Sleep Apnea Treatment San Jose, CA
What Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a potentially dangerous disorder with fairly benign symptoms—loud snoring at night, and morning headaches or daytime bouts of sleepiness. The cause? Intermittent periods throughout sleep when an individual actually stops breathing.
Breathing cessation, or apnea, lasts from seconds to nearly a minute. When breathing resumes—the brain senses lack of oxygen and wakes you up—snoring is loud, sometimes explosive. In the morning, the build-up of carbon dioxide in the blood causes headaches. And the lack of deep, relaxing sleep has you drowsy, and usually grouchy, during the day.
During sleep apnea, the upper air passages in the mouth and throat obstruct (no one is sure why). One form of treatment is wearing an acrylic appliance during sleep to keep air passages open. It’s comfortable, easy to use, and brings blessed sleep.
If you have symptoms of sleep apnea—your partner will let you know about the snoring—we’d like to discuss it with you. Patients in our program find the change in the quality of their sleep, and their waking life, like night and day.
How Are You Sleeping?
We have informational brochures in our office concerning snoring and sleep apnea. If you suffer from these problems or are losing sleep because of someone who does, answering these simple questions may help you identify your symptoms.
A Sleep Quiz
- I have been told that I snore.
- I have been told that I snore loudly, every night and in all sleep positions.
- I have been jolted awake gasping for breath during the night.
- I fall asleep at inappropriate times like when driving a car or at work.
- After a full night sleep I wake up feeling tired.
- I have trouble concentrating.
- I have become unusually forgetful.
- I am told or I feel uncharacteristically irritable, anxious or depressed.
- I frequently wake up with a headache.
- I have high blood pressure.
- I am overweight.
- I seem to have lost my sex drive.
If you can answer yes to any of these statements you should ask us about treatment options.