Sleep disorders

Sleep is every bit as important as diet and exercise. Without good sleep, any diet and exercise regimen will not reach its full potential. Sleep not only helps your body repair muscle tissue, but also helps your brain organize the daily information it receives. Significant sleep loss can increase your risk of chronic health conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, depression and heart disease.

Located a short drive from our main Mission Hospital Campus, the Mission Sleep Center is a comprehensive facility dedicated to the betterment of sleep in adults, as well as children and adolescents. We are certified by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as a fully accredited Sleep Center, and specialize in both in-home and outpatient sleep medicine solutions. At our center, you are treated by a multidisciplinary team of board-certified sleep medicine specialists, pulmonologists, nurse practitioners and registered polysomnographic technologists.

Once we have had a consultation regarding your condition, our first step in finding the root cause will be a sleep study. Otherwise known as polysomnography, a sleep study is an overnight evaluation where electrodes are attached to your body. Overnight, you are under constant monitoring, as our sleep specialists look for irregularities in a variety of bodily functions that could contribute to the development of a sleep disorder. Sleep studies can be conducted here at the center or at your home.

Functions we typically test during sleep studies include:

• Brain activity
• Breathing patterns
• Eye and muscle movements
• Heart rate
• Red blood cell oxygen levels
• Sleep stages
  

Sleep studies at home

Home sleep testing is available if you meet certain criteria and show multiple signs of potential obstructive sleep apnea. If you qualify, a selection of small, portable monitors are brought to your home, which will record your pulse, breathing quality, oxygen saturation, nasal flow and level of snoring. If you have any pre-existing conditions, you will need to speak with either one of our specialists or your personal doctor before pursuing home sleep studies as a viable option. In these instances, in-lab testing will likely be encouraged.

Once we have reviewed the findings of your sleep study, we are able to make recommendations to your referring physician. Recommendations could include the adoption of certain machines, medications or surgery, including:

• Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask — This overnight facemask produces continuous airflow through a hose that is connected to the front. This airflow allows you to breathe steadily while asleep.
• Lifestyle changes — In some cases, sleep disorders can be alleviated by lifestyle changes. These can include weight loss, as well as restricting fat, carbohydrates and alcohol.
• Medications — Depending on your condition, we may recommend the use of over-the-counter sleep medicine, prescription drugs or hormone therapy.
• Surgery — In more extreme instances, surgery can be the only viable treatment solution. We use surgery as a last-result measure, but procedures we may recommend include nasal passage surgery and tonsillectomy.
• Upper airway stimulation — These devices work as alternatives to CPAP machines. When using upper airway stimulation to treat conditions, such as sleep apnea, a tiny implantable device that includes a small generator and several connected leads, regulates your breathing process. The device is turned on by a remote and delivers mild stimulation to your tongue's muscles in order to keep the airway open.