Sleep Medicine

Sleep apnea is a condition that makes breathing difficult, or even dangerous, while you sleep — and it’s usually related to excess weight. If you have sleep apnea, you may snore and experience symptoms like headache, sore throat, memory loss and inability to focus.

The two main types of sleep apnea are:

• Central sleep apnea, which happens when signals from your brain don’t communicate properly with your breathing muscles
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which happens when the airway that connects your nose to your lungs becomes blocked

Signs that you may be suffering from sleep apnea include:

• Decreased memory
• Dry mouth
• Frequent bathroom breaks during the night
• Grogginess when you wake up and throughout the day
• Lack of concentration
• Mood swings
• Morning headaches
• Sore throat

If you’ve been experiencing any of these symptoms, it’s time to take control of your condition and schedule time with one of our sleep apnea specialists. Remember, help is just one call away.

This happens when your brain lacks a hormone called orexin that helps you stay awake. If you have narcolepsy, you may experience frequent or sudden — and intense — sleepiness. You may struggle to concentrate or even lose control of consciousness and, in some cases, you may experience hallucinations.

We know the reality of living with narcolepsy can be unnerving, but our sleep experts can help you control it with proper treatment. If you’re unsure whether you have narcolepsy, below are a few common symptoms to watch for:

• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Hallucinations that occur when waking or falling asleep
• Inability to talk or move momentarily when waking or falling asleep
• Lack of energy and concentration
• Sudden loss of muscle tone or control

Other signs of narcolepsy include automatic behavior without conscious awareness, disrupted nighttime sleep, depression, vision problems, eating binges, weak limbs and difficulty handling alcohol.

To effectively treat narcolepsy, our sleep experts need to understand the underlying cause. First, we’ll guide you through creating a detailed sleep history and health evaluation. Next, we may recommend a series of screenings and tests to get to the root of your disorder. You may be asked to undertake one or more of the following:

• Keeping a sleep journal to record your sleep pattern for one to two weeks
• Coming in for an overnight sleep study
• Taking a hypocretin test to check the level of the chemical that regulates REM sleep
• Blood tests to detect genetic mutations

From there, we’ll create a personalized treatment plan to help you get your sleep disorder under control. Treatment options for narcolepsy may include:

• Prescription Medications — Including central nervous system stimulants (e.g., armodafinil, dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate), which treat excessive daytime sleepiness, and antidepressants (e.g., SNRIs, SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants) to treat cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hallucinations
• Proper Diet and Exercise — Eating light, vegetarian meals during the day, avoiding heavy meals before important activities and remaining active can help some patients perform better at work or school
• Nap Therapy — Taking two or three naps per day may help control sleepiness and maintain alertness

This is a movement disorder that causes discomfort, tingling or pain in your legs, often at night. Certain conditions like diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis increase the likelihood of developing this condition.

If you suspect you have restless legs syndrome, you’re not alone: Up to one in 10 Americans are affected by this neurological movement disorder. The exact cause of RLS is still unknown, though it’s believed to be genetic.

Additional signs and symptoms of RLS include:

• Uncomfortable, sometimes painful, sensations in the legs
• Uncontrollable urge to move the legs
• Tingling, sometimes throbbing feelings in the legs
• Worsened symptoms during periods of relaxation or sleep

These symptoms typically worsen during periods of relaxation, disrupting sleep, which in turn only aggravates the sensations even more.

Below are a number of conditions that may lead to RLS:

• Diabetes
• Iron deficiency
• Kidney failure
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Peripheral Neuropathy
• Pregnancy (Particularly in the last trimester)
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Treatment options for RLS include managing lifestyle factors, such as:

• Decreasing or eliminating caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes
• Hot baths and/or use of heating pads and ice packs
• Maintaining regular sleep schedules
• Moderate exercise
• Massage
• Using nutritional supplements such as iron, magnesium and folate

For your safety and well-being, and to make sure you get the best possible outcome, you should consult with your neurologist before making any major dietary or exercise changes.

Additional treatment options may include the following medications:

• Anticonvulsants — Decreases the unpleasant sensations of RLS in close to two-thirds of patients
• Benzodiazepines — Used to treat anxiety, insomnia, muscle spasms and help induce sleep
• Ropinirole and Pramipexole — Medications that act on dopamine receptors
• Rotigotine — Given as a transcutaneous patch to help restore dopamine levels in the brain

With help from our team of specialists, you can experience a drastic reduction in your symptoms through a healthy mix of nutritional meals, medical therapies and exercise therapies customized to your specific needs.

Although sleep disorders are disruptive, they can often be easily remedied. To help your care team better understand your specific sleep condition and why you have it, we may track your sleep patterns by recording your nighttime sleep activities in a journal, observing you in a sleep study or testing for abnormal genes or levels of sleep chemicals in your body.