In addition to helping you sleep better, correcting sleep apnea improves a number of other health concerns such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, memory loss, and stroke risk.

The Conventional Approach to Sleep Apnea

If you snore, chances are you have sleep apnea. Heavy snoring is a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, and it can absolutely destroy your health. When people with this condition sleep, the soft tissues in the back of the throats relax and close off the airway—they simply stop breathing. As oxygen levels plummet, they awake just enough to take a breath. If this cycle repeats throughout the night, normal sleep patterns are disrupted, and the deepest and most regenerative stages of sleep are never reached.

Over time, people with sleep apnea end up with much more than daytime sleepiness. That’s because this condition drives risk of high blood pressure, stroke, arrhythmia, obesity, and diabetes through the roof.

It’s obviously important to get a handle on sleep apnea. Unfortunately, experts estimate that only one in 10 affected people have been diagnosed and treated. One reason for this is that many conventional physicians fail to recognize that sleep apnea underlies a wide range of medical problems, so they simply don’t look for it.

Another reason is that most doctors depend on polysomnography, or sleep study, for diagnosis. This test, which requires patients to spend the night in a sleep lab hooked up to monitors, is expensive, inconvenient—and, in many cases, unnecessary.

How We Treat Sleep Apnea

At the Whitaker Wellness Institute we use a test to screen for sleep apnea called nocturnal pulse oximetry. All it involves is clipping a sensor on your finger at bedtime and wearing it during the night. The sensor is attached to a small monitor that records pulse and blood oxygen levels (oxygen saturation) throughout the night.

Several studies have shown that this test is extremely reliable—almost as effective as a full-blown sleep study at detecting sleep apnea. Here at the clinic, we also use nocturnal pulse oximetry to check oxygen saturation levels in patients who don’t have classic signs of obstructive sleep apnea but have other problems that might be caused by low oxygen levels. These include daytime sleepiness, headaches upon awakening, poor exercise tolerance, hypertension, memory loss, history of stroke or heart attack, and lung disease.

How We Treat Sleep Apnea

If your oxygen levels are low, you may be prescribed an automatic continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. This machine is the current gold standard in the treatment of sleep apnea. CPAP consists of a nasal mask or seal that blows a continual stream of pressurized air through the nose and prevents the tissues in the back of the throat from collapsing. Most patients report immediate and lasting benefits that often start on the very first night they use the machine.

In addition to helping you sleep better, correcting sleep apnea usually improves a number of other health concerns such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cardiac arrhythmia, and stroke risk.

Personalized Lifestyle Program for Sleep Apnea

Obesity is a well-known risk factor for sleep apnea. If you are overweight, the Whitaker Wellness Institute will prescribe a program of diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements that will help you lose weight and, in many cases, actually reverse sleep apnea. Conversely, because sleep apnea interferes with weight-regulating hormones, treatment can also help you shed unwanted pounds.

Unique Therapies for Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea rarely exists in a vacuum. Individuals who are plagued with this condition often struggle with weight problems and a wide range of cardiovascular problems. In addition to diagnosing and treating sleep apnea, the Whitaker Wellness Institute offers a number of targeted therapies for coexisting conditions. These include EECP, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, IV therapies, and targeted nutritional supplements.

Real-Life Success Stories

Click here to read about how other people just like you were able to overcome Sleep Apnea and get back on the road to health.

Additional Information

Click here to read more about Sleep Apnea.

Contact Us

For more information on the Whitaker Wellness Institute’s treatment of Sleep Apnea, contact a Patient Services Representative at (800) 488-1500 or click here.

Come See Us

The Whitaker Wellness Institute is located near the Orange County/John Wayne Airport in Newport Beach, California. If you are looking for a place to receive Sleep Apnea treatment in Orange County, call (800) 488-1500 to make an appointment today.