Sleep Apnea
Don't let sleep apnea rob you of the rest you need
Sleep apnea is a silent killer. It strangles you while you sleep, shutting down your airway forcing you to jolt awake to gasp for oxygen. Over an eight-hour stretch, these attacks could be repeated up to 800 times per night1. Just think, your nights might be haunted by a force you might not know is sucking the life out of you. Symptoms like snoring, morning headaches, dry mouth, sore throat, and daily exhaustion could signal you're one of 30 million Americans suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.
This stealthy sleep disorder wrestles its victims into a nightly struggle for oxygen, casting their bodies into panic mode. If this is you, you have hope.
Sleep apnea 101
There are two types of sleep apnea:
1: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): This is the most common type of sleep apnea where your airway blocks your breathing
2: Central Sleep Apnea (CSA): Very uncommon, where your brain fails to signal breathing
OSA, the common type, is a chronic disorder causing throat collapse during sleep. This blockage activates a full-body alert, signaled by loud snoring, gasping for air while you sleep, need for Tylenol first thing in the morning or constant fatigue – and is often overlooked or wrongly treated.
Severe cases might stop breathing 100 times every hour, leading to oxygen deprivation. It's not just an annoying inconvenience for you and your sleeping partner. It's a serious disorder that nightly attacks on your body resulting in grave health implications.
How do I know if I have sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is tricky: unless you have someone who observes your sleep disturbances, such as snoring, gasping, or choking, you likely won't know you have it. Hence, 80% of sufferers remain undiagnosed2. Symptoms like fatigue, irritability, poor concentration, energy loss, and morning headaches are often misattributed to other causes. Many people with undiagnosed sleep apnea must resort to caffeine or sugar for a quick energy boost.
Common symptoms of sleep apnea include:
- Loud snoring
- Gasping for air in your sleep
- Morning headaches
- Anxiety & depression
- Insomnia
- Trouble focusing or concentrating
- Excessive sleepiness and fatigue (even after a full night’s sleep)
The only way to know if you have sleep apnea is to get a proper diagnosis from a sleep apnea specialist, like the medical providers at ADVENT. There’s more below about ADVENT’s simple 3-step process for diagnosing and treating sleep apnea so you can get healthy, restful sleep.
What are the health risks of untreated sleep apnea?
Every night, when your head hits the pillow, your body goes into recovery mode – repairing, recharging and renewing from the day’s wear and tear. If you have sleep apnea your body becomes accustomed to this nightly assault. Instead of resting, your body goes into defensive red-alert because it knows it’s in for a long night of being robbed of the oxygen it needs for survival.
This lack of healthy sleep can lead to a myriad of downstream issues:
- Anxiety
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Fatty liver disease
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Metabolic syndrome
- Erectile dysfunction
- Hormonal shifts
- and a higher overall death rate
Effective treatments for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
Your path to restful sleep in 3 simple steps
1: Get Your Breathing Triangle Evaluation
First, we listen. At your new patient appointment, you’ll discuss your symptoms and goals with a Sleep & Sinus Specialist. You’ll also get a thorough Breathing Triangle Evaluation to help identify any underlying issues.
2: Uncover the Root Cause
Depending on your symptoms you may get an in-office CT scan or home sleep study to better understand the source of your sleep apnea.
3: Treat Your Sleep Apnea with Simple Solutions
We offer several simple in-office options to ensure you have a healthy Breathing Triangle and treatments for sleep apnea. Depending on your diagnosis, you may be a candidate for: Balloon Sinuplasty, Turbinate Reduction, Nasal Cryotherapy, Oral Appliance Therapy or CPAP.
Sleep apnea FAQs:
There isn’t a cure for sleep apnea, but certain lifestyle changes like losing weight, cutting back or eliminating alcohol and smoking, can help reduce the severity. Treatments that improve your breathing as well as some surgical procedures can help the condition.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the most common treatment for sleep apnea. This bedside machine connects to a face mask with a hose that forces air into your nose and mouth. However, many patients with nasal airway issues or can't breathe freely through their nose may struggle with CPAP
Surgery can also be a treatment option for severe cases of sleep apnea.
ADVENT takes a nose-first approach to treating sleep apnea. We first ensure you Breathing Triangle is working properly, then we'll tackle your sleep apnea issue, most often with oral appliance therapy, a retainer worn at night. Did you know 96% of patients prefer Oral Appliance Therapy over CPAP and traditional solutions?
Untreated sleep apnea is a serious health risk. It can result in fatigue, moodiness, anxiety, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver disease, stroke, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, erectile dysfunction, hormonal changes, and higher overall death rates.
Fatigue, moodiness, anxiety, increased risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver disease, stroke, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, sexual dysfunction, hormonal changes, and higher overall death rates can result from sleep apnea.
The most common symptoms during sleep include loud snoring, gasping for air, and moments when you stop breathing.
Signs of sleep apnea when awake include excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, irritability, trouble focusing, anxiety, and waking up with dry mouth or a sore throat and headache.
Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by an obstruction in the throat. Often times, those who have a tight throat also have a tight nose. Optimizing your Breathing Triangle, both your nose and throat, is critical in effectively treating sleep apnea.
You should also know that obesity is a risk factor for developing sleep apnea. People who accumulate excess fat in the neck and upper belly are especially prone to getting sleep apnea, but not all people with the sleep disorder are obese. Some evidence suggests that treating obesity may reduce the severity of sleep apnea, and treating OSA decreases obesity. Alcohol intake and smoking can also contribute to the severity of the condition.
There are two types of sleep apnea: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and central sleep apnea. OSA is the most common, and occurs when air can’t flow in or out of the nose. Central sleep apnea happens when the brain doesn’t send the right signals to your muscles to continue breathing.
Severe sufferers may stop breathing up to 100 times per hour, depriving their bodies of much-needed oxygen.
About 22 million Americans have sleep apnea, and 80% of them have not been diagnosed. Adults are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea, and men are 2–3 times more likely to develop it than women. African Americans are at higher risk for sleep apnea. Only 2–3% of children have sleep apnea.
“Sleep apnea is dangerous. Not only can it cause interruption to daily routines with snoring and fatigue, but it can also increase the risks for developing high blood pressure, high blood sugars and can increase the risk of stroke and heart attack.”
"Sleep apnea is a dangerous condition. There are many people that go about their lives never knowing they have it, but suffer the consequences- poor sleep quality, bothersome snoring, daytime fatigue, brain fog, and more. Besides the physical symptoms, sleep apnea is connected to numerous health conditions- cardiovascular disease including hypertension and stroke, diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression- the list goes on."
Jacob Daniels, PA-C
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References
- Benjafield, A. V., Ayas, N. T., Eastwood, P. R., Heinzer, R., Ip, M. S., Morrell, M. J., Nunez, C. M., Patel, S. R., Penzel, T., Pépin, J.-L., Peppard, P. E., Sinha, S., Tufik, S., Valentine, K., & Malhotra, A. (2019). Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea: A literature-based analysis. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 7(8), 687–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2213-2600(19)30198-5
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2016). (PDF). Hidden Health Crisis Costing America Billions: Underdiagnosing and Undertreating Obstructive Sleep Apnea Draining Healthcare System (pp. 1–23). Darien, IL.
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