Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that affects many people, but the majority of people that have it do not know they do. The main reason that people do not know that they have sleep apnea is because it is a disorder that occurs while a person is asleep, making it hard for the person to see the signs. If you sleep in the same bed as someone else, they may be able to tell you if you do any of the following things, and this may help you know if you have this disorder.
Snoring
While everyone that snores does not have sleep apnea, anyone with sleep apnea is likely to snore. The snoring a person does when they have sleep apnea is not usually just a simple, quiet snore, though. It is usually very loud, and it can cause problems for anyone who sleeps in a bed with the person who snores that loud. If you sleep with someone ask, ask the person to rate how badly you snore.
Gasping for Breath
A second thing you will likely do if you have sleep apnea is gasp for breath while you are asleep. This gasping for breath can sound scary to a person who hears it, and it is a scary thing. When this happens, it means that you stop breathing for a second or two. When your brain realizes that you are not breathing, it sends a signal to your heart. This causes your heart to pump harder, and you will end up gasping for breath when you resume breathing again. If you gasp while you sleep, your partner will likely hear this, and this is a sign that you have sleep apnea.
Feelings of restlessness, fatigue, and lack of attention span
Additionally, if you have this disorder, you will probably feel tired a lot and restless. You may feel agitated and irritable all the time, and you might have trouble focusing. These are all signs of a lack of sleep and living with untreated sleep apnea will cause you to miss out on a lot of good sleep.
If you visit a doctor's office or dental clinic, you can talk to the doctor or dentist about these signs. If they believe that you may suffer from this disorder, you will be referred to a sleep clinic to undergo a sleep study, as this is the only true way to diagnose sleep apnea. For more information, talk to dentists like Jerry C Hu DDS Family Dentistry LLC.
Share4 March 2019
My son was outside playing with some friends when he accidentally fell down and hit his mouth on the sidewalk. The fall knocked out his front tooth, so I immediately placed the tooth in a small jar and added some milk. I rushed my son to the dental clinic and the dentist immediately took us into the examination room. The dentist placed the tooth back into the socket and saved it. My name is Beverly Tillman and thanks to the quick work of the dentist, my son didn't lose his tooth. Since this was a scary time for me and my son, I wanted to write this blog as a source of information for other parents who are facing a dental emergency. First of all, don't panic and get to your dentist as soon as possible. I hope this blog will help to answer your questions about dental emergencies.