Overcoming Grief and Saving Lives with Laing Rikkers

foreign with real things living today my guest is Lang Rickers she is the author of morning leaves and she's also the co-founder of prosomnous sleep Technologies can you say hi Mike morning how are you good I think it's so cool that you made time to be on this podcast because what you're doing is very helpful to people and I learned guys more about what she's doing about what obstructive uh sleep apnea is and that really surprised me and I think that's what prompted you to even write your book because you have a personal story behind this can you um dive in a little bit uh why you wrote this book and what it's based on sure sure so I am just about to launch a book in May of 20 23. I'm called morning leaves Reflections on loss grief and connection and the book was inspired by the very sudden and unexpected loss of my younger sister in December of 2019 and um fortunately that was my personal life colliding with my professional life and you know as you mentioned I work at um I co-founded a business and I'm currently the executive chair of business called Persona sleep technologies that makes um devices for patients who have obstructive sleep apnea and my sister had all of the signs and symptoms of quite severe sleep apnea and I've been talking to her about trying to get tested and diagnosed so she could get into treatment and unfortunately there are very serious cardiovascular ramifications of untreated sleep apnea and um and we lost her so um so I ended up writing the book really as a way of working through the grief process and um it was very helpful yeah it is it's it's a lot of poetry it's my understanding yeah I haven't read it yet because it hasn't been released I just think um what you're doing is just so helpful because you're taking uh something unexpected and you're trying to help so many other people and I never really heard of obstructive sleep apnea I've heard of sleep apnea but not obstructive sleep apnea in it sounds like um you'd when the first time we met on a another call you'd mentioned that you shouldn't ignore snoring really right oh absolutely so a little bit of background so there are two different kinds of sleep apnea one is called Central sleep apnea and that's a neurological condition that causes patients breathing to be interrupted um that is different from obstructive sleep apnea which is a condition where the soft tissue falls back when a person is sleeping and blocks the airway and snoring is a result of that and a very common symptom of obstructive sleep apnea not all sonoring is obstructive sleep apnea but it is it is a very you know commonly correlated condition and so we always suggest that people who snore a lot um get tested from their doctor it's a fairly easy thing to do a home sleep study and determine whether or not one has the condition that's really cool that this technology that we're we're living in we're going to help people like this and is there a while you're talking about the snoring is there average age or does it matter what age you are when I when I think of sleep apnea I just think of older people I mean that's just maybe that's what we've heard and read is there an age um certainly older people are um or more inclined to have sleep apnea although it certainly impacts a lot of younger people as well it's it's such a widespread condition and people don't realize that it's estimated that one in five adults have obstructive sleep apnea so it's massive I mean that's way more people than have cancer um I mean just the the statistics alone are quite staggering so um it does impact younger people I mean for instance at rosamis one of our largest clients is the US Army and you know they're soldiers many of them are young and they are interested in the long-term cardiovascular health of all of their soldiers but they're also I'm very interested in the immediate day-to-day performance of the soldiers and if you have obstructive sleep apnea you have what they call Micro arousals throughout the night so you don't sleep well so another common symptom is daytime sleepiness um and so people you know they don't perform as we all know if you don't perform well if you don't sleep well and so um so it it has a both the effect of you know protecting one's cardiovascular system and um but then also um ensuring that they're performing well I mean things like driving accidents are very very common you know or even if you remember the Exxon Valdez crash that was associated with the um Captain having obstructive sleep apnea so it's um it's very important for people to you know get treated and and find a treatment that works for them and so we've been working on trying to make a both very effective solution but also one that patients can adhere to and will use on a nightly basis because it's it's very important it is because this is something I would think you would recommend um should family I should say family doctors but uh what's the word for doctors that see should you go see a doctor like that first or did you see you know or a primary care practitioner I guess I meant to say right yeah so um so that's often the first stop for people they'll talk to their um their primary care doctor about the um symptoms that they're having and you know other symptoms can be um as I mentioned so it's snoring daytime sleepiness um they might wake up with a dry mouth they might sound like they're choking or gagging um and then also depression is very highly correlated with it so um so it's worth if if you have or you or someone you love have any of those symptoms to speak with their primary care doctor they can then prescribe a sleep test or send one to a sleep position who then can um typically those are done now at home they used to be done in sleep Labs so people didn't like the idea of having to go sleep in a sleep web understandably and so it's gotten there's one of the areas where covet has been very very helpful it really accelerated the development of home sleep tests and so you know a lot of times one can be sent to your house