Sleep Apnea

Have you been experiencing trouble sleeping lately feeling tired after a full night's sleep? Do you wake up in the middle of a sound sleep due to the inability to breathe, leaving you gasping for air? It can be quite a traumatic experience, and having to go through it several times can leave a bad impact on your mental health as well.

The condition is termed as ‘Sleep Apnea’. It is the inability of a person to inhale while sleeping due to the partial or complete blockage of the airway. It is most often caused due to the collapse of the soft tissues from the roof the throat or when the brain fails to signal the lungs to inhale involuntarily. Sleep apnea may have lasting effects if left untreated.

What are the types of sleep apnea?

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): It is caused due to the obstruction of the airway due to the collapse of the tissues from the throat. You would be unable to inhale air, which is when you would suddenly be woken up in the middle of sleep.
• Central Sleep Apnea (CSA): This occurs due to the malfunctioning of the brain. The brain fails to signal the lungs to inhale and exhale air, thereby depriving the body of its normal supply of oxygen.
• Mixed Sleep Apnea: It is a combination of both Obstructive and Central sleep apnea.

What are its symptoms?

• Lack of sleep
• Tiredness
• Decreased levels of tolerance i.e. getting irritated over the smallest things
• Waking up with a bad headache and a sore throat
• Noisy snoring
• Erratic breathing
• Grinding your teeth and TMJ disorder
• Frequent dozing off during daytime due to sleep deprivation

How is sleep apnea treated?

Treatment of sleep apnea can be divided into two types. You can help yourself in this regard by bringing about a few changes in your behavior, which is the first type of treatment. If that doesn’t seem to help, you can seek professional treatment from a dentist.

Some of the changes you can make that would reduce the severity of sleep apnea are:

• Losing weight
• Quitting or limiting the intake of alcohol and smoking tobacco
• Bringing about changes in your sleep patterns and postures
• Controlling the blood pressure levels

When it comes to professional treatment your medical doctor and dentist would carefully diagnose your condition and come up with a customized treatment plan. It would include the use of a mouth appliance that prevents the collapse of the tissues in the throat. This way, the airway wouldn’t get blocked. Another way to treat sleep apnea is by using a CPAP.

Call us at (262) 886-9440 to schedule an appointment to know more about sleep apnea.