> also on my relationship with my partner That's not really much of an issue. There's an adjustment period, and there's a bit of an art to finding an appropriate mask. One that fits perfectly fine for you might have an exhaust port that blows air in your partner's face. Or the one that your partner can't hear at all might sound thunderously loud in your ears. But all in all, your partner would much rather have you sl…

Those who can tolerate the general CPAP experience, have bed partners who tolerate it, and don’t experience detrimental effects should absolutely use it when there are no comparable solutions. However there are lots of perfectly legitimate reasons why not everyone can, and having alternatives (which do also come with side effects) to consider is amazing for the community overall. It’s legitimately great that it sounds like CPAP treatment has been effective for you (as it has for me, mostly), but your comments end up sounding quite dismissive of the challenges faced by other patients.

Careful skepticism of new treatments is always warranted, but even if it only helps 5% of patients with OSA in absolute terms that’s a huge population impact.

Post reply on HN