Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Sleep Apnea Part 2

You might remember the choices I had to treat my mild sleep apnea:
do nothing
lose weight
sleep on my side
wear a dental guard
be fitted for a cpap

Being the conscientious person that I am, I chose #4, the least invasive, least hard work on my part, solution.
I met with DrMorgan
today. He comes highly recommended by my sleep doc, Dr. Cronin and happens to be a buddy of the Krenkler family.
It was quite informative and seemingly the right choice. After examining a series of photos and xrays, Dr. Morgan determined that I was a good candidate for the oral appliance. The way he described my condition is that I have a 10 lb. tongue in a 5 lb. bucket.
See photo:

In other words my tongue is too big for the narrow confines of my jaw and interferes with my breathing (that's in very simple terms). Actually it narrows the passageway and causes my brain to think I'm not really breathing so then it sends out signals to call in the adrenalin guys which play havoc with my blood pressure, etc.
The lovely assistant in his office (so taken with Wyanne that I gave her a brochure) spent some time making a mold of my bite and I get to go back on New Year's Eve to try my new best buddy.
I happen to fall in the asymptomatic category - waking up in the morning with pure verve, but if any of you suspect that sleep apnea is part of your lifestyle, I urge you to check it out. All in all it's been a very informative adventure.

1 comment:

Lynne Deakers said...

Here is a puzzler for you. I was looking at your beautiful, colorful new "blog look" in internet explorer and when I tried to comment the word verification would not come up so it would not allow me to send my comments. So I switched to Mozilla and I can comment and I see the pictures and the words but not the colorful background on the blog? It is completely white. Go figure?? I did get your e-mail after all about tomorrow. When I am in Internet Explorer on Google I have to keep reloading my e-mail whereas in Mozilla it comes up on my front page right away. The frustrations of this technology age :) I wouldn't go back but it does make for some interesting issues. See you tomorrow!! Love, Lynne