What your Doctor will Need to Know

While medical experts, including doctors, dentists and all manner of practitioners, can provide excellent care for their patients, success is always a team effort. You rely on your doctor to provide the best options available and to identify the root of your problems. Without your honesty, they cannot provide this level of care. Your doctor will need to know about your lifestyle and past history if you’re getting treatment for sleep apnea. They’ll also need to conduct specific types of examinations to determine your best treatment options.

First and foremost, of course, your doctor needs to identify the exact problem. This will involve what’s called a polysomnograph. This is just a study of your body while you sleep. You’ll be brought into a special office and wired with various sensors that will give the doctor a constant stream of information while you sleep. This also allows the doctor to observe your cessations in breathing and to determine the severity of your sleep apnea. Once this study is done, the doctor will need some additional information from you to determine your best route of treatment.

Some questions doctors ask can be uncomfortable or socially embarrassing, but they need to be answered. For example, your doctor will need to know how much you drink. Alcohol consumption can be a significant factor in sleep apnea. The doctor will likely want you to change these habits a bit if you’re suffering from sleep apnea. Cutting out alcohol altogether will be the preferable route but, at least, you’ll probably be told to not drink before bedtime. When you have a problem with your throat relaxing to the point that it obstructs your airways, the last thing you need is a depressant that makes you sleep even more erratically.

Your doctor will definitely want to know about your smoking habits, past and present. Never hold back on this question. If there is another serious health issue related to your smoking, you’ll do best to help your doctor find it. Any illegal drug use, of course, needs to be disclosed. Your doctor will need a complete picture of your lifestyle before they can recommend any treatment. Some of the information they get from you will be provided by examination. They’ll need to know, for instance, whether the structure of your throat and soft palate is causing your problems, if you’re overweight and if you have other respiratory ailments.

Remember that doctors are scientists. If one treatment isn’t working for you, they want to know. Finding the best treatment is sometimes a process rather than a simple one-time recommendation. If the treatments recommended don’t work, remember that there are others. If you cannot tolerate an nCPAP machine, you may be a candidate for dental appliances that combat sleep apnea, for instance. These are built by a dentist but they are prescribed by a doctor. If you’re interested in or just curious about this type of treatment, ask your doctor for more information.

To learn more about Sleep Apnea treatments and to find out if they are right for you, contact Smile Studio LA at 818-788-1352 today for a free consultation!