According to statistics, there are more than 1.4 million Canadians who suffer from sleep apnea. If you are one of them, you will experience physically debilitating symptoms like excessive daytime sleepiness that can result in driving and work accidents, intermittent headaches morning till night, painful heartburn, leg swelling, chest pains when asleep, and most disturbing to your bed mate, unnaturally loud snoring, restless tossing in sleep, and nighttime choking episodes.
Fortunately, you can choose the best sleep apnea treatment, Toronto professionals gladly helping you in that aspect, which will suit your present condition.
Lifestyle Treatments
Often, the first treatment option that your doctor will recommend is a series of interconnected lifestyle changes. Of course, you can start any place you are at present but for Torontonians, the city's clean environment is conducive to these lifestyle changes.
You will be recommended to adapt the following healthy habits:
Practice weight management, even lose weight when necessary. Studies have found that losing weight to maintain an ideal height-to-weight ratio reduces episodes of apnea.
Maintain a regular sleeping time. You have to make it a clockwork habit because it helps your body adjust to normal sleeping patterns.
Sleep on your side. This is because sleeping flat on your back worsens heartburn, which is yet another symptom of sleep apnea.
Abstain from alcohol consumption and have your doctor check over your medicines that may cause worsening symptoms. The best sleep apnea treatment, Toronto doctors will agree, will have to be stopping your bedtime habit of taking sleeping pills and sedatives.
Stop smoking immediately. The chemicals present in cigarettes prevent the airways from opening properly and thus, will worsen sleep apnea.
Medical Treatments
If this initial sleep apnea treatment Toronto doctors have recommended does not work, then the next step will be explored. You will be made to wear a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask during the night to prevent your breathing airways to close while you sleep.
The CPAP mask is a sleep apnea treatment Toronto physicians will prescribe for moderate and severe cases. You have to get used to wearing it because once you stop wearing this gadget, the symptoms come back almost at once.
You can also choose other breathing devices like oral breathing appliances that also open up your airways. The important thing is to get a recommendation from your doctor about the best possible device in your regimen of sleep apnea treatment, Toronto doctors being knowledgeable about them.
Surgical Options
If lifestyle changes and medical measures still do not work as effectively as you would want in a sleep apnea treatment, Toronto doctors will have recourse for surgical operations. There are many but you need not worry because you will not be made to undergo every surgery in the books.
To name a few, there is uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (quite a mouthful to say), which remains one of the more common surgical treatments for sleep apnea; tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy (there it is again) to removes tonsils and adenoids; and other surgical procedures to removes bone tissue.
Ultimately, you should have relief from your sleep apnea and get on with normal life. All things considered, the treatment options are well worth the time, effort and money!
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