My Life and Sleep Apnea

If you have ever had problems with nasal congestion or allergies then you probably have also had problems with dry mouth. It is very unpleasant to wake in the morning with the feeling that cotton is stuffed in your mouth. If you have sleep apnea then dry mouth is a problem that you regularly have to deal with. In my own case it seems every morning I wake up with a raw throat and a dried mouth. Not only is dry mouth a problem with sleep apnea but so is sore throats. As I have written before you may still have a sore throat after you are fitted with a cpap machine. Luckily the newer cpaps also have a humidifier that helps the air stay moist so your throat doesn’t dry out. There are other things that you can do to avoid dry mouth. One is to keep your room temperature at a consistent temperature, this will definitely help. Of course if you don’t sleep with your mouth open then you shouldn’t have this problem but with sleep apnea that is pretty much impossible. The blockage in...

Let’s say you don’t have sleep apnea right now and you sleep like a baby. Are you on a regular exercise program, either lifting weights or something aerobic like walking or running? Are you eating the right things like lean meat, fish, fruit and vegetables? Or would you merely live the same way that you do now, a sedentary lifestyle without any regard to weight gain ? I ask myself this question often and I am not sure why I don’t live a healthier lifestyle. One of the first doctors that I saw for sleep apnea asked me if I exercised and watched what I ate. She knew the answer but I guess she just wanted to hear how I was going to respond. I told her I didn’t and I didn’t have any excuses. Then she came up with an excuse for me that I was too tired to motivate myself to exercise. I liked that reasoning and that became my general excuse for not exercising and eating right. It’s not a good excuse. You know that there are different levels of exercise. If I was training for...

It is really amazing that there are so many people out there who have sleep apnea and don’t know it. This disorder has gotten a lot of press and coverage over the past few years so you would think that people especially men would be going to the doctor to sign up for a sleep study. But for some reason it doesn’t happen. Why don’t you see if you have sleep apnea ?       Here are a few of the possible reasons   Believe it or not maybe you haven’t heard about it. That may seem strange but it could happen especially if you don’t see a doctor that often.  You have heard about sleep apnea and you have definitely heard about the cpap machine and how difficult it is to use. It is true that many people find it cumbersome but that isn’t any guarantee that you will.  Sleep apnea and being overweight has a connection. If you are sensitive about your weight the last thing that you want to hear is that your weight is ruining your sleep as well as your ...

When I first was diagnosed with sleep apnea I really didn’t know anything about the disorder let alone the treatments. I had heard a little from a friend about the cpap but not much. My friend had a difficult time with it and gave up on it. Like a lot of people it was just too uncomfortable for him. if you have read my blog before you know that I had pretty much the same experience with it. I thought that wearing the cpap was making matters worse rather than better. Looking back I don’t know if that is entirely correct. High expectations I don’t know why I had such high expectations about the cpap machine. My friend had given me his horror story of the trying to use the cpap but still I thought that I could make the adjustment. For some reason I though that the adjustment would literally be over night! I would instantly fall asleep and feel fantastic the following day. As a matter of fact at the first sleep clinic that I went to they showed me a video about this guy who had sleep...

Luckily there are many remedies besides the CPAP ( although it is probably the most popular ) that are effective remedies for sleep apnea. I recently wrote about throat exercises to tighten loose tissue in the back of the mouth, it may not cure your sleep apnea but it may help. Playing the didgerido o, a musical instrument, also helps to unblock the airway. And there are also dental devices , also called oral appliances that you may want to try. In a previous post I described MAD or the mandibular advancement device , a device that is fitted in your mouth to push forward the jaw which helps keep the airway open. There is also a dental device TRD or tongue retraining device. What happens with the TRD is the tongue is kept in place by a splint which in turn keeps the airway open. Of course dental devices like the CPAP aren’t for everyone. If you have severe obstructive sleep apnea dental devices might not be enough, using a cpap or surgery might be your only option. And you might ...

Are you a big coffee drinker or do you drink a lot of sodas during the day to stay awake? Caffeine can only help for a little while till you need another fix. Lack of sleep is quite a big problem today. Sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea can have quite a negative effect on your life. They make life a living hell as you try to stay awake during the day.Your quality of life takes a beating and your productivity lessens as you struggle to stay awake.  And the thing is that there are many reasons why you can't stay awake during the day. The other day I received an email from Jena Ellis. She gave me a blog link about eight reasons that you can’t stay awake during the day. The article describes such sleep disorders as sleep apnea which most people know about to less well known disorders. Something that I found interesting was that dehydration was on the list because it causes fatigue. It is a good post that is definitely worth checking out. Feel free to comment and pl...

The cause of sleep apnea comes down to the blockage of the airway in the back of your throat. When you are trying to sleep the loose tissues in the throat collapses causing you to stop breathing, which in turn sends a signal to the brain that you better wake up fast. You fall asleep again and in a few short minutes you wake up again, this pattern will happen all night. There are many ways to cure this, using the Cpap machine is common and surgery is sometimes needed if the blockage is severe. Something else you may try is to strengthen the muscles in the back of your throat by doing mouth exercises. Quick exercises that you could try: Stick your tongue straight out and hold it for 2 seconds, do this 5 times.  Stick your tongue out and move it from side to side, do this 10 times.  Make a big smile and hold it for 2 seconds, do this 10 times.  Move your tongue back and forth from one side of your mouth to another.  circle your mouth with your tongue make su...