Surgery to address sleep apnea now in Decatur

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - The people of Decatur can now sleep a little better if they suffer from Sleep Apnea.

Sleep Apnea can lead to certain diseases like Diabetes, cause loud snoring, and can effect energy levels throughout the day. The most common treatment is the use of a CPAP machine while sleeping.

"I really hated that CPAP," Jeff Ludwick, who suffers from Sleep Apnea, said. "The CPAP - I'd wake up in the morning and I'd take the mask off and throw it on the floor and I'd wake up and there it is laying on the floor doing me no good."

One year ago, Ludwick became the first person in Decatur to get surgery and implant a device in his chest designed at helping with Sleep Apnea.

"It's just like a small pacemaker that goes into the upper right chest wall underneath the skin, with the wires going through the right lower throat," Dr. Rana Mahmood, a Sleep Medicine Special at the Decatur Neurological Association and Ludwick's doctor, said. "Basically, whenever this senses an apnea, it just pulls the tongue out and opens the airway."

Mahmood started using the 'Inspire' device recently, bringing it to his patients in Decatur.

"I started dealing with this Inspire device for the last couple of years mostly and have several patients on that," Mahmood said. "This is to provide more treatments and they don't have to go outside the city."

30 days after the device is implanted, you can turn it on and control it with a small remote.

"Whenever I'm ready to go to sleep, I take this remote, I push this button, and it turns it on, but it won't come on for a half an hour," Ludwick said. "That gives me time to fall asleep before it sends a little bit of an electric current which is what it's doing. But it's nothing bad."

Ludwick's friends and family once referred to him as the 'Human Chainsaw' because of how loud his snoring was, but now he is sleeping quietly through the night.