February is the month of love, but before we get to that, I can’t help talking about a something that is bugging me, and a something that has me concerned. First, I hope this month finds you dry and safe after the torrential rains of January. Orange County certainly had a few incidents to talk about, and thankfully none of them like those in the little hamlet of La Conchita up north.
What’s bugging me is this continuing intolerance of others’ political opinions. Have you noticed the lingering feelings following the election? You’d think the hostility would pass, but it hasn’t. Evidence for me is that someone slashed one of my new tires the other night. While I was in yoga getting blessed out, someone apparently decided he didn’t like my bumper stickers and stabbed a knife into the sidewall of the tire. The kind of damage you can’t repair. Cost nearly $200 and two hours of time to deal with. There will be some bad “car-ma” for that little stunt, don’t ya know. When did bumper stickers become an offense deserving of retribution? The reason I suspect the bumper stickers is that before the election some guy on a bicycle in Santa Monica pulled up alongside my car and started screaming obscenities at me — all due to the political statement on my car. (By the way, I can’t deal with stickers actually stuck ON my car, so they are inside my windshield and rear view mirror. I used to collect cars – another column there – and bumper stickers are a huge no-no in the collecting world.) Anyway, this guy on his bike was having a profanity laden stroke over some simple, non-profane words. Tolerance has disappeared. Those who seem to know about cosmic things (my yoga teachings) say we’re in for a few more years of this kind of over-reactive nonsense, because we are finally, really entering the Age of Aquarius. We are, as I’m told, leaving a centuries-long era of duality and entering a new age of unity. This at first glance sounds great to me, like we’ll all finally get along. But then I wonder. Unity? That could be just as bad. What if we’re only “allowed” to have one point of view, one acceptable way of dealing with the world and it’s not about getting along? Then what? I don’t know the answer, don’t even know all the questions to ask, I just hope we can be more civil to each other in the years ahead.
Snoring is nothing to laugh at
Ok, that’s off my chest. Now how about something potentially more immediately hazardous. Have you endured the misery of sleep apnea? Do you or your spouse suffer from this literal nightmare? I knew it existed, but didn’t have to deal with it until recently. My otherwise darling Steve has it bad. I noticed, when he kept me awake all night snoring so loud the pets ducked for cover, that he also wasn’t breathing. He’d inhale or exhale and then nothing, silence, for several seconds, then a desperate breath to get some air in. This is very frightening to the one listening — and can be deadly to the one with the problem. And not because their spouse does them in out of their own sleep deprivation, but because this abnormal breathing can cause a heart attack. You probably saw on the news about Reggie White, the football player who died recently from what they believe was sleep apnea. So if you think you or someone you love has this, get them to see a doctor and sleep specialist immediately. The symptoms include snoring, napping during the day because you really need it, falling asleep when you shouldn’t, attention difficulties, etc. When you’re breathing with that irregularity, the body isn’t getting the oxygen it needs.
When you go for a test, there is first a series of questions to determine the level of severity. Of 45 possible points, 16 is considered severe. Steve scored 41. They were so concerned he was booked immediately for a sleep study. He spent the night at the sleep center with his body wired to detect his sleep patterns. And after more tests the next day, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea. He will have gone in for a follow up by the time you read this, so I’ll give you an update on what they decide to do. Most likely it will be a special mask he’ll have to wear at night that blows a steady stream of oxygen. Surgery to open his sinuses may also be a possibility.
Here in Orange County you can call the Pacific Sleep Medicine Services in Huntington Beach at 714-596-7667 (www.sleepmedservices.com) or the St. Joseph Hospital Sleep Disorders Center (www.sjhsleepcenter.com). At the St. Joseph web site, you can take a sleep test for yourself. St. Joseph’s is also offering some talks on the subject. The first is “Snoring…Find Relief Form Those Sleepless Nights,” Wednesday April 20, 2005 7-8 p.m.
Speakers are Luca Vassalli M.D. & Peter Fotinakes M.D. Then on May 18, from 7-8 p.m., is “Don’t Ignore the Snore…Advanced Treatment for Snoring & Sleep Apnea.” The speakers are Robert del Junco M.D. & Sarah Mosko. For more information or to reserve a spot, call 800 973-NOSE (6673).
Love can conquer
But that all brings us back to love, doesn’t it? When you love someone you help them with their problems. So if someone you love has apnea, give them the Valentine’s Day gift of helping them out. Hopefully you’ll fare better than Valentine did, at least according to one legend the History Channel/Hallmark tells. The story is that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
All that in the name of love — a battlefield unto itself! Happy Valentine’s Day!
The answer to last month’s quote? Why the ever so witty Oscar Wilde, supposedly said on his deathbed, “Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.” He went. Now for this month’s treat: Who said, “Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough”?
Til we meet again…