Helping You Get the Rest You Deserve
You need a good night’s sleep to feel your best. And when you have trouble sleeping, it can affect every aspect of your day, from your mood to your relationships and your overall well-being. But the good news is that most sleep disorders are easily treatable, and we’re here to help.
Whether you have trouble staying asleep or are managing a sleep condition like narcolepsy, our dedicated team can provide the guidance you need and the solutions that work. We serve the region with sleep medicine expertise and offer effective, personalized treatment for lasting wellness.
Sleep Specialists Where You Need Them
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Sleep Care Leaders
Our sleep specialists undergo years of rigorous education and advance beyond standard degrees, earning national accreditation so we can offer you the best sleep care in the region.
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You Rest While We Work
If you’re a qualified candidate, our specialists will invite you for a sleep study that monitors how deeply you sleep and other factors that interfere with your full night of rest.
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Your Connected Network of Experts
With a multidisciplinary team of experts from multiple specialties, we can reach you where you are — all while communicating your needs with our colleagues across our integrated system.
What to Know About Sleep Disorders and Treatments
Successfully getting to the root of your sleep disorder and creating the right treatment plan requires having an expert team behind you: surgeons and specialists, doctors and nurses, therapists and caregivers. All working together with the same goal in mind — providing you the best possible treatment supported by the most up-to-date technologies possible.
- Sleep Apnea
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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.
- Narcolepsy
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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:
- Blood tests to detect genetic mutations
- Coming in for an overnight sleep study
- Keeping a sleep journal to record your sleep pattern for one to two weeks
- Taking a hypocretin test to check the level of the chemical that regulates REM sleep
From there, we’ll create a personalized treatment plan to help you get your sleep disorder under control. Treatment options for narcolepsy may include:
- Nap Therapy: Taking two or three naps per day may help control sleepiness and maintain alertness.
- Prescription Medications: These include 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.
- Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)
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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 is 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
These symptoms typically worsen during periods of relaxation, disrupting sleep, which in turn only aggravates the sensations even more.
Below are several 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: Decrease 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.
- Diagnosing Sleep Disorders
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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.
- Sleep Disorder Treatments
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From maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine to nap therapy and prescription medication, we have several treatment options to help you manage daytime sleepiness and reduce symptoms of sleep paralysis and hallucinations.
Devices to Help You Sleep Better
In some cases, you may be fitted for devices that assist with sleep, like a continuous positive airway pressure device (CPAP), an air-producing mask-like tool that adjusts to your face and supports oxygen while you sleep. Or, custom oral appliances, devices molded to the inside of your mouth so that airway can flow continuously, may work better for you.
For more advanced conditions, your sleep apnea specialist may recommend surgery, including one or more of the following:
Genioglossus Advancement Surgery
This is often used for treating obstructive sleep apnea. This procedure involves your surgeon repositioning your tongue forward so it no longer obstructs your airway as you sleep.
Hyoid Suspension
If you have a problem with your hyoid bone (the U-shaped neck bone that holds your tongue in place), your tongue may block your airway during sleep. Hyoid suspension is a minimally invasive surgery that stabilizes your hyoid bone by pulling it forward through a small incision in your neck.
Inspire® Upper Airway Stimulation Therapy
When nighttime mask-like devices like a CPAP aren’t as effective as you’d hoped, your sleep specialist may recommend a minimally invasive procedure called Inspire® Upper Airway Stimulation Therapy. During this procedure, your doctor will insert a device under your skin in your neck to help you better control your breathing.
Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS)
The TORS procedure is designed to help you maintain steady airflow. Your surgeon does this by reducing the size of your tongue through a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure.
Request an Appointment With a Sleep Specialist
Whether you’re experiencing new symptoms or have been recently diagnosed with a sleep disorder, the compassionate care you need is close to home. Request a visit with one of our experienced sleep specialists to begin a personalized treatment plan that helps you get the sleep you deserve.
Dr. Wittine Explains Sleep Apnea
Understanding Your Sleep Study
Sleep is one of the best ways to help your body heal and rejuvenate. But sometimes, you may need some help getting the rest you deserve, and that’s OK. Our sleep specialists are experts at getting to the root cause of your sleep troubles, and one of the best ways to do that is through a sleep study.
- Being Proactive Can Help You Stay Active
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Sleep deprivation can vary from minor to severe and, in some cases, can lead to serious health issues like depression, diabetes and heart disease. Your sleep specialist can recommend nonsurgical solutions and resources to get better sleep, including:
- Creating a regular exercise plan
- Encouraging you to limit alcohol, big meals and caffeine
- Sharing relaxation strategies to try before bed
- Evaluating Your Need for a Sleep Study
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To help us determine whether a sleep study is right for you, please take the Epworth Sleepiness Scale survey. Your responses will help us evaluate your sleep struggles and identify which, if any, sleep disorder you may have so that we can determine the best treatment options for you.
- How a Sleep Study Works
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If you qualify for a sleep study, our experts will invite you to spend a night in our care so we can observe and evaluate ways to improve your rest.