it might even be disposable um very simple to hook up um and then the data gets uploaded to the cloud can get diagnosed and then get sent to a treatment provider so it it should be should be a fairly seamless thing it's covered by almost all medical insurance commercial insurance and Medicare so um you know it's it's available to people and um and should be fairly easy to to access and one thing you had said is cardiovascular you think that is connected to if you're having heart issues or as a side effect or definitely um so there's a lot of clinical research on that um it can it can really damage the heart because the heart is having to work so hard to pump the oxygen that it does have access to through the body and it has you know it often is correlated with hypertension um atrial fibrillation also then stroke diabetes cancer there are a number of um right associated with so they're very serious so it's worth paying attention to and unfortunately people just aren't that aware and those who are aware are often very afraid of getting a CPAP which is you know the mask and you know there's a lot of it it's difficulty for some people wearing it it can be uncomfortable for certain people and then also just the social stigmas people don't often like it and so even people who might suspect that they have sleep apnea are wary of getting diagnosed because they don't like the the possibility of what the treatment looks like so the the treatment that we have at prosomnus is an oral device it looks a lot like Invisalign or a mouth guard that you might wear in sports and it has posts on the upper and lower Arch that are set by prescription the the treating clinician identifies where the optimal Airway is and then the positions the jaw to hold it there so that you're able to get oxygen while you're sleeping wow that I'm just learning so much just listening to you and it also brought back um some memories to me before people that listen to this podcast listeners know that I've had you know Cancer and a rare primary brain tumor and that's one of the things they did they tested me is for sleep apnea whatever and that was okay because I was having these weird symptoms but it turned out to be um a brain tumor that we didn't know until had the the MRI it was just really weird because I was having headaches right and I was having that's why I was asking you and I had problems sleeping sometimes but that brain tumor push it's not growing on my brain stem but it has pushed on it right and so I'm not buying now I'm happy to hear that your provider at least was you know looking at all the options including sleep apnea as one of the causes she was she's retired now but she was really good she always was I'd tell her you know I'm having this and this and this right and then um she's like that's not that's she was trying to she was into research or not I shouldn't say that but open to new things and but and he also as the patient I had to ask questions and be honest right of what's going on that's helpful too absolutely well I'm glad that you're doing so well right and I'm glad I don't have sleep apnea but still we we had a test for it because you just you just don't know and that's like you said people don't really they blow it off they just think okay whatever and it's important because it could have a an impact later on and I kind of I guess we'll jump back to your your book I love books by the way and I think as beautiful that you wrote this about your sister and unfortunately you know she passed away and can you tell me the process or how long did it take you to write the book well I I didn't set out to write a book okay so it develops a little bit over time and so my sister um passed away right before lockdown so in December of 2019 and so um in that way we were fortunate that we were able to you know have a funeral and gather our family and friends and and be together but then you know shortly after we all went into lockdown and we're so isolated and um I had a little bit more time on my hands because everything was sort of slowing down and wasn't having to teach children and travel for work and things like that so I ended up picking up a book um called the artist's Way by Julia Cameron that's been around for a long time and um and I'd heard about it for years and people had spoken really highly of it and I um it has 12 chapters and it has you sort of work through a process of exploring your creativity and that was something that felt and important to me at the time was to figure out how to get some of this emotion and what I was processing out and so um one of the primary things that she recommends is a process that she calls morning Pages which is um a daily practice of writing before you know doing anything else in the morning and you write three pages and what I found in that was I started writing poetry I was spending a lot of time outside we were walking a lot and um and I was feeling very connected to Nature and I live in a really beautiful part of Southern California and things were blooming and the sky was extremely blue without any of the pollution and so I um so I started writing what turned out I didn't know that there were poems at the time they were just these sort of entries that I was writing and I really wanted to sort of when I stepped back I wanted to capture them for my kids I was with my sister gone I was very cognizant of how quickly things can go and you know really wanting to make sure that my children knew me like had I was thinking through like had I imported everything that was important for them to have known from their mom and I know it was such a scary time everyone remembers I mean you know people were you know in real crisis globally and um you know so death was front and center in all of our minds and so I so I typed them up um and mostly to First give to them and then I realized after that there were a number of universal things about being human in the poems and so started sharing them with some other people and then wrapped it with an essay about what had happened with my sister and the