Dr. Barry Krakow is a board certified internist and sleep disorders specialist who has spent over 30 years in medicine in the fields of internal, emergency, addiction and sleep medicine. He has conducted more than two decades of research in the treatment of chronic nightmares and disturbing dreams at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1988-1999) and the Sleep & Human Health Institute (2000-current).

Dr. Krakow graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He was residency trained and board certified in internal medicine and also has ten years of clinical work in emergency medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society and is the former medical director of University Hospital Sleep Disorders Center.

Dr. Krakow has published two books, Insomnia Cures and his most recent, Sound Sleep, Sound Mind, is the first book of its kind to focus on mental, emotional and physical causes to sleep disturbances. Dr. Krakow and his wife, Jessica Kohr-Krakow have also published Turning Nightmares into Dreams, an innovated self-help, audio series and workbook to eliminate bad dreams.

To listen to the interview, or to read more, click here…

New device, ASV (Adapto-Servo Ventilation) – whether or not it is useful with insomnia patients.

In sleep medicine, we have a treatment technique known as Stimulus Control, which refers to the specific plan of not going to bed until you’re sleepy. In other words the way to avoid insomnia is to stay away from the bedroom until you feel genuine sleepiness that will put you fast asleep.

On a lighter side, I wonder whether we need a little Stimulus “Control” in our government. The government imagines that more stimulus will restore the economy, but that’s like telling an insomniac, spend more time in bed and you’ll get more sleep, which actually causes more insomnia. In this case, spending more money is guaranteed to stimulate our debt and deficit, but I think we’re all beginning to wonder just how good that is for the economy.

So, Mr.President, how about a little Stimulus “Control.”

1. Oral presentation by me on the topic of “Sleep Disordered Breathing in Patients Dependent on Prescription Sleep Medications.”
2. Oral presentation by Eddie Romero on the topic of “Nocturia as a Screening Tool for Sleep-Disordered Breathing.”
3. Poster by Linda Trujillo on the topic of “Self-Guided Imagery for Insomnia Patients undergoing Polysomnography Testing.”
4. Poster by Natalia McIver on the topic of “Self-Guided Imagery for SDB Patients undergoing a Polysomnography Titration.”
5. Poster by Eddie Romero on the topic of “Nocturia as a Screening Tool in Insomnia Patients with Potential Risk for Sleep-Disordered Breathing.”

In our clinical experience, where we specialize in mental health patients with insomnia and SDB, we quickly transition the patient to bilevel once they have failed CPAP therapy either initially during the desensitization procedure before the overnight titration or during the titration when it becomes apparent that they are struggling to breathe out against pressurized airflow coming in (expiratory intolerance).

Tens of thousands of people take too many drugs to sleep at various times in their experiences with medications. The vast majority do not die! What distinguishes those who do not survive? The two most likely candidates are a breathing problem or a cardiac arrhythmia, the latter perhaps brought on by a breathing disorder that drops oxygenation to critically low levels.

The other questions that should have been asked are where did he get the pills, and did any of his prescribing physicians ever refer him to a sleep specialist?