Sleep Medicine
The Logan Health Sleep Medicine offers various locations, including Kalispell's full-service and accredited Sleep Lab facility, for diagnosing and treating patients with sleep-related disorders. These conditions include difficulties falling or staying asleep, breathing problems during sleep, daytime sleepiness and other abnormal nighttime occurrences.
Patients with sleep apnea have long been cared for by pulmonologists due to their expertise with breathing disorders. However, with our ever-increasing understanding of the relationship between sleep apnea and other conditions, the field of sleep medicine has become truly multidisciplinary. Recent studies have shown that nearly a third of patients in a general cardiology clinic suffer from sleep apnea. Hypertension, electrical heart rhythm disturbances, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension are just some of the conditions that have been associated with sleep apnea.
Since treatment of sleep apnea can increase survival and improve quality of life, offering complete diagnostic and treatment services, including sleep medicine, is essential to Logan Health Heart & Lung's goal of becoming a fully comprehensive cardiac and pulmonary medicine clinic.
What is a sleep disorder?
Sleep disorders include a variety of conditions that affect your ability to sleep well on a regular basis. A sleep disorder can cause other health problems and affect your quality of life.
One of the most common sleep disorders is obstructive sleep apnea, where there is a physical obstruction in the upper airway. The obstruction can be the tongue, tonsils, uvula, soft palate or any other tissue that prevents normal breathing. When the body relaxes during sleep and loses muscle tone, gravity pulls the obstruction down into the airway. The deeper you sleep, the more relaxed you become and the more likely you are to experience an apneic event. If left untreated, obstructive sleep apnea increases risk of heart attack, heart disease and stroke.
- Other common sleep disorders include:
- Central sleep apnea
- Upper airway resistance syndrome
- Restless legs syndrome
- Periodic limb movement disorder
How are sleep disorders treated?
Treatments for sleep disorders are as varied as the disorders themselves, and can include medications, behavior modifications or surgery. The gold standard of treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a piece of durable medical equipment worn while sleeping.
Preparing for Your Office Visit
Please check in 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time. Please bring your insurance cards and any necessary completed paperwork.
If you are already on CPAP or any PAP therapy, please also bring your smartcard to your appointment. If you have had previous sleep studies elsewhere, please bring your records or call the office to let us know the name of the sleep center and we will request your records (please also complete the Release of Records form).
