Sleep Therapy

At Discount Drug Mart Professional Medical Equipment & Services, we are with you every step of the way, as you seek treatment for your sleep disorder. Our Respiratory Therapists will guide you in the use of your prescribed equipment. In addition, as you know, no two face shapes are the same. There are many mask options available to make you comfortable. Be sure to ask about our mask guarantee program. Our goal is your satisfaction in complying with your sleep therapy prescription!

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes your body to stop breathing while you sleep.  It is a potentially fatal condition, with harmful short and long term complications that effects more than 1 in 3 men and 1 in 6 women.

What Causes Sleep Apnea?

There are three main types of sleep apnea:

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)  which more than 80% of sleep apnea patients have, occurs when enlarged and/or relaxed throat muscles obstruct your upper airway, blocking air from entering and leaving your lungs.
• Central Sleep Apnea (CSA)  so named for its relation to the central nervous system, occurs when the brain stops signaling for the body to breath until it detects a lack of oxygen and/or a heightened level of carbon dioxide that needs to be exhaled.
• Complex Sleep Apnea (CompSA) is a combination of OSA and CSA.

Eventually your brain senses that you’ve stopped breathing and causes you to wake up just enough to gasp and start breathing again. This can happen more than 120 times every hour, even though you may not remember waking up. As you can imagine, apneas put immense short and long term strains on the body.

Short-Term Effects of Sleep Apnea

Of course apneas cause the immediate life-threatening danger of not inhaling enough oxygen (or exhaling enough poisonous carbon dioxide). But the body’s constant waking due to these apneas can also cause sleep deprivation. This can lower people’s energy and attentiveness the next day, negatively affect their moods and relationships with others, and raise the risk for memory loss, cognitive impairment and injury.

Long-Term Effects of Sleep Apnea

Untreated sleep apnea has been linked to an increased risk for other chronic and life threatening conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart failure as well as poorer glucose control in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Common Sleep Apnea Symptoms

While snoring is still the strongest predictor of sleep apnea in men and women, not everyone who snores has it. And more important, not everyone who has it snores. Below are other common sleep apnea symptoms:

• Constant tiredness
• Poor concentration
• Night sweats
• Lack of energy
• Forgetfulness
• Weight gain
• Sexual dysfunction
• Frequent urination at night

Sleep Therapy Equipment

All sleep apnea equipment is set up and instructed in its use, by our Respiratory Therapists.

• Auto Titrating Units
• CPAP
• Bi Level
• Full line of masks
• Mask Guarantee program
• All PAP units connect to “the cloud” so physicians can have immediate information on usage