Sleep Apnea and its unknown danger
" 3am in the morning, M.J could not sleep. It has been like this forever, yes, forever. She feels devastated and exhausted. But more than that, she is scared that her husband would not ever wake up again. Every thirty minutes, G.D, her husband has to be pushed to lie on his side to breathe. The sound of his breathing, heavy, tone up and down like sine and cosine graphs, is now becoming the securing sound that she knows G. is still alive. M. hates it so much, she has been sleep - deprived and just wishes to have one good night sleep. In that desperation, she still could not care less for her husband's safety. Sometimes during the night, G wakes up, gasping for air and feels like choked to death. He stops breathing during the sleep, that's what he had been told. Day is tiring, and night becomes scaring".
Do you find yourself in that story? Or anyone you know has experienced this? Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which breathing is briefly and repeatedly interrupted during sleep. When our breathing is not regular and sufficient, it does not bring in enough oxygen. This low oxygen level inhibits other organs from healing and restoring during sleep, produces free-radicals that turn into toxins and deteriorate bodily functions , affecting memory, impeding brain and body growth (esp in young patients), aggravating existing medical condition (carviovascular disease, diabetes, GERD,...).
Our body's short fix is to disturb sleep cycle, send signal to our brain and body to wake it up by increasing body' s heat, over sweating, muscle spasm (bruxism and legs jerking), and finally we wake up choking and gasping for air. We have not talked about how it could affect your productivity at work and your marriage, or your social relationship. It is a very dangerous condition that each of us should be well informed and detect it as soon as possible. It happens in all ages, from young kids to the elderly, from people who suffered from obesity to people who are in the best physical state, even athletes. It happens to men and women. Sleep apnea could be treated but not be cured. The more we know about it, the better we get it under control.
Some indicators that you may have sleep apnea/ hypopnea includes:
- Night bruxism, snoring
- Stop breathing when sleeping: awake during night time, gasping for air, oversweating, tingling or jerking legs
- Teeth fracture during sleep
- Sleepiness, exhaustion, lack of energy, mood swing during the day
- Pre-existing medical condition: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, GERD
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you may have sleep apnea. A treatment team includes a trained dentist in Sleep Medicine, an ENT doctor, a surgeon and lab technician. Finding the right team is absolutely necessary in giving you the best treatment you deserve. At Kaizen Dental, in the effort to raise the awareness of sleep apnea, we offer free screening/ exam on Sleep Apnea on September 14th 2019. Feel free to call us at 424 381 4004 for your appointment. (Limited availability, first called first served). We are looking forward to seeing you.