Fighting Sleep :: When to Rule Out Sleep Breathing Disorders

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This post is part of an editorial series, “Sweet Sleep,” brought to you by the Fort Worth Moms Blog and Dr. Ashley Coerver. We hope these pieces provide you with helpful information, encouragement, and insight as your navigate your family’s sleep journey.

Does falling asleep feel like a fight? Like you desperately want to sleep, but can’t get your mind or body to cooperate? In recent years, several books about sleep have come out, including Sleep Smarter, The Sleep Revolution, or Why We Sleep. If you’ve read these books, incorporated their recommendations, and are still having trouble, you may be suffering from more than just a “busy mind.” Even when you do get the recommended eight hours of sleep, do you wake up wishing desperately you could go back to sleep because if felt like you slept 30 minutes?

The World Health Organization estimates that two-thirds of adults in developing nations do not get the recommended eight hours of sleep, which can trigger other severe health problems. Routinely neglecting sleep annihilates your immune system, which more than doubles your risk of cancer. Skipping high-quality sleep influences whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease; disrupts your blood sugar levels so much so that you could be classified as pre-diabetic; and it contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including anxiety, depression, and suicide. I joke that if you could combine all the benefits of sleep into a pill and sell it as a drug, it would be illegal because it has too many benefits.

Sleep Breathing Disorder

Sleep breathing disorders (SBD) range from snoring to sleep apnea. Most people are familiar with those two disorders, but one that’s not talked about is something called upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS). It is a disorder that wasn’t even given a label until the mid-1990s. Unlike sleep apnea, which causes the airway to collapse and stop breathing, UARS is similar to breathing through a thin straw at night. Because the individual is struggling to get in enough air, this causes multiple arousals throughout the night, leading to broken, unrestorative sleep. Many individuals believe that SBDs are more common in older, overweight men. Surprisingly, UARS is more common in young, fit females. The most common symptoms are feeling unrefreshed in the morning, anxiety, and depression. Some individuals also report insomnia, clenching or grinding, mouth breathing, and headaches upon waking.  

Crosspointe Solutions sleeping monitor on hand
A sleep watch can help detect sleep disorders.

Think you may have UARS or a sleep breathing disorder? Finding out is easier than you may think. Many doctors who treat sleep have their patients do a “home sleep test.” It involves wearing a “sleep watch” that you wear for one night, and then the results are diagnosed by a certified sleep physician. Since UARS is a newer disorder, some physicians will diagnose a sleep test as either “apnea” or “no apnea.”

Treatment for UARS is simple. It’s an oral appliance that you wear during the night that brings your lower jaw forward to open your airway.   

It’s common for women to accept that it’s normal to always feel run-down, exhausted, and barely able to make it through the day. News flash — it’s not normal! Today’s society is the busiest it’s ever been, and sometimes we wear our “busy badge” like it’s an award. The truth is that when you wake up in the morning, you should feel like you’re ready to take on the day. I’ve been on the other side and know what it’s like to drag yourself to the coffee maker.

Sweet Sleep

I’ve struggled with sleep dysfunction my entire life, up until a year ago. For 18 years, I took a Benadryl to help me go to sleep. Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn’t. It wasn’t until I became involved in treating patients with sleep breathing disorders that I found out that I had a problem. Since receiving treatment, my sleep has gotten better.

Am I still diligent about practicing correct “sleep hygiene?” Absolutely! Do I still make sure that I am working my hardest at making sleep a priority in order to be the best version of myself? Of course! Treatment is not a magic pill, but it has changed my life.  

Sleep is one of the most restorative things you can do for yourself, your family, and your children. We must learn to fall back in love with sleep. By neglecting sleep for yourself, you’re robbing those you love the most of having the best version of you be able to show up every day. Almost all women and moms I know put themselves last because they want to make sure everyone’s needs are met. However, by not investing in getting good, high-quality sleep, they are preventing those needs from being met.

sweet sleep editorial seriesIn order to be the best and healthiest version of yourself, I would encourage you to take your health into your own hands. If you don’t get an answer you’re satisfied with from one practitioner, seek out another opinion. Too often I see patients who receive an answer from one doctor, but do not seek other opinions when it is not an answer they like. The truth is sleep doesn’t have to be a struggle. When your body has what it needs, sleep is something that will come easily and naturally. You will wake up feeling refreshed and ready to attack the day.

Crosspointe Solutions's Dr. CoerverAfter graduating from St. Gregory’s University with a degree in Natural Science, Dr. Ashley Coerver received her Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry. She has been practicing in North Texas for the better part of a decade, offering a broad range of dental services including custom-made oral appliances for patients with sleep breathing disorders.

Dr. Coerver holds herself to a high standard of excellence in the care she extends to her patients and believes that the best treatment is what restores the patient’s total health and well-being.

Dr. Coerver is a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM), Foundation for Airway Health and the American Academy of Physiological Medicine &Dentistry (AAPMD).

Dr. Coerver is committed to Mansfield and the northern Texas area. She practices in her own award-winning office where she helps patients “Sleep at night. Attack the day!” Learn more at www.sleepbettertx.com.

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