What is Sleep Apnea?
Further Reading
Sleep apnea occurs when your breathing pauses for seconds or minutes during sleep, disrupting the resting process. Sleep apnea is a serious condition because every pause in sleep disrupts the flow of oxygen to your heart, brain and body. Sleep apnea treatment is needed when you experience intermittent pauses in your breathing during sleep, which are often signaled with a snort or choking sound. Sleep apnea can lead to serious health conditions like heart disease and stroke. During your initial men’s health assessment, vitals will be checked, including oxygen levels. Vitals, along with a blood panel and possibly a night with a sleep monitor, will help us determine the direction we need to go to address your sleep conditions, and will help us understand if sleep apnea has already impacted your health in more serious ways, such as with high , cholesterol with resulting increase risk of heart attack or stroke.
Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
- Daytime fatigue
- Loud/frequent snoring
- Silent pauses in breathing
- Choking or gasping sounds
- Insomnia
- Morning headaches
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Waking with dry mouth/sore throat
How Treatment Works for Sleep Apnea
Your path to better rest takes four steps:
- Health Assessment
If your symptoms and responses to sleep questions indicate you may have sleep apnea, your provider may recommend a simple home sleep test. The technology provided is simple to use and monitors your breathing during sleep. The results of the test determine if you are suffering from sleep apnea, and if so, at what level of severity from mild to moderate to severe. - Personalized Plan
Depending on what your sleep study reveals, your sleep apnea could be treated with certain lifestyle changes (smoking cessation or weight loss) or breathing device such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). If your sleep apnea treatment requires a CPAP device, Oklahoma City Low T Center’s Head of Sleep Medicine, a physician board-certified in sleep medicine, calibrates your CPAP machine and oversees your sleep apnea treatment regimen along with your local Low T Center medical provider. - Treatment Regimen
Your treatment regimen is based on your personalized plan. Every night your sleep data is sent through a proprietary interface directly to your Low T medical chart, enabling your provider to monitor and adjust your device so you can achieve optimum results. - Optimization and Prevention
Once your regimen is underway to address sleep apnea (or other underlying conditions), your provider will optimize treatment to maximize your health and wellness.
Cost of Sleep Apnea Treatment
Low T Center is in network with most insurance providers. The cost for sleep apnea treatment is dependent upon your individual health insurance plan. Patients are responsible for all applicable deductibles or co-pays under the terms of their plans.
Potential Side Effects of Sleep Apnea Treatment
Just as each patient’s experience with sleeping difficulties is unique, so is his experience with CPAP. Success depends on working with your medical provider to maintain proper adjustment of the device. Your medical provider will discuss potential side effects and contraindications based on your physiology and treatment experience.
Benefits of Sleep Apnea Treatment with Low T Sleep Center
Sleep apnea treatment can help you regain normal breathing during sleep, leading to better-quality rest, improved clarity and concentration, increased libido, fewer headaches, and reduced risk of heart attack or stroke.
Because Low T Sleep Center takes a holistic approach to men’s healthcare, our medical professionals can proactively address other conditions you’re currently experiencing, or could experience later on. These conditions may also affect sleep apnea.
Our providers get to know you on a personal level and gather important health data often to assess progress with greater efficiency.
At Low T Center of Oklahoma City, we focus on treating your sleep apnea symptoms so you can feel better — and get the rest you deserve.
Sleep Apnea Treatment Options
When you choose a Low T Center of Oklahoma City for your sleep apnea treatment, you’re getting a sleep specialist who understands that sleep apnea can be caused by a number of factors. As a holistic health care center, it’s important to us that we find the root cause of your symptoms. We use a combination of symptom treatment and lifestyle changes to treat your sleep apnea while also attacking the cause.
Some of the most common treatments we use include:
– Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device- CPAP works to create pressure in your upper airway, stopping your throat from closing during your sleep. When your throat collapses during sleep, your breathing temporarily stops. While a CPAP device may feel awkward at first, most users report that they are sleeping completely comfortably within a few weeks. The benefit of a CPAP device- restful, quiet sleep- far outweighs the short adjustment period it may take you to get used to the treatment.
– Lifestyle Changes- You may be able to help obstructive sleep apnea with improved self- care.
- Lose excess weight. Even a slight weight loss might help relieve constriction of your throat. In some cases, sleep apnea can resolve if you return to a healthy weight, but it can recur if you regain the weight.
- Regular exercise can help ease the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea even without weight loss. Try to get 30 minutes of moderate activity, such as a brisk walk, most days of the week.
- Avoid alcohol and certain medications such as tranquilizers and sleeping pills. These relax the muscles in the back of your throat, interfering with breathing.
- Sleep on your side or abdomen rather than on your back. Sleeping on your back can cause your tongue and soft palate to rest against the back of your throat and block your airway. To keep from rolling onto your back while you sleep, try attaching a tennis ball to the back of your pajama top. There are also commercial devices that vibrate when you roll onto your back in sleep.
- Don’t smoke. If you’re a smoker, look for resources to help you quit.
How CPAP Works at Low T Center
While a CPAP device may look complicated at first glance, it’s anything but. You simply connect the mask onto your face as you prepare to fall asleep. The machine works to create continuous pressure in the throat, which makes the throat stay open and allows you to continue breathing the oxygen in the room. This stops sleep apnea from occurring and creates a more restful sleeping experience, and prevents damage to heart and lungs from oxygen deprivation
A key step is making sure that your CPAP mask creates a tight seal over your mouth and nose. At Low T Center of Oklahoma City, we take the time with you in our center to allow you to try on various mask types, so you can find the one that is the best for you and your sleeping style. It’s critical that you are comfortable with the mask and device because if you’re not comfortable, your usage of the device will be low, and your results will be poor. Oklahoma City Low T Center has a full-time sleep technologist that is available by phone during each business day to answer your questions and assist you with the CPAP machine or mask to help you achieve your highest results. At Low T Center of Oklahoma City, we provide CPAP devices that include a humidifier, which helps to keep your mouth and nose from drying out over time. We also provide CPAP machines with heated hoses, so condensation doesn’t build in the hose. We believe in providing only the best equipment and are committed to helping you be comfortable with the device and mask so you can get the rest you deserve, and you can be as healthy as possible.
Achieving optimal results requires some proper care and maintenance of the equipment and a regular replacement schedule of mask, hose and filters. Your Oklahoma City Low T Center sleep team will review the recommended cleaning schedule with you during your mask fitting and device setup.
Find A Sleep Doctor Near You
Oklahoma City was a grass-and-timbered land of gently rolling hills flattening out into prairie just a little more than a century ago. Today, Oklahoma City sprawls across 625 square miles of America’s heartland. Its metro population numbers over a million – one third of the population of the entire state. Oklahoma City is the perfect location for Low T Center, where we are reinventing men’s healthcare. Low T Center’s customized sleep apnea treatment plans and experienced medical professionals will design a patient specific plan that meets your needs.
If you’re ready to take the next step in treating your sleep apnea, it’s time to contact a sleep specialist. At Low T Center of Oklahoma City, you’ll find caring, experienced providers, who are available at times and locations that are convenient to your schedule. Don’t risk your health and waste another night on bad sleep- call Oklahoma City Low T Center today to schedule an appointment.