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Ovarian cancer & OSA (A hypothesis)

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Posted by Alamo Joe on September 08, 2008 at 17:46:00:

To optimally treat any cancer patient, early detection is important. Ovarian cancer is one of the more difficult cancers to detect at an early stage because the symptoms are similar to those of some gastrointestinal disorders. What if the gastrointestinal disorders and ovarian cancer are secondary to the same entity? In that case, the gastrointestinal disorder symptoms are an indication of proximate risk for ovarian cancer and the doctor could take precautionary steps. It is my contention (I am not a doctor.) that the causative factor for gastrointestinal disorders is the same as for ovarian cancer. The entity is caused by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the entity is the violent action of the diaphragm in its attempt to terminate any apnea.

OSA background:
(A few sleep apnea patients compared notes and reported that treating sleep apnea also treated reflux, ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome. (IBS))

During an apnea the diaphragm makes multiple efforts at 10 to 15 times normal effort in the attempt to overcome the apnea.[1] The diaphragm inflicts trauma indiscriminately upon all the abdominal organs. Ulcerative colitis is a risk for colon cancer. It is postulated that the ‘blunt force trauma’ inflicted by the diaphragm during apneas causes colon cancer and due to its indiscriminate nature the diaphragm’s ‘blunt force trauma’ could also cause ovarian cancer.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and IBS are the same ailment
First, from the literature IBS, PMS, chronic pelvic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and Fibromyalgia are the diagnoses for the same set of symptoms depending on the specialty of the physician consulted.[2] Second, the literature also suggests that both IBS [3] and PMS [4] are secondary to OSA. Third, a study of IBS and inflammatory bowel disease concluded that ‘the prevalence of menstrual related symptoms is high, and appears to affect bowel habits.’[5] Fourth, for an IBS diagnosis, bowel habit changes are required. The bowel habit changes imply that OSA, the cause of IBS, varies in strength within the menstrual cycle.

Development of sleep apnea (Post menopause)
The patient profile of sleep apnea patients is “Older overweight men and women after menopause.” “Hormonal differences between men and women have long been proposed to contribute to the increased male prevalence in OSA and to the propensity for women to develop OSA after menopause.”[6]

Susceptibility to sleep apnea (Before menopause)
The development of OSA in normal weight women prior to menopause is postulated to be based on bottle feeding in infancy. The forces the child uses in bottle feeding are different from those used in breast feeding. The difference in forces used by the bottle fed child alter the shape of the skull, predisposing the child to OSA.[7] It is speculated that this predisposition to OSA and OSA’s ‘blunt force trauma’ is a factor in developing gastrointestinal disorders and ovarian cancer prior to menopause.

Ovulation, fluid retention and OSA
Following ovulation, women retain fluid throughout their bodies, including the tissues defining the airway. An apnea occurs when the respiratory drive is insufficient to overcome airway resistance and the tendency of the airway to collapse. Presumably, in some women, the additional fluid increases airway resistance and increases the likelihood of developing or exacerbating OSA. Initiation of OSA would initiate bowel problems and be recognized as PMS while exacerbation would be manifested as IBS’s ‘change of bowel habit’. The bowel problems of PMS and IBS are the result of ‘blunt force trauma’ inflicted on the intestines. The ‘blunt force trauma’ is simultaneously delivered to the ovaries.

Pre menopause protection against ovarian cancer
Pregnancy, breast feeding and oral contraception inhibit ovulation [8] and the fluid retention consequences of ovulation, including OSA. Presumably, by inhibiting OSA the ovaries are not physically assaulted and will not become cancerous.

Apneas can occur more than 80 times a night. If the woman has OSA, prior to menopause, the apneas and the diaphragm pounding occurs only a few nights each month, while after menopause OSA patients experience apneas and pounding every night.

That is the way I see it.

References
1) Guilleminault C. Obstructive sleep apnea. The clinical syndrome and historic perspective. Medical Clinics of North America 1985; 69: 1187-1203

2) Nimnuan C, Rabe-Hesketh S, Hotopf M. How many functional somatic syndromes? J Psychosomatic Res 2001; 51: 549-557

3) Herr JR. Medical literature implies continuous positive airway pressure might be appropriate treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Chest. 2002 Sep;122(3):1107.

4) Herr JR. Is sleep disorder treatment appropriate for premenstrual syndrome? Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2003 Jan;82(1):99

5) Kane SV, Sable K, Hanauer SB. The menstrual cycle and its effect on inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome: a prevalence study. Am J Gastroenterol. 1998 Oct;93(10):1867-72

6) Eckert DJ, Malhotra A. Pathophysiology of adult obstructive sleep apnea. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2008 Feb 15;5(2):144-53.

7) Palmer B. Breast-feeding: Reducing the risk for obstructive sleep apnea. Breast-feeding Abstracts, 1999 February; 18(3):19-20. (On Internet) http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/bfing_

8) Tung KH, Wilkens LR, Wu AH, McDuffie K, Nomura AM, Kolonel LN, Terada KY, Goodman MT. Effect of anovulation factors on pre- and postmenopausal ovarian cancer risk: revisiting the incessant ovulation hypothesis. Am J Epidemiol. 2005 Feb 15;161(4):321-9

Best to all

CA Alamo Joe



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