If your family comments on how they can hear you snoring from upstairs, it may be time for you to see if you have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea has serious effects on your body and can have a lasting impact on your day-to-day life. Fortunately, sleep apnea treatment in Lincoln can provide you with a plan made especially for you. Get your days back and kick your constant grogginess with a proper night of rest.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea occurs when your ability to breathe while asleep is jeopardized, which results in snoring. You hold your breath until your brain creates an emergency response to continue breathing again. For certain types of sleep apnea, you could stop breathing for 10 or more seconds until your response to breathe again kicks in.
There are three types of sleep apnea:
- Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form that results in your airways being blocked, causing you to temporarily halt your breathing pattern. Your body continues trying to breathe, but the obstruction won’t allow your proper airflow until you wake up coughing, choking or snoring. As your muscles start to relax while you’re sleeping, your airway gets smaller or closes stopping your breathing. Repeated episodes could detrimentally affect your body due to the lower oxygen levels in your bloodstream.
- Central sleep apnea happens when your brain never sends your body a response to continue breathing again. You could have central sleep apnea and absolutely no obstruction, but your brain isn’t signaling you to breathe like you should. Like OSA, CA episodes can last anywhere from 10 seconds to one minute.
- Lastly, mixed sleep apnea is when people experience symptoms of both OSA and CA at the same time. Usually, mixed sleep apnea isn’t diagnosed unless the patient participates in an overnight sleep study where they’re able to be monitored and both types of symptoms are recorded.
Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
Sometimes, the symptoms of OSA and CA overlap, making it difficult to diagnose whether or not you have mixed sleep apnea. There are some telltale signs that you may have sleep apnea if you experience:
- Loud snoring
- Dry mouth or sore throat when you wake up
- Sleepiness during the day
- Waking up choking or gasping
- Irritability
It’s a good idea to consult your doctor if you experience multiple symptoms. When your body experiences more than a few apnea episodes a night, it makes your body work overtime replenishing your oxygen supply and can affect your daily life and health, causing you constant exhaustion.
It’s important to recognize that snoring does not always mean you have sleep apnea, but it is a major symptom of OSA. Sometimes snoring can progress into sleep apnea, so its better to get it checked out than wait.
Treatment Options for Your Sleep Apnea
There are a couple kinds of treatment options. The most common is to sleep with a CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure machine. It creates a constant flow of air that is funneled from the machine through your nose via a face mask that you sleep with. Most people tend to eventually stop using their CPAP machine because of how it obstructs their face, making it uncomfortable. The other treatment option is to visit your local dentist to establish a treatment plan. Your dentist can choose to offer you oral appliance therapy where they will custom fit a mouthpiece similar to a retainer for you. This will reposition your jaw to clear your airway, creating a positive air flow.
Because sleep apnea can adversely affect your mood and health, it’s a good idea to seek a diagnosis and move on to establish a treatment plan. To do this, you can schedule an orientation with your local dentist to figure out what would help you get a normal night of sleep again.
About the Author
Dr. Louis Olberding offers Lincoln over 20 years of the most advanced dental experience. As a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, Dr. Olberding continues his learning and expertise in providing you with the sleep you deserve. For any questions or to create a treatment plan for your sleep apnea, you can visit his website or contact Olberding Dental at (402) 488-2325.