Do you wake up tired and groggy or have trouble functioning first thing in the morning? You could be suffering from sleep apnea and the miVIP sleep center in Los Angeles can help. Sleep apnea is a serious condition that can have a significant impact on your quality of life. While relatively few adults have actually been diagnosed with sleep apnea in Los Angeles, new research shows that up to 24% of all Americans could be suffering from this condition and not even know. Many simply think their snoring is an annoying but harmless habit, not a symptom of something much more dangerous.
Sleep apnea is generally caused by a temporary partial or complete obstruction of the airway while a person is sleeping. The most common obstructions include the tongue, tonsils, uvula, or a deviation in the sinuses. This disruption in the regular breath pattern causes:
- Snoring
- Low blood oxygen levels
- “Gasping” for breath
- Restlessness and fatigue
These symptoms can affect your emotional state, your social interactions, and your job performance. Prolonged suffering can have significant effect on your overall health as well and even increase your risk of death.
Unless diagnosed, individuals often go through life without even considering sleep apnea. They blame stress, food and drink, and even their beds and pillows for their fatigue when the real culprit could be a minor deformation of the airway.
The MIVP sleep center in Los Angeles specializes in diagnosing sleep apnea and treating it with non-surgical medical and outpatient surgical procedures.
Diagnosis is relatively simple and doesn’t involve any invasive techniques. Usually a simple physical exam is the first step followed by either an in-house or at home sleep study. During the study various monitors are used to judge a person’s quality of sleep (how many times they wake up, how restless they are in bed, whether or not blood oxygen levels dip at any time during the night). Once a diagnosis is made a consultation with a surgeon or medical professional to go over corrective procedures is generally the next step.
If you’re suffering from sleep apnea in Los Angeles, don’t let it control your life. Get tested today and sleep better tonight.