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Deaconess Sleep Diagnostic Services
Sleep is important to your well being. Since most people spend roughly one-third of their lives asleep, it’s easy to relate the quality of sleep to the quality of life.
The Sleep Diagnostics Lab at Deaconