People who often snore are at risk of higher blood pressure, strokes, heart attack, and of course relationship strains. If that’s not enough to look into ways to get your snoring treated, you may be interested to know that snoring can also have a dangerous effect on your eyes.

People who snore often may have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, a life-altering condition, in which a person unknowingly stops breathing during sleep, or has oxygen-dipping events throughout the night.

This lack of oxygen affects the body negatively in many ways.  In relation specifically to eyes, people with obstructive sleep apnea are at risk for:

• Floppy Eye Syndrome
• Normal tension glaucoma
• CPAP associated – eye strain
• Asthenopia (generalized eye discomfort)
• Papilledema (swelling of the optic nerve)
• NAION (decreased oxygen and blood flow to optic nerve)

These last 2 conditions can lead to vision loss.

Also, some of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea include:

• Fatigue
• Tiredness
• Eye strain
• Morning headaches

These common symptoms of snoring and apnea are often confused with eye problems.

If you are snoring or have a family history of snoring, consider treatment and evaluation for your particular situation. If you are experiencing the symptoms mentioned above and sleeping disorders have been ruled out, it may be time to get your eyes evaluated.

Dr. Sosenko’s husband, Dr. Chris Burch, is a local optometrist (eye doctor) who provides state-of the-art-eye care at Danada Vision Center located 10 minutes north of Sherman Oaks Dental at 115 Danada Square W, Wheaton, IL near the Subway at Butterfield and Naper Blvd. Their telephone number is (630)668-0378.

Dr. Lydia Sosenko of Dental Sleep & TMD Center of Illinois is a general dentist with specialized training in the state of the art treatment of snoring and apnea with oral appliance therapy.  She also works with local physicians who treat obstructive sleep apnea with other treatments such as CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure device).

For more information on the dangers of snoring and apnea, visit Dr. Sosenko website www.TiredOfSnoring.com.  It could save your relationship, and your life!

Dr. Lydia Sosenko provides this week’s Smart Sleep Tip. If your child grinds their teeth, please watch this video.

Dr. Sosenko is a general dentist and Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. She offers state-of-the-art snoring and apnea patients relief through professional oral appliance therapy. She may be contacted at www.TiredofSnoring.com or call 630.369.5508.

On a recent trip to Mexico, our beautiful resort was situated such that our room faced a tropical forest. It was lush and tranquil to look at but come morning look out!!

Our first morning resulted in loud birds squawking out our windows at 4:30am. This is not good when the entire family is now awake and not very happy…remember this is our vacation, and we would like to sleep in a little. Knowing that this is not just a fluke, I knew I have to find a remedy.

Preparing for what was to come the next morning. I started researching white noise apps on my iPhone that may help this situation. When you are out of the country, it is not always convenient to find a drug store to buy ear plugs.

I came across the app called White Noise Ambience. This app is great! You can choose beach sounds, rain, and lots more. For me? Well I chose the basic fan white noise setting. It did not completely eliminate the sounds, but it did help tremendously.

Whether you are worried about street noise, hotel elevators, and young children and adults running down hotel halls and talking loudly outside your door, you may want to try this app for white noise. Remember to plug your phone into your charger so that you won’t run the battery down.

Please share with us if you know of other similar apps that have helped you sleep better.

by Dr. Lydia Sosenko

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois, a premiere snoring and apnea treatment center in Naperville has been providing the CPAP alternative treatment of oral appliance therapy for over 15 years successfully. For more information on this physician recommended treatment option, visit www.TiredOfSnoring.com or call us at (630) 369-5508.

Help us raise awareness about a sleep condition that affects more than 20 million adults each year.  The sad truth is that most people are not aware that chronic snoring is associated with the obstructive sleep apnea, a life-altering condition. Isn’t it time to educate ourselves?

If you or someone you know is frequently snoring or has the following symptoms you should consider getting a medical evaluation.  If a sleep disorder like obstructive sleep apnea is suspected, a sleep test may be requested. Here are some common reasons why a sleep test might be ordered:

• Snoring
• Gasping for breath, after a pause in breathing
• Waking with a dry mouth
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Drowsy driving
• Morning headaches
• Depression
• Overweight
• Gastric reflux
• Restless sleep
• Periodic leg jerks/movements
• Frequent trips to the bathroom at night
• Excessive night sweating
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Insomnia
• Sleep walking, talking or eating

A sleep study is the best way to analyze and diagnose your sleep. There are many types of sleep disorders in addition to sleep apnea. Sleep studies can also determine whether you have a problem with your stages of sleep also. Depending on what the testing shows, there are several treatment options.

Do not let the affects of sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea change your life!

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois, a premiere snoring and apnea treatment center in Naperville has been providing the CPAP alternative treatment of oral appliance therapy for over 15 years successfully. We are extremely passionate in helping individuals that have been struggling with CPAP therapy in Naperville, Wheaton, Aurora, Bolingbrook and surrounding Chicago suburbs. For more information on this physician recommended treatment option, visit www.TiredOfSnoring.com or call us at (630)369-5508.

Hi this is Mary Ellen and I am going to review the tip of the week for dental sleep medicine.

This is a morning aligner, or a repositioner, or a retainer. It can be called different names by different providers of oral appliance therapy. Using these devices is one of the most important things I can talk to you about today that involves oral appliance therapy. For those patients who are wearing an oral appliance for snoring and apnea, use a custom  morning repositioner like this in the morning after you take out your appliance to help prevent potential side effects of your bite from changing.  Try to slowly adjust your bite into this device.  After it is inserted, keep it on your teeth anywhere from 5 minutes to 25 minutes or longer depending on what your teeth need. Take it out after five minutes and “test” your bite. If your bite does not feel ‘regular’ or where it needs to be, for normal chewing put it back into your mouth and adjust your bite to fit the pattern of the device again. Hold it there with moderate pressure until your teeth go back to their normal position that you are used to chewing.  After it is removed just briefly brush the morning aligner and place along with your oral appliance into the container box leaving the lid open and you are good to go. Our tip of the day, use a morning aligner to help prevent side effects from the use of oral appliance therapy for snoring and apnea.

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois, a premiere snoring and apnea treatment center in Naperville has been providing the CPAP alternative treatment of oral appliance therapy for over 15 years successfully. For more information on this physician recommended treatment option, visit www.TiredOfSnoring.com or call us at (630)369-5508.