Homeopathy Papers

Sleep Apnea – Homeopathic Treatment and Medicines

Sleep Apnea
Written by Amit Karkare

Dr. Amit Karkare discusses sleep apnea and presents a brief cured case

  •  Do you snore?
  • Do you often wake up from deep sleep abruptly?
  • Do you get morning headaches and a fatigued feeling all throughout the day?
  • Do you have excessive daytime sleepiness and find it difficult to maintain your attention?

Possibly you are suffering with Sleep Apnea (Homeopathy for Sleep Apnoea).

Sleep apnea is one of the most common yet serious ailments in which breathing stops and starts intermittently. It affects one out of every 15 Americans and males are more prone to get it than females.

In this, the breathing stops all of a sudden and that can last from a few seconds to few minutes. For diagnostic purposes, one should get at least five episodes of sleep apnea within one hour of sleep. In some severe cases, it can occur up to 30 times an hour.

Most common signs & symptoms:

  • Loud snoring most of the times
  • Intermittent breathing pauses which are observed more by other people
  • Chronic fatigue during day time
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Excessive sleepiness during the day
  • Dry mouth

There are two major types of sleep apnea:

  1. Obstructive sleep apnea, where the throat muscles get relaxed. This one is the most common type of sleep apnea.
  2. Central sleep apnea: where the brain does not send breathing signals to the respiratory muscles.

Who is more at risk?

  • Obese people
  • People with thicker neck circumference
  • Males more affected than females
  • Seniors
  • Family history of sleep apnea
  • Alcohol or tranquilizer abuse
  • Smoking
  • Diabetes or hypertension

What can be done apart from medication?

  • Try to sleep on more on the side than on the back
  • Avoid alcohol or sedatives
  • Take regular medication

Homeopathic perspective:

Homeopathy treats the central or root-cause, and in my experience, has shown to be very effective in relieving the symptoms of sleep apnea. The most commonly used remedies include – Calc Carb, Hepar sulph, Ipec and Sambucus.

A Case Presentation:

Female aged 47 yrs presented with complaints of sleep apnea for the last 6-8 years. The ailment prevented her from getting continuous and refreshing sleep. “I have not slept throughout the night without a break since ages” she said.

No other ailment

Flabby, wheatish complexion

Thermally – ambithermal; Perspiration – normal. Nothing significant in cravings or aversions; Menopause 2 years back – uneventful

Thirst – seasonal; Sun Headache – if exposed for more than 3-4 hours (not immediately)

Sleep – disturbed due to chief complaint; but gets tremendous sleep after meals – she described it as “deepest sleep ever”.

Repertorial references:

Kent – Sleepiness; Eating after = Agar, Calc and Nux = 3 marked

This case presented with minimal symptoms to form the totality.

Quick reference from Kent indicated these three remedies – with flabby body structure and sun headache (though not very characteristic) – Calc Carb was selected as the deep acting remedy.

First Prescription & Follow-ups:

 

6 Feb 2015 Case defined Calc Carb 1M TDS

X 3 days

Placebo for 1 wk

16 Feb 2015 Definitely improved quality of night sleep with more refreshing days Placebo
29 Feb 2015 Doing good – snoring has reduced

Still sleepy after meals

Placebo
16 March Status quo on sleep quality and snoring

Sleepy after meals – SQ

Calc Carb 1M TDS x 3 days
20 April Almost 90% better at all levels

Snoring almost stopped

Refreshed sleep

Not sleepy after meals any more

placebo

About the author

Amit Karkare

Dr Amit Karkare BHMS, BFP (UK) is from Pune, India. He has been studying Homeopathy and Bach Flower Therapy for over a decade and also learning through his patients and students. As a research-oriented homoeopath, Dr. Karkare has worked extensively in cases with Refractory Epilepsy, ADHD, Infantile Autism, and Plantar fasciitis.

5 Comments

  • Dr. Your write up on sleep apnea is very interesting. But I feel that, it would have been better for our understanding, if you could elaborate the case with some more unusual or uncommon symptoms of Calcarea Carb before selecting it. Thanks.

  • Yes, sometimes we can be stumped with a paucity of good symptoms, but if we have a good look, there may be just enough for a good prescription.
    You had ‘a three-legged stool’, and just as Hering said, it was enough.

    Beautiful case – thanks for sharing!

  • Dear Sir,
    My name is Radhakrishnan my weight is 108 kg and height is 10″11″. I am suffering from diabetic and Loud snoring from past 9 years i use to take breadth from mouth. Recently I met ENT and he told me that your nose got block so immediately nose operation has been done but even though no change in snoring now the ENT doctor is telling that neck tube to be grafted then only snoring will go.Sir Iam fearing can you please help me out .My friend is given your id .Can you please help me out .

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