process that I went through and you know my hope is that is helpful to other people who are suffering from some sort of loss you know my loss happened to be you know a death but it's certainly applicable to any kind of loss and grief and the importance of connecting with other people and and taking care of oneself I it's beautiful and to me writing is therapeutic and it's just by itself you don't have to make it public and you're you have the courage to uh finally I guess put it all together make it public I think it's going to be really helpful yeah absolutely yeah I like to say I I have sort of three things I like to say walk it talk it write it and you know I think to be able to get outside your you more than anyone I know that you know to understand the importance of being physical and getting outside and and getting some of that emotion up and out of your body and then I think the importance of talking to other people be it friends or a professional and then and then certainly the writing or being creative in some way I think is is really useful those three things they certainly helped me I think for some reason for my background I don't know why people like understand people are trying to be creative I think it is very healing I agree I I wrote In the book I think that this the process of taking the emotion that you have sort of pulling it apart rolling it around and then putting it into something creative you know empowers you and allows you to sort of recognize what it was and then transform it into something positive and something beautiful and you know that's either it eats you alive and takes you down the tubes or you have to make peace with it and and do something to to move your life forward and I think the creative process is really the best vehicle to do that and I think Just Books in general are very just reading books are healing for a lot of people and I think what you're doing is great the one book that helped me after my last cancer diagnosis was Seth Gomes book called it's your turn I think have you ever heard of that book I don't know it and yeah it's called it's your turn and I'm like yeah heck yeah because that's after I wrote my first book based on that and it was very different it wasn't it's it wasn't points but it was a little bunch of different short stories and I like that um the kind of just makes you thinking uh what are the opportunities out there and just be yourself I think and it makes sense and then nature nature reminds me to be in the moment right you have to appreciate it well and and it's so regenerative right in terms of you know be it you know the seasons or you know different watching nature just continue to come back it's inspiring right it's nothing else you you know you see you see all this life and and also realize that you're part of something much bigger and that you know your your concerns are you know in the in the size of the universe fairly small and that you have to keep things in perspective and and keep keep moving forward I think that's that's beautiful I mean it is we're all connected we all need to be kind right we have to be I like to say respectful and when something bad does happen I think it's also good to pause before you react um I've seen I've seen even though bad things happen during covert I've seen more people go outside more and they are appreciating that opportunity now I think yeah I agree I think it has had a really positive impact in many ways where I see making different choices for both respecting the fact that nothing is can be taken for granted and that life is short um yes it is we have to you know we have to make sure that we're living each day um very consciously and deliberately and that that was very much um at the front of my mind when I was writing the book that you know I wanted to ensure that I was you know pausing and and appreciating and and making the most of of each day because you know what what I saw from my sister's situation was obviously that you just can't count on that and so it's um I do think that that's a positive for people to to be able to take away and I think you know some of the the slowing down was you know pretty universally positive for people I liked it actually but I mean I mean that the you know I'm trying to say that the slow as a reminder for people to slow down right slow down a little bit and the downside of what has happened I think people have gotten the bad drivers were continued I mean at least before I went I'm sorry just maybe go off that they aren't slowing down I see some um more accidents have been happening for some reason at least in my area yeah Atlanta I don't know why that's happening but we just got to keep putting that message out there to slow down and yes I like to run but I also tell myself slow down appreciate the environment that's around you um so I guess talking about the book again did you ever write poetry before this or did you know you could I um I hadn't written a lot of poetry I'd written a little bit um from time to time my husband is say poetry and so um so he and I talked about poetry a fair amount and then I think one of the things that was most influential was my kids who are both in college now and sort of relived high school English as with them going through it and um their rating um programs were very different from mine I went to very sort of traditional schools you know ages ago and right and there the approach that they were taught was much more sort of stream of Consciousness get the words out on you know get your ideas out and worry about the grammar later come back and think about that and and I it made me appreciate that I really got myself hung up on the how rather than the what and so um so I think that sort of taking a lot of the lessons that were being taught to them about just Express Yourself say what you have to say put it out there and and don't be afraid um and you know and I had to say those kinds of things to them and then you know turn around and remind myself but the same lessons apply to me and um so it was it was very helpful I