Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes you to stop breathing momentarily while you sleep. When your throat muscles relax rather than remaining active, they allow your throat tissues to touch one another. This may begin with snoring as your tissues vibrate against each other as you breathe. However, the thorough relaxation of your throat muscles will yield a total collapse of the tissues within, resulting in temporary breathing cessation. While you’d think this would prompt you to visit us immediately, there’s one problem – most patients do not remember this experience. Though your brain will signal you to wake up so you can breathe, the entire episode happens quite quickly and patients often fall back to sleep right away. So, how can you possibly know if you need sleep apnea treatment? By identifying with the following symptoms, of course:
You May Need Sleep Apnea Treatment If…
- You are known as an excessive snorer.
- Your significant other has woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of you choking or struggling to take in air. Significant others also tend to experience the same set of symptoms as sleep apnea sufferers because they are woken up during the night.
- You feel exhausted during the day. Your fatigue does not subside but continues to remain the same or worsen even though you are quite sure you have been sleeping through the night without interruption.
- You have difficulty concentrating. This may even apply to everyday tasks that once required very little focus.
- You feel moody. Or, friends or coworkers are becoming frustrated with your consistent mood swings that you cannot explain.
- When you wake up in the morning, your throat feels sore. You may also find that you suffer from “cotton mouth.”
- You deal with daily headaches for which you cannot identify an underlying cause.
- You find that you fall asleep in the middle of tasks that require your attention, such as driving.
- You feel particularly anxious or depressed.
ABOUT YOUR KATY DENTIST:
Dr. Colin Lathrop and the Lathrop Dental Center proudly serve patients and families from in and around Katy, Fulshear, Weston Lakes, Simonton, Richmond, Rosenberg, Brookshire, Wallis, Orchard, and all surrounding communities. If you’d like to schedule a dental appointment, you can reach our office in Katy, TX, by calling (832) 437-3849.
