Silent night

Rosemarie Smith first heard of Buteyko breathing when a friend's son in danger of both losing his health and his girlfriend through sleep apnoea saved the situation through taking training. So when Australian Buteyko educator Jennifer Stark gave an introductory seminar in Southland last week she went along to see what it might have to offer.

Despite the number of jokes around about snoring, there's nothing funny about sleep apnoea.

Not for those who suffer from it, even though they don't hear the ominous silence when breathing stops, nor the gasping and snorting as it restarts.

In the past there was no known effective treatment, let alone cure, for sleep breathing disorders.

Not even for ordinary snoring. But now there's a growing recognition of the serious implications of the chronic fatigue associated with sleep apnoea, the heightened risk of stroke and heart attack.

Nasty at a personal level and seriously expensive for the health system.

Many are the devices and surgical interventions available, and the mainstream approach for those with severe apnoea is mechanical, in the form of the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) breathing machine.

When the sleeper stops breathing, the flow of air delivered through a mask forces a restart.

Although the machines have become quieter and smaller, sleeping with one is no fun, and not everyone can tolerate them.

And they don't cure the apnoea.

So the possibility breathing retraining could address the fundamental problem offers enormous benefits for everyone who with apnoea (including the long-suffering co-sleepers), and the health system.

But does it work, and if it does, why isn't it a mainstream therapy recommended by medical practitioners?

Why has no independent clinical trial been done in order to at least give guidance to the large numbers of potentially but interested people?

Buteyko trainer Jennifer Stark got involved with the Russian breath training method in 1993 through seeking help for her young son, who had severe asthma and allergies.

He was on heavy medication, had repeat hospital admissions, and could eat only a few foods.

Buteyko breathing transformed his health, and the improvement was so amazing both his parents sought instruction so they could teach others.

Brisbane-based, they introduced Buteyko to New Zealand in 1994, and have now taught in many countries, training more than 7000 people, and 800 instructors.

Initially, most of their students were people with bad asthma all of whom also had bad sleep, Mrs Stark explains.

But as these students started telling their friends Buteyko training helped them sleep better, more people with sleep apnoea started taking the courses.

The Starks have now taught more than 7000 people with breathing problems, as well as teaching in several clinical trials and studies.

They offer a money-back guarantee on their $500 course to anyone who follows the programme but gains no benefit in six weeks they also allow students to bring a friend to help them learn the technique, and permit repeat attendances.

In 17 years teaching, Mrs Stark says, very few have asked for a refund, and these were people who had lung damage from conditions like emphysema.

But even they could have got relief had they persisted, she said.

"But you don't like to take money off people who say they are gaining no benefit."

However, she does emphasise the student has to be prepared to put in the effort to change.

They must attend all five sessions, as the instruction is cumulative, and dedicate time each day to practice.

"Buteyko works," Mrs Stark says, "otherwise I wouldn't be teaching it.

"But its not a magic cure.

"You've got to do the work."

Konstantin Buteyko's explanation for the mechanism underlying a wide range of breathing disorders is counter-intuitive to the idea that deep breathing is good thing.

Jennifer Stark says Buteyko's unconventional path into medicine and practical farming and mechanical background is the reason for his different approach to investigation.

Buteyko pinpointed the prime cause of disordered breathing as hyperventilation, or breathing more than necessary, disrupting the oxygen-carbon dioxide balance controlling central nervous system functions.

This sets off a range of nasty symptoms causing stress that feeds back into the cycle of poor breathing.

The chronic hyperventilator can be a noisy, rapid, erratic mouth breather, prone to yawning and sighing, but hyperventilation can also go completely unnoticed.

Buteyko training resets breathing patterns back to a healthy state.

It's a process Mrs Stark compares to the breath resetting athletes undergo through altitude training. Buteyko websites such as www.buteykoworks.com and www.buteyko.co.nz provide detailed information on the theory.

Others such as www.ihatecpap.com discuss other alternatives to the machines.

HOW BAD IS THE PROBLEM IN SOUTHLAND?
Southland Hospital sleep clinic medical technologist Nicky McNaught says the clinic is getting more patients each year, currently seeing two new patients per week and supervising 350 on long-term treatment.

She thought the increase probably reflected growing awareness of sleep issues, with people seeking treatment at a younger age.

Patients taking on CPAP machines get unlimited support, and are achieving a high level of success.

Breath training programmes were outside her field of expertise, but those patients identified by monitoring as having hyperventilation would be referred to physiotherapists.

»  Rosemarie Smith would like to hear from anyone taking the Buteyko training in Invercargill next month with the view to writing a follow up story.

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