By attaching sophisticated technology, such as sensors, to your body and fitting you with an elastic belt that measures your breathing, our team can monitor your functions and breathing from an outside room, so we can pinpoint what’s causing your sleep issues.
- Preparing for Your Sleep Study
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The information you provide helps us determine which treatments are best for you. Once forms are provided to you by our team, please complete and bring the forms with you to your sleep study.
Dedicating All Our Expertise to Helping You Heal
Your healing is our whole focus. From clinical trials that develop new treatments to leading-edge technologies that mean a smoother recovery, we’re dedicated to raising the bar for neurological care with your whole health in mind. Explore how we’ll support you and your loved ones with the most advanced care and the utmost compassion.
Resources
Your healing is our whole focus. From clinical trials that develop new treatments to leading-edge technologies that mean a smoother recovery, we’re dedicated to raising the bar for neurological care with your whole health in mind. Explore how we’ll support you and your loved ones with the most advanced care and the utmost compassion.
Research
Innovative care starts with medical research. See how we’re developing new treatments and procedures, leading concussion and brain injury-related studies, conducting clinical trials for stroke care and more.
Technology
Explore how we use robotic technologies, precise therapies and leading-edge techniques to care for epilepsy, eliminate masses with less pain, treat brain tumors in a matter of hours and much more.
Answering Your Sleep Medicine Questions
If you have trouble sleeping, we're here to answer commonly asked questions to help you take your next step toward whole-person health. Our providers are committed to helping you get the rest you deserve.
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Q:Question: What happens during a sleep study?
A:Answer:A sleep study, also called a polysomnogram, is an overnight exam where our sleep specialists monitor your body’s functions while you sleep to gain better insights into treatment options.
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Q:Question: What’s the difference between an in-lab sleep study and a home sleep apnea test?
A:Answer:An in-lab sleep study is the gold standard for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS) because it provides a comprehensive analysis of sleep. These polysomnography tests record your brain waves, heart activity, breathing and eye movement through 20+ sensors for a highly accurate diagnosis.
An at-home sleep apnea test is a simplified, FDA-approved test delivered via a portable device you wear in the comfort of your own home. These devices use roughly three to five sensors to measure your breathing and oxygen levels. While this exam doesn’t provide the same comprehensive data as an in-lab study, it’s a cost-effective option for those with mild sleep apnea. Results from these tests are highly accurate and a great first step in determining whether a more comprehensive exam is needed.
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Q:Question: When is a home sleep apnea test not enough?
A:Answer:At-home sleep apnea tests are cost-effective and convenient, but they don’t completely rule out sleep apnea. Sometimes these tests show a negative result, yet your symptoms persist. This is because these devices are less sensitive to those with mild sleep apnea, and they may have a harder time detecting it. In this case, your doctor may recommend an in-lab sleep study for more accurate results.
An at-home sleep apnea test may also not be enough if you have other preexisting health conditions, like COPD, heart conditions or neuromuscular disorders. For patients with other health concerns, an in-lab sleep test is highly recommended for accurate results.
While at-home sleep tests are a great way to diagnose patients with obstructive sleep apnea, they don’t offer the technology to diagnose central sleep apnea (CNS). CNS is a form of sleep apnea when the brain fails to send signals to your body to breathe. To accurately diagnose CNS, you must undergo an in-lab sleep study, which measures your brainwave activity.
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Q:Question: Why do I feel tired even after sleeping all night?
A:Answer:It’s possible to sleep through the night and wake up feeling groggy and tired. This indicates that your sleep quality is poor despite getting the recommended amount of sleep. A common reason people feel tired after sleeping all night is due to some form of sleep disorder, like sleep apnea. In this sleep disorder, you either stop breathing momentarily or you don’t breathe as well as you could during sleep. Over time, this can lead to symptoms like excessive sleepiness, morning headaches and a dry mouth.
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Q:Question: Can sleep problems affect memory, mood or concentration?
A:Answer:Yes, sleep problems can affect your memory, mood and concentration.
Memor
For your brain to properly consolidate and process new information, it needs restful sleep. So if you’re experiencing sleep problems, it inhibits your ability to learn new things and recall facts, making it harder to form memories.
Mood
Your sleep quality is interconnected with your emotional regulation. Poor sleep quality tends to decrease positive emotions because your reactiveness to stress is heightened, which can lead to feelings of anxiety.
Concentration
Similarly, a lack of sleep or poor sleep quality impairs your attention span. It slows your reaction time, leading to poor executive function, difficulty problem-solving and frequent mental lapses, including difficulty concentrating.
Find Sleep Care Near You
When you’re ready to start waking up feeling refreshed, let our teams across the AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute network guide your next steps. We’ll help you overcome a sleep disorder through sleep studies, nonsurgical treatments and minimally invasive procedures, when needed — all coordinated through a trusted national network. Explore your options for care close to home with the guidance of our dedicated team. We’ll help you find the right fit, so you’re in the best setting to get the care you need.