think also the fact that I I didn't write it with the intention of it having an audience um made it um special in that way that it was really um very sort of personal it's not overly revealing um specifically because it's all sort of in the vein of analogies with trees and so it's cool yeah so it's um so it's fun it's I'm really happy with with how it came together and then I worked very closely with an artist um a woman named Kelly ratting who is a Botanical and um I guess also it's just animals and you know all Wildlife um painting and she did about 80 paintings for the book it's really really beautiful I mean her work is just stunning and and it was it was an incredible process also just collaborating with somebody um and we just happened to work together really nicely and so there's a lot in the art there's a lot of the symbolism in The Art that sort of ties to the words and ties to things that were important mostly to me but there are a few things that are really special to her in there as well and um it's it's meant to be a gift book it's meant to be something to give to somebody who is you know suffering from a loss and you know and it's it's beautiful enough hopefully to leave out so that people want to return to it and you know revisit either the words or the paintings so I um you know I hope people like it when it comes out I'm very excited about it the way you're describing it I just can't wait to I'm thinking I'm gonna give these as gifts to people because that's what I started doing now with my like my nephews and their adults now and then they are getting kids I'm just gonna from the rather than giving toys to like to the nephews to give books out all the time and I I think that is a great uh what you're doing a great thing and also made me think of we're learning from our children too right and it was nice right it was my sons that's like Mom you know I started a Blog and like I'm like I'm from that generation you just don't talk about you don't talk about things publicly but it is very healing for those that are listening reading and writing and it's not to be um you know I found it to be therapeutic and obviously Lang did as well and it's it's you just gotta acknowledge this bad things but then you got to move forward yeah absolutely it's funny that you mention our kids the the very first line of my book is essentially it says you know I remember the point of no return you know that moment of truth and it was my then 16 year old daughter saying you know you say you're going to write this book what are you really going to do it and she wasn't being she wasn't being rude she wasn't being mean she was just reflecting back that I had talked about a lot of things over the years and some of them hadn't happened and you know that held my feet to the fire going through the process because there's a lot of times that you think about backing away or deciding maybe this isn't the best idea or maybe you know you have doubts or questions or fears and um and you know her words really kept ringing through my head throughout saying no no I have to see this through I have to if nothing else I have to show her that you know that I'll keep my word on something like this and so I'm very glad that I did um but to your point our kids our kids hold us accountable and hopefully make us the best of ourselves exactly and that's uh you're being a great role model and and that's your daughter inspired you I think inspired right or is it motivated I don't know what the rich word to use but yeah I don't know both It's a combination I just think it's just beautiful what you're doing in as a book lover I am definitely going to recommend this book to everybody just because we all have to it doesn't matter like you said uh what your grief that you're dealing with this is going to help and it might Inspire them to write something down themselves just click things in your in your head and you just gotta pause and I think I love what you're doing and I love this this service that you're helping people to figure out but sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea is not something to be ignored because it's affecting more people than people realize yeah it absolutely is yeah I mentioned that one in five adults and and it's estimated that 80 of people are undiagnosed so we all know people who have it and we also likely know people who have it and don't realize that they have it and and therefore untreated so um I'm one of my goals for the year is really to try to get the word out and you know make it easier and more accessible for people and for those that are listening if you have a loved one or family member or even a friend well it's hard to tell friends are snoring but uh but to encourage them to get it checked out and to to you gotta not force them but you gotta encourage them so much absolutely well and um in the back of my book I have a page on resources where people can get information on obstructive sleep apnea also on my website which is um langreckers.com so my first and last name.com I also have

resources listed there so um there's plenty of places on the on the web for people to find information but I pointed to a couple of spots that I think have particularly good information that's really cool um so can people reach out to you on any kind of social media I'm just curious or LinkedIn absolutely so I'm on LinkedIn and um Instagram I have an Instagram page for my book that's called morning underscore leads underscore book and then also I have a Facebook page that's author langmickers they can all be found on my website as well so yeah for those that are listening I'll have the links included in the description and I really appreciate your timeline you're really doing a great job very inspirational I find it inspirational and I'm going to share your book with lots of people well thank you and thank you so much for inviting me to be on your show and really enjoyed it thank you for listening guys all right thanks everyone bye-bye

2023-04-14 23:10

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