Claire Zillman provides background on Young v. UPS: When [Peggy Young] became pregnant and a midwife instructed her not to lift packages over 20 pounds, Young asked to return to UPS to do either light duty or her regular job as a truck driver, which seldom required her to lift heavy boxes. According to Young’s Supreme Court … Continue reading Laboring Before Delivery
The story of how Mitt Romney helped Barack Obama is now no longer restricted to his terrible 2012 campaign and tone-deaf rhetoric. It also includes Romneycare – the state model for the federal ACA. And a new study on the impact of that reform on mortality is one that deserves to be taken seriously: The … Continue reading The Best Of The Dish Today
by Patrick Appel Daniel Gross finds evidence that Republicans are warming to many of Obamacare’s individual components: In the old days, they used to say that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality. When it comes to health insurance, it seems a liberal is a conservative who has been mugged by an illness. … Continue reading “A Liberal Is A Conservative Who Has Been Mugged By An Illness”
Rajiv Doshi says he has invented a cheaper, much more portable alternative to the sleep apnea machine:
It appears I'm not the only one with meandering accents:
I grew up in rural Oklahoma and Texas, but lived on the west coast for several years, then came back to Austin for graduate school, where I and many of my colleagues shared a grad student bullpen in the physics department. One day I called home to talk to my stepmom about plans for my dad's upcoming birthday. I called during the day, hoping to catch him out of the house, and so I called from the office. Talked with my stepmom a bit, and, as I always do, slipped out of my acquired west coast speech patterns and back into "Okie." Finished my call and turned around just in time to catch all of my friends dying laughing.
Another:
A reader writes:
I've attached a recently published clinical trial paper [pdf] on a new sleep therapy being developed by a company called Ventus. I find the concept to be an intriguingly simple yet ingenious solution to sleep apnea.
A reader writes:
I had to laugh at your post on the subject, since I've been working since about 6 am on my computer at a tread-desk. So I'm walking and typing this and will shortly return to work, never for a moment sitting. (I've covered about 6 miles so far today and will probably get about 14 in total.) After I got a tread-desk, one of my daughters liked it so much she asked for one, so I got her one for Christmas. There are things that I can't do while walking (e.g. free-hand writing), but typing, programming, etc. are all just about as easy walking as they are sitting.
And a point that may be of particular interest to you: I originally got one because of my apnea. Even though I religiously use a CPAP machine, sitting still was often a recipe for falling asleep, which is not good for productivity. It's tough to fall asleep while walking!
Another reader sends the above segment on tread-desks from a few years ago. Another writes:
A reader writes:
Did you know that sleep apnea is a Veterans Administration rated disability? It's a 50 percent disability which is $770/month tax free for a single claimant.
A reader writes:
I've been reading your posts about sleep apnea with interest. A few years ago, I too had terrible breathing problems. If I laid on my back, my airway would be gradually occluded until I strangled myself and woke up with a panicked start.
Three years ago, I began practicing yoga, which has gradually re-aligned my head, neck and shoulders. I know "spine alignment" sounds like a bunch of hippy-dippy bullshit, but take it from this red-blooded (usually bearded!) rationalist: it really does make a difference.
Our CPAP stories can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here. A reader writes:
Wow, so many responses, some filled with relief, some filled with despair, some filled with legit medical advice from professionals, but most of all, you got responses from people who are alive and well. Survivors, you could honestly say, in multiple ways. Untreated sleep apnea has caused many fatalities, strokes, and other critical issues related to a lack of adequate oxygen to the brain. Snoring, fatigue, and needing 10 hours of sleep every night just to function the next day are all serious issues that require serious measures.
My long story short, I had been dumped by girlfriends, had friends yell me awake in my tent on camping trips, and even had a neighbor mention my snoring.
