There are many ways to treat sleep apnea from lifestyle changes and alternative remedies to medical regimens and surgical options.
All these can seem so confusing to a patient who was just recently diagnosed.
Fortunately, you can narrow first line defenses of treatments into ABCs.
Appliances - Oral, That Is There are oral appliances prescribed by either your doctor or your dentist, which are engineered to keep the throat open especially during sleep.
Usually, these are designed to bring your jaw forward, hence, opening your throat.
As such, these oral appliances relieve mild sleep apnea and its number one problem - snoring.
You will have to regularly consult with your doctor - at least once every six months - to determine if your oral appliance is a good fit and to reassess your condition.
Take note, however, that oral appliances are not as effective as CPAP therapy to treat it.
Still, it has its advantages like ease of use and discreet installation so you might want to discuss it more thoroughly with your physician.
Bad Habits, Goodbye To help treat sleep apnea, you will be asked to adapt lifestyle changes (read: say goodbye to your bad habits).
These will include: * Lose excess weight so as to relieve throat constrictions.
Of course, it does help that your double chin is not getting in the way of securely strapping the CPAP mask unto your face.
Discuss with your doctor ways to achieve healthy weight loss as you don't want to compound your sleep problems with other health difficulties.
* Avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
These bad habits significantly contribute to sleep apnea, not to mention lead to other health problems.
* Abstain from using tranquilizers and sleeping pills.
Your throat muscles become relaxed due to these medications, which causes interference with your breathing even when you are on a CPAP machine.
These lifestyle changes alone will not treat sleep apnea, admittedly, but these will contribute to your better health.
In turn, you are able to face the challenges of living with the sleep disorder as well as in lessening your risks for heart diseases.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure This is the most important component in the non-surgical options in the treatment of sleep apnea.
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine delivers controlled amounts of air pressure through a mask positioned over your nose as you sleep.
It helps to keep your airway passages open, hence, preventing sleep apnea as well as snoring.
You may find the CPAP method as the most inconvenient way to treat sleep apnea due to the unwieldy mask and machine.
Indeed, it takes some getting used to but it must be done.
Keep in mind that once you stop using the CPAP machine, your symptoms will return and maybe even return with a vengeance.
With sleep apnea, you just can't let your guard down because that shaky breath might very well be your last breath on Earth.
This is not to scare you or anything like that.
Instead, you must realize that as difficult as it can be, you must treat sleep apnea if you want to enjoy a longer, healthier and happier life.
CPAP Clinic - healthcare at your home We serve Greater Toronto Area in Canada.
Contact: 1-877-430-CPAP(2727) or info@CPAPClinic.
ca
All these can seem so confusing to a patient who was just recently diagnosed.
Fortunately, you can narrow first line defenses of treatments into ABCs.
Appliances - Oral, That Is There are oral appliances prescribed by either your doctor or your dentist, which are engineered to keep the throat open especially during sleep.
Usually, these are designed to bring your jaw forward, hence, opening your throat.
As such, these oral appliances relieve mild sleep apnea and its number one problem - snoring.
You will have to regularly consult with your doctor - at least once every six months - to determine if your oral appliance is a good fit and to reassess your condition.
Take note, however, that oral appliances are not as effective as CPAP therapy to treat it.
Still, it has its advantages like ease of use and discreet installation so you might want to discuss it more thoroughly with your physician.
Bad Habits, Goodbye To help treat sleep apnea, you will be asked to adapt lifestyle changes (read: say goodbye to your bad habits).
These will include: * Lose excess weight so as to relieve throat constrictions.
Of course, it does help that your double chin is not getting in the way of securely strapping the CPAP mask unto your face.
Discuss with your doctor ways to achieve healthy weight loss as you don't want to compound your sleep problems with other health difficulties.
* Avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
These bad habits significantly contribute to sleep apnea, not to mention lead to other health problems.
* Abstain from using tranquilizers and sleeping pills.
Your throat muscles become relaxed due to these medications, which causes interference with your breathing even when you are on a CPAP machine.
These lifestyle changes alone will not treat sleep apnea, admittedly, but these will contribute to your better health.
In turn, you are able to face the challenges of living with the sleep disorder as well as in lessening your risks for heart diseases.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure This is the most important component in the non-surgical options in the treatment of sleep apnea.
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine delivers controlled amounts of air pressure through a mask positioned over your nose as you sleep.
It helps to keep your airway passages open, hence, preventing sleep apnea as well as snoring.
You may find the CPAP method as the most inconvenient way to treat sleep apnea due to the unwieldy mask and machine.
Indeed, it takes some getting used to but it must be done.
Keep in mind that once you stop using the CPAP machine, your symptoms will return and maybe even return with a vengeance.
With sleep apnea, you just can't let your guard down because that shaky breath might very well be your last breath on Earth.
This is not to scare you or anything like that.
Instead, you must realize that as difficult as it can be, you must treat sleep apnea if you want to enjoy a longer, healthier and happier life.
CPAP Clinic - healthcare at your home We serve Greater Toronto Area in Canada.
Contact: 1-877-430-CPAP(2727) or info@CPAPClinic.
ca
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