Sleep Medicine

If you’re not sleeping well, you’re hurting more than just your ability to stay awake during the day. By regularly getting less than the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night, you could be causing serious harm to your health. The consequences of sleep deprivation include a host of problems, such as:

Sleep medicine is a medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disturbances and disorders. At Cullman Primary Care Multi-Specialty Group, we treat sleep disorders in patients of all ages.

<img src="sleepmedicine.jpg" alt="sleep medicine doctors at Cullman Primary Care Multi-Specialty Group" /> 

When to See a Sleep Medicine Doctor

You may be wondering if you need to see a sleep medicine specialist. The experts at CPC have found that a sleep study may be helpful for patients experiencing one or more of the following symptoms:

  • Sleepiness during the day
  • Dosing off while driving
  • Interrupted sleep
  • Snoring loudly, gasping, choking, and tossing and turning
  • Several bathroom trips during the night
  • Feeling tired or sleepy after waking up
  • Waking up with a dry/sore throat or a headache
  • Insomnia
  • Sleep apnea

  • Restless leg syndrome (RLS)
  • Periodic leg movements in sleep (PLMS)
  • Narcolepsy and other disorders of excessive sleepiness
  • Wake/sleep rhythm disturbances
  • Talking in your sleep
  • Sleepwalking
  • Sleep movement and sleep behavior disorders
  • Disorders of initiation and maintenance of sleep


What Is a Sleep Study?

Sleep studies are diagnostic tests that measure certain activities of your body during sleep. It’s what allows your CPC sleep medicine specialist to identify exactly what is causing the disruption in your sleep – and can help guide selection of the most effective sleep medicine treatment for you.

At-Home Sleep Tests

Patients are given a special device to be worn while sleeping, along with instructions for its use at home. In most cases, the device will record your snoring, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels. You then return the device, either to your doctor’s office or through the mail to a vendor, and the data is analyzed.

This is a convenient, comfortable, and simple sleep study. However, should results indicate an underlying sleep or medical disorder, your doctor may recommend an overnight sleep study performed in a sleep lab.

Sleep Lab Tests

This is a more comprehensive sleep study than the at-home sleep test. It involves spending the night in a specially equipped sleep lab, in which technicians monitor you while you sleep. You are also attached to equipment that measures your heart, lung, and brain activity during sleep. Arm and leg movements can also be detected, which can help identify sleep disorders like restless leg syndrome.

Treatment for Sleep Disorders

Your treatment will depend on the cause of your sleep disorder and the symptoms you are experiencing.

For sleep apnea and snoring, for example, there are a number of treatments available, depending on how disruptive your condition is. These treatments include dental appliances that move your jaw forward, opening up your airway while you sleep; breathing devices like a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines; and surgeries such as minimally invasive ablation to remove excess tissue that may be blocking the back of the throat.

Medication may be necessary to treat any underlying conditions as well as certain sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, sleepwalking, and jet lag.

In many cases, improving your sleep habits, adding regular exercise, and other lifestyle changes are all that is needed to improve your sleep.

Sleep Medicine Doctors in Cullman, AL

Providers

Locations

Tired of tossing and turning at night? Get the solution you need by asking about our sleep medicine services at Cullman Primary Care Multi-Specialty Group in Cullman, Alabama. Call us at (256) 736-2273 or request your appointment now.