Sleep Apnea

Apnea is defined as a temporary stoppage of breathing. In some people, sleep can induce apnea, reducing the amount of oxygen present in the blood. If the amount of oxygen a person is getting drops low enough, the person will be startled awake in order to begin breathing again properly. For those with severe sleep apnea, this can occur over 30 times per hour!

With the reduction in quality sleep that a person with sleep apnea gets, many side effects can occur, including excessive daytime sleepiness or fatigue, and the person is at an increased risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and more. Sleep apnea is also directly related to GERD and nighttime grinding.

Believe it or not, despite all these negative consequences, many people don’t even realize they have sleep apnea! The good news is that there are several excellent treatment options for sleep apnea which can help improve quality of life and health. But first we have to diagnose the disorder. This is done with what we call a ‘sleep study.’ Here are some risk factors that may indicate you should perform a sleep study.

If several of these factors fit, and/or if a partner has commented about nighttime snoring, and/or day time sleepiness is a chronic problem, you may need to consider discussing sleep apnea with your physician or a sleep doctor.

The gold standard treatment for sleep apnea is with the use of a CPAP (or continuous positive airway pressure) machine, although in mild to moderate cases, a simple oral appliance may be effective as well. We will be happy to discuss this with you at a consultation, as well as provide a screening for you.