Female Variations

Page topic:

Menstrual period progesterone level changes and the effect of these changes on obstructive sleep apnea are described.

Documentation of bowel habit changes with respect to menstrual cycle is presented.

 

 

Question:

What is the connection between obstructive sleep apnea and the menstrual cycle?

Answer:

When alcohol is consumed during the low progesterone level phase of the menstrual cycle the EMG of the genioglossus muscle decreases. There is no comparable reduction of genioglossus EMG action if the same amount of alcohol is consumed during the high progesterone level phase of the menstrual cycle.

 

Question:

What does genioglossus EMG activity have to do with obstructive sleep apnea?

Answer:

The genioglossus muscle holds the tongue in position. When one goes to sleep the EMG of the muscle decreases. This allows the tongue to fall back into the airway and cause obstructions.

 

Question:

Where did this alcohol/progesterone/EMG activity information come from?

Answer:

This is in a paper reporting research by Leiter, J.C. Doble, E.A., Knuth, S. L. and Bartlett, D.Jr. (1987). The title of the paper and place of publication are: "Respiratory activity of the genioglossus. Interaction between alcohol and the menstrual cycle". Am Rev Respir Dis 135:383-386.

Their findings were that during the low progesterone level phase of the menstrual cycle, the genioglossus muscle EMG activity is decreased by alcohol consumption; while during the high progesterone level phase, the same amount of alcohol had little effect on the EMG activity of the same muscle.

 

Question:

Then, is it the conclusion, since alcohol had little effect during the high progesterone phase and a definite change in EMG during the low progesterone phase the tongue is more susceptible to relaxing during the low level progesterone phase?

Answer:

Yes. It is a logical extension of the above is that the tongue has a greater tendency to relax, for any reason, at low levels of progesterone than at high levels of progesterone. Stating it in another fashion, obstructive sleep apnea will be a greater problem during the menstrual cycle when the progesterone level is low rather than when the level is high.

 

Question:

Then the relaxation of the tongue leads to more apneas during the low progesterone phase of the menstrual cycle?

Answer:

Correct.

 

Question:

What are the bowel habits changes noticed by women during their menstrual cycle?

Answer:

The changes are in bowel habits, both diarrhea and constipation are reported in a paper "The Menstrual cycle and Its Effect on Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome:A Prevalence Study which was published in the October 1998 issue (Volume 93, Number 10) of The American Journal of Gastroenterology. The authors are Kane SV, Sable K, Hanauer SB.

 

Question:

What was in the summary of the paper?

Answer:

Quoting from the paper:

"We found that:

1) PMS and menstrual symptoms, which include a wide spectrum of complaints, are reported more frequently by patients with IBS and IBD than by controls;

2) IBS and IBD patients are more likely than healthy women to experience premenstrual and menstrual bowel habit changes, with exacerbation of disease symptoms during both phases;

3) There was no difference among the groups in the frequency of reporting bowel habit changes during pregnancy; and

4) IBS and IBD patients were more likely to report a "cyclical" pattern to their bowel habits, with recurrence of diarrhea being most significant."

Page summary:

Obstructive sleep apnea varies according to the level of progesterone during the menstrual cycle. Thus any ailment in which obstructive sleep apnea is a factor may have variations, with those variations being in synchronism with the menstrual cycle.

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