Snoring & Sleep Apnea | Treatments & Recovery. Dr. Daneshrad, Santa Monica
Snoring & Sleep Apnea | Treatments & Recovery, CPAP Machines, Surgical, & Nonsurgical. Dr. Daneshrad is a board-certified ENT and cosmetic surgeon in the Santa Monica, CA area. Visit us online at http://bit.ly/2KIs9ZhDrDaneshrad or call 310.453.6500
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Dr. Daneshrad from the Daneshrad Clinic in Santa Monica, California and today we're going to speak about snoring and sleep apnea treatments. Sleep apnea is a bit different than simple snoring. Snoring is a symptom. It's noise you make when you're sleeping. But patients who have sleep apnea actually have a medical condition where they're not getting enough oxygen into their blood or to their brain. In those instances, we can't just treat the snoring, we have to treat the whole condition. To determine whether or not a patient has sleep apnea we'll get a sleep study to see whether or not there's a problem with oxygenation. If a patient has sleep apnea, we'll try treatment with a CPAP device, which is simply a machine that allows them to get more air in while they're sleeping. If a patient can't tolerate a CPAP machine or can't breathe with it or has other medical conditions that prevent that, then we will talk about potential surgical treatments for sleep apnea. For a mild case of sleep apnea, we might simply consider straightening the patient's septum or reducing their turbinates. For moderate sleep apnea, we may consider enlarged tonsils as a cause or a large soft palate as a source and treatment of the palate and the tonsils may be necessary. Adenoids and tonsils as a source of sleep apnea happens mostly in children. And so for kids who have sleep apnea a removal of the tonsils and adenoids is the treatment of choice. In adults, most patients don't have enlarged adenoids but if they do, removing the adenoids and the tonsils along with stiffening of the palate may go a long way to treating their sleep apnea. If we're treating patients simply for snoring, the recovery for the different procedures are not that bad. In most cases, we're just stiffening the soft palate so patients will have a little bit of a sore throat for five to seven days. If we're treating someone for nasal obstruction and that's the source of their snoring, it's simply the recovery from a septoplasty or turbinate reduction. Again, simply five to seven days worth of recovery where they'll have some nasal congestion maybe some sinus pressure. For patients who require a larger surgical treatment for their sleep apnea may have up to two to 2-1/2 weeks of a sore throat associated with removal of the tonsils and stiffening of the palate. Even though treating sleep apnea and snoring can be a bit difficult, the fact is that it is treatable and patients do find that the results they get are absolutely worth the treatments. Because sleep apnea is a medical condition, it is covered by most insurances. Snoring on the other hand, can be considered simply a nuisance and may or may not be covered by insurance. In patients who have sleep apnea, once they get their treatment, they find that they're finally able to sleep and have more energy throughout the day. The beauty is when you have more energy you can exercise more. When you get exercise more, you can actually lose some of the weight that may have contributed to the sleep apnea. So CPAP machine may just be the beginning of treatment for sleep apnea.
Main office: 1304 15th St #407, Santa Monica, CA 90404