where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

COVID 19 has complicated everything the past two years, but for many people who suffer from other respiratory ailments, lung health can be a lifetime challenge.

Our own Grover Silcox is here now with a story that may leave us all breathing a little bit easier.

Great to see you, Grover.

- Good to be here.

Yes, my story focuses on two common conditions asthma and sleep apnea.

Two chronic illnesses, which, if unidentified or left unmanaged, can often lead to severe complications.

- Oh, wow.

So how common is sleep apnea?

- Well, according to Johns Hopkins, there are 18 million Americans who suffer from sleep apnea.

- And what about asthma?

- According to the CDC, there are 25 million Americans who have asthma.

That's 7.8% of the population.

- Pretty common.

- It is.

Now, this story has a personal interest for me because I too suffer from asthma and have friends with sleep apnea.

In researching this story, I discovered that Allentown and Philadelphia are listed among the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's top 20 asthma capitals in the country.

The cities on the list represent the most challenging places to live for asthmatics, and it's critical for me and other asthmatics to manage this condition.

And it can be done so effectively that symptoms disappear.

Sleep apnea is another common breathing condition, which, if identified, can be successfully managed and even reversed.

But let go or unidentified, it can cause more serious problems down the road.

I consulted with a pulmonologist and sleep disorder expert to learn more.

Well, Dr. Schellenberg, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, let's start with what is asthma?

- So asthma is a disease or disorder of the bronchial tubes, and so this is a disease of the airways characterized by chronic airway inflammation, often allergen mediated, occasionally not allergen mediated.

So air is not moving through the bronchial passages into lung tissues effectively, and that can lead to the symptoms of shortness of breath and cough and wheeze.

One of the characteristics of asthma that differentiates it from other forms of what we call obstructive lung diseases, particularly tobacco-related lung diseases such as emphysema, is that asthma is reversible.

- I can tell you from firsthand - not recently, thank goodness - it really did feel like I was being strangled.

I certainly have people with more chronic forms of asthma who it can, if not treated properly, limit their function both in daily activities, sports and other activities, and can cause symptoms that are disruptive to sleep even.

So, yeah, and it can be a significant condition if not adequately treated.

- And how many folks suffer from asthma?

- It does affect people with an even distribution.

6 to 7% of children will develop it.

Some children will continue to have it as a chronic condition moving into adulthood.

Other children will grow out of it.

- What are the treatments that we have?

Which today we have so many more than we did when I first got it.

- Inhaled steroids, so steroids, glucocorticoids, and then there can be the addition of long-acting airway openers, what we call bronchodilators.

There are oral medications.

Treatment of asthma has even been more recently revolutionized by what we call biologic agents.

So these are these are injectable medications that are really designed to get directly at the allergic inflammatory cells and the allergic inflammatory chemicals that are within our body.

And as a result, that can really help people be much better control, much less need for emergency visits, much less need for oral prednisone, which is what we use when people are having very acute episodes of asthma.

- Do people still die from asthma?

- They do.

So, unfortunately, it can be life-threatening.

- Now let's talk about one of your other specialties at Lehigh Valley Health Network, which is sleep apnea.

- When most people use the word sleep apnea, or I have sleep apnea, they're describing what we call obstructive sleep apnea.

So obstructive sleep apnea is really a disorder of the upper airway.

So it has to do with the soft tissues and muscles of your upper airway.

Everything that's above your vocal cords.

Everything below your vocal cords is your trachea.

Everything above it in the airway - your tongue, your palate and the muscles that you use to speak and swallow, when you're awake, those muscles that are stiff and rigid and have tone, so when we fall asleep our brain reduces muscle tone throughout our body in order for our muscles to heal and we don't act out our dreams.

And in certain people with obstructive sleep apnea, those muscles of the upper airway begin to misbehave.

So it often is associated with snoring, which is the partial collapse of the upper airway.

But obstructive sleep apnea itself is a more complete blockage to airflow, so the airway has now collapsed to the point where airflow is either partially or completely blocked, such that air cannot get past that blockage into your lungs.

And as a result, air is not getting in your lungs.

Oxygen is not entering your body.

Your body's oxygen levels will drop.

Eventually, thank goodness, our brain is sensitized to react to lack of oxygen, and it'll essentially a send a signal for the body, for the brain to awaken.

And as a result, the airway can open, oxygen levels are restored.

And so obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is this repetitive opening and closing of the airway that occurs throughout the night.

Every time that happens, it disrupts sleep.

- How many snorers are actually suffering from slego, it can be very dangerous, can't it?

- People with untreated moderate or severe sleep apnea are at risk for cardiovascular complications.

- Diagnosing it often requires a sleep study, and you hear people complaining about, you know, I have all these wires all over me.

I'm in a sleep center.

- Lots of complaints about that.

there's been a greatly increased movement to doing what we call home sleep testing.

And the home test is not nearly as intrusive.

- So you're diagnosed with it - now, what are the remedies?

- If you have weight to lose, weight loss will indeed help this condition, and it can even cure people.

Most people, particularly patients with symptomatic sleep apnea of at least moderate severity, the usual treatment is with what we call a...

Most people know it as CPAP, but this is an air pressure machine.

The newer ones are actually called adjustable or auto adjustable pressure devices, and these machines are about the size of a shoebox.

The new ones are whisper-quiet and they generate air pressure.

That air pressure moves through tubing into a mask that you wear while you're sleeping.

So the air pressure is pushing this, tissue structures of the airway open so it cannot collapse.

So you cannot bug out the airflow.

You cannot snore.

Your brain stays asleep.

You wake up feeling great.

Your spouse is happy.

Everybody's happy.

The alternatives to CPAP and risk factor modification, there are several.

There are dental appliances that usually can be made under the direction of a dentist, but there are some over-the-counter versions.

And these are designed to sort of all tug the jaw forward, a device called the Inspire device, which is essentially a pacemaker for the tongue in patients who are, particularly who are not able to tolerate CPAP.

- And it's very helpful to have solid professional knowledge about these conditions, especially if you suffer from them.

- May we all sleep well and breathe well.

- You got it.

Thanks so much, Dr. Schellenberg.

Dr. Schellenberg also noted that excessive alcohol consumption and certain medications can worsen sleep apnea.

He also mentioned that many of the things we love about the Lehigh Valley environment, like the beautiful grasses and trees, might create allergens that can trigger asthma in certain people.

The good news is that both asthma and sleep apnea are, in most cases, completely manageable.

As long as you deal with it effectively, working with your doctor or specialist.

- So in most cases, it can be dealt with and handled and managed.

But in some cases, people do die from this.

- Yes, unfortunately, as Dr. Schellenberg said, if it's not managed, asthma or sleep apnea, it can lead to severe complications and, in some cases, death.

Now, generally, if someone dies from asthma, it's because they are in lower socio economic communities without access to physicians and primary specialists.

Also, the meds can be costly and the services as well.

- So unfortunate.

- It's another big issue.

- It really is.

So what about asthma and COVID - two complications right there?

- Dr. Schellenberg also mentioned that asthma, like other lung conditions, can be risk factors for more severe complications of COVID infection.

- OK, so you have to monitor and make sure you're paying attention to yourself, correct?

- Absolutely correct.

- All right.

As always, Grover Silcox, another story that may have us breathing a little bit easier.

- I sure hope so.

- Thanks so much.

And that'll do it for this edition of Living In The Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney hoping you stay happy and healthy.