Snoring and Sleep Apnea Solutions in Plano, TX
Has your spouse or partner complained that you are keeping them awake with your loud snoring? Do you often feel fatigued during the day, no matter how much sleep you get?
Some snoring is simply an annoyance that can awake you or your partner, while some snoring, along with other symptoms, can be a sign of sleep apnea, a common but dangerous sleep disorder that obstructs your breathing.
If you want relief from your loud, frequent snoring and sleep apnea solutions, look no further than 1st In Smiles. Dr. Barfield works with a specialist who has special training in sleep disorders to diagnose you and provide you with snoring and sleep apnea solutions.
Do you:
- Snore loudly and regularly, waking up your spouse or bed partner?
- Wake suddenly from your sleep or naps, gasping for air?
- Feel tired during the day, even if you’ve gotten plenty of sleep?
- Find yourself dozing off while watching TV, reading, or even driving?
- Stop breathing for short periods of time while you sleep (usually observed by others)?
If the above symptoms describe you, you may be suffering from sleep apnea.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is characterized by obstruction in your airway that interrupts your sleep, whether from airway muscles relaxing when they shouldn’t, sinus problems, too much tissue, a large neck circumference, large tonsils, or a large tongue that blocks your breathing (obstructive sleep apnea). It may also be a result of your brain not sending the proper signals that tell you to breathe (central sleep apnea). You may have sleep apnea if you awaken anywhere between 30 to hundreds of times each night during your sleep.
Sleep apnea is a serious disorder because it prevents you from breathing. It can lead to heart attack, stroke, heart disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, and high blood pressure. It’s also associated with obesity.
Usually, patients don’t know they’re suffering from sleep apnea; rather, it’s whomever they are sleeping with who is woken up by the snoring or gasping. The patient may just feel the side effects of feeling constantly tired and even depressed.
How is Sleep Apnea Diagnosed?
1st In Smiles is concerned about this dangerous condition and wants to help you treat it immediately. To give you the most accurate diagnosis and treatment plan possible, we coordinate with a sleep apnea specialist who has years of experience in correctly diagnosing and treating sleep disorders.
Our specialist will first examine you and review your health history to determine your risk for sleep apnea. He will then prescribe you a sleep test that’s done in a sleep lab. There, your breathing and sleep patterns will be closely monitored by a sleep lab technician under the care of a sleep doctor. These results, including the frequency with which you stop breathing or are gasping for air, will help us know if sleep disorder is the cause.
Treating Your Snoring
After reviewing your exam results, health history, and sleep study results, our sleep apnea specialist may diagnose you with sleep disorder and begin treatments.
A simple treatment that might help you, if your sleep apnea is mild, is adjusting the position in which you sleep. Another common treatment for mild sleep apnea is an oral appliance or mouthguard, which can help adjust the position of your jaw so that your airway isn’t blocked.
If your sleep apnea is severe, or if you don’t find relief from other solutions, our specialist may prescribe a CPAP, or continuous positive air pressure device. This machine contains straps that attach to your head to support a small mask that covers your nose, sending air into your nostrils to open your airway and regulate your breathing. We even have a strapless CPAP version for your comfort if you cannot tolerate the straps.
If you think you may have sleep apnea and are ready to wake up refreshed, call Plano, TX office right away at 972-905-9266 for a consultation with Dr. Barfield and our sleep apnea expert. Getting sleep apnea solutions as soon as possible will help reduce your risk of cardiovascular and other diseases linked with sleep apnea.
When is Snoring Just Snoring?
Around 40 million Americans snore regularly. It’s a common problem for all ages and genders, although males, overweight adults, and older adults snore more often than others. Only about half of persistent snorers have sleep apnea, but the relaxed throat muscles can be to blame for both problems. The other half have snoring that, although not necessarily serious, can still disrupt your or your partner’s sleep, making you both drowsy throughout the day.
How is it Treated?
There is a relief for your noisy breathing at 1st In Smiles! Our sleep specialist in Plano, TX will first examine you to rule out sleep apnea before discussing your treatment options.
There are several ways to control your snoring, including lifestyle changes like changing your sleep position, losing weight, controlling allergies that are affecting your breathing, and avoiding alcohol and certain medications before bed.
Other therapies we may offer you include custom-made snoring devices or mouthguards. If you’ve seen snoring devices online or at the drugstore, don’t fall for their inexpensive price tags. These devices are cheaply made and are proven to be less effective than custom-fit devices from a specialist. Using a store-bought snoring device alone also means you may not be able to properly identify the source of your snoring or be professionally monitored for your condition.
Dr. Rick Barfield is a native of Richardson, Texas. He received his DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) degree from the Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry and has been providing trusted dental care in the Plano, TX area for more than 30 years.
Need a good night’s sleep? Start snoozing quietly with sleep apnea solutions in 1st In Smiles. Call our Plano, TX office today at 972-905-9266 or fill out our appointment form online to set up your consultation with Dr. Barfield and our sleep specialist.
