Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a serious medical condition that can occur during sleep and is caused when the airway becomes blocked so that no oxygen can reach the lungs for 10 seconds or more. Apnea lack of oxygen has conclusively been proven to be associated with greatly increased chances of irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a reduction of 5 to 7 years in life expectancy.
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- Waking feeling tired as though you have not slept or with headache.
- Daytime lack of energy, drowsiness, and a lethargic tired feeling.
- Stoppage of breathing followed by gasping or snorting sounds.
- Trouble concentrating, drowsing off inappropriately or when idle.
- Memory loss, weight gain, poor judgment, personality change.
- Loss of libido.
- Depression and anxiety.
- Intermittent loud snoring.
If you have two or more of these symptoms you may be suffering from Sleep Apnea.
Dr. Shulman has proven solutions that have helped apnea patients for more than twelve years. The greatest benefit of oral device therapy is for the many patients who cannot tolerate CPAP therapy, and oral devices are often the initial therapeutic choice of many patients with mild to moderate apnea.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is caused during sleep due to natural backward relaxation of the muscles of the throat and tongue and soft palate. If, they are able to relax far enough back to block the entire throat space, then this dangerously closes the airway so that you are totally unable to breathe for 10 seconds or more and oxygen can no longer enter the lungs.
As an apnic episode lengthens, oxygen deprivation to the whole body increases and the brain awakens you just enough so you can move your lower jaw forward. Because the tongue is attached to the lower jaw just behind your front teeth, the forward jaw thrust also pulls the tongue forward with it to re-open the airway and the oxygen can once again pass to the lungs. These awakenings are usually not remembered, but sometimes they end with a snorting or gasping sound that is quite audible to others.
Snoring occurs when your tongue and palate relax backward enough to be near to, but not touching, the back of the throat. The airway is open but the palate and tongue vibrate against the back of the throat creating the loud noises that can be so disturbing to others.