Sleep Apnea

Serving the Dallas Metroplex, Plano, Fort Worth, and Surrounding Areas of Texas

Do you wake up feeling tired and unrested? Do you feel sleepy all day, even though you think you're getting a full night's sleep? Are you having trouble focusing or remembering during the day? Do you snore? If any of these describe you, you may be suffering from sleep apnea, a condition in which your breathing stops for short periods when sleeping. When your brain senses the oxygen shortage, it awakens you enough so you can resume breathing. This can happen over a hundred times a night, preventing you from ever reaching the deeper sleep your brain and body need to replenish themselves. In addition to daytime sleepiness, your lack for rest puts you at an increased risk for car accidents, high blood pressure, heart failure, and other causes of early death.

If you suffer from sleep apnea, treatment is available, and it can be simple, easy-to-use, and comfortable. If you are in the Dallas or Fort Worth area and want to learn more about sleep apnea treatment options, please contact Dr. Daniel Strader today.

Understanding Sleep Apnea

In sleep apnea, your breathing stops regularly during the night. Once your brain senses a lack of oxygen, it brings you to a state of semi-wakefulness to restore breathing. Because you never may become fully conscious, you are often unaware this is happening, but you will feel the effects. The semi-waking may happen five times an hour or more than thirty times an hour. Obviously, a person waking 240 times over the course of a night is not going to get much quality rest. There are two types of sleep apnea. In central sleep apnea, the brain stops sending the signal for the body to continue breathing. In obstructive sleep apnea, the airway collapses during sleep, sometimes because of a bad bite or temporomandibular joint disorder. The two types are not mutually exclusive, but obstructive sleep apnea is by far the more common of the two. Fortunately, it is also the more treatable.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

One of the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring. About 70% of obstructive sleep apnea sufferers also snore. Especially indicative is when snoring stops abruptly, often in a choking or gasping sound. Other symptoms include:

Waking feeling unrested
Morning headaches
Changes in short-term memory or concentration
Unexplained weight gain or difficulty losing weight
Decreased motivation and/or sex drive
Depression, anxiety, or mood swings

And many others. If you suffer from any of these symptoms, you should talk to your doctor about sleep apnea and try to get a positive diagnosis from a sleep medicine center. At Dallas Designer Smiles, we can help you find a sleep medicine center where you can be tested for sleep apnea.

Dangers of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea has been associated in several studies with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. This means that sleep apnea increases your risk of dying from illnesses, conditions, or accidents--in one study by a factor of six. This effect is most pronounced in severe sleep apnea, but all sleep apnea victims suffer it to some degree. In other studies, sleep apnea has been associated with increased risk of:

Car accidents
High blood pressure
Coronary artery disease
Heart attack or heart failure
Diabetes

To avoid these dangers, it is important to get successful treatment for your sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea Treatment

For most people, the first-line treatment for sleep apnea is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). CPAP is a pump-and-mask arrangement that pumps air continuously into your throat and lungs to keep your airway open. Although this is very effective when properly used, many people cannot comply with the treatment. Studies have shown that as little as 25% of people adapt to using CPAP, and, as a result 75% of people prescribed CPAP continue to suffer the negative effects of sleep apnea.

Another treatment option that many people find more comfortable, easier to comply with, and therefore more effective is oral appliance therapy. In oral appliance therapy, a mouthpiece is selected to address the causes of your airway collapse, typically the position of your jaw and/or tongue during sleep, and is fitted to keep your airway open while you sleep. For mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, this is a very effective treatment option.