do you struggle with sleep apnea?
WE ARE EXPERTS IN SLEEP APNEA
WE ARE EXPERTS IN SLEEP APNEA: (925) 415-5353
Don’t Spend Another Night Struggling With Sleep Apnea
If you feel fatigued throughout the day, awaken abruptly at night, or have been told you snore loudly, you may be suffering from sleep apnea. Untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious health complications, which is why early medical intervention is vital. At SMSC, we help our patients manage sleep apnea and get their life back on track.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Obstructive sleep apnea is very common and affects millions of people – it is a very serious sleep disorder that causes you to stop breathing during sleep. The airway repeatedly becomes blocked, limiting the amount of air that reaches your lungs. When this happens, you may snore loudly or make choking noises as you try to breathe. Your brain and body becomes oxygen deprived and you may wake up. This may happen a few times a night, or in more severe cases, several hundred times a night. With each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses in order to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.
In many cases, an apnea, or temporary pause in breathing, is caused by the tissue in the back of the throat collapsing. The muscles of the upper airway relax when you fall asleep. If you sleep on your back, gravity can cause the tongue to fall back. This narrows the airway, which reduces the amount of air that can reach your lungs. The narrowed airway causes snoring by making the tissue in the back of the throat vibrate as you breathe.
Chronic snoring is the most common warning of sleep apnea. In general, a person with sleep apnea is not aware of their breathing problems at night. For that reason, they often only find out about the issue from a bed partner, family member, or roommate. Excessive daytime sleepiness is the most likely symptom to be noticed by people with sleep apnea that live alone.
What are the risks of sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea can make you wake up in the morning feeling tired or unrefreshed even though you have had a full night of sleep. During the day, you may feel fatigued, have difficulty concentrating or you may even unintentionally fall asleep. This is because your body is waking up numerous times throughout the night, even though you might not be conscious of each awakening.
Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Because of the lack of awareness, the vast majority remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, despite the fact that this serious disorder can have significant long-term consequences. The lack of oxygen your body receives can result in an increased risk of:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Pre-diabetes and diabetes
- Depression
- Weight Gain
- Headaches
- Impotency
- Poor Quality of life due to constant fatigue and lack of concentration
Do you think your child may be suffering from a sleep disturbance?
How is sleep apnea diagnosed & treated?
Many people with sleep apnea have not been diagnosed or received treatment. Our sleep experts can diagnose obstructive sleep apnea using an in-lab sleep study or a home sleep apnea test. Sleep apnea is a very manageable sleep disorder using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, the front-line treatment for sleep apnea, oral appliance therapy or surgery. Even after the first night of treatment, patients often announce that they feel more refreshed upon awakening than they have in a long time!
Dr. Singh, Dr. Grewal and Rademacher have helped thousands of patients improve their quality of life by diagnosing, treating and managing their sleep apnea.
Sleep Soundly. Live Profoundly.
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To learn more about obstructive sleep apnea, please click here.
