Patient #103 was referred to our office by her physician.  She was suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.  In addition she had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and was taking Lyrica 3 times a day to help manage the symptoms.  She complained of severe daytime sleepiness which forced her to take Provigil, an alerting medication, since her job required her to drive long distances each day.  She had attempted CPAP to manage her obstructive sleep apnea, but was not able to tolerate the therapy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An oral examination revealed a dental condition that predisposes people to having obstructive sleep apnea.  As shown in the photo, this patient has a significant overbite.  This means that her mandible did not fully develop into its normal position in the skull.  Because of this, the tongue base is positioned too far back in the throat and sleep apnea easily results.

 

 

Patient #103 was fitted with an oral appliance and immediately noticed a relief of her symptoms of severe daytime sleepiness.  In addition, she also noticed that her symptoms of fibromyalgia were significantly reduced.  As a result, she was able to significantly reduce her Lyrica dosage.

 

Before and after home sleep monitoring with the Watch PAT showed that her sleeping pulse rate dropped by 10 beats a minute using her oral appliance!  This indicates a much more restful sleep.  In addition her nightly percentage of REM sleep increased from a below normal 10% to a normal 20%.

 

In her words, Featured Patient #103 said: “I feel 100% better!”

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Featured Patient. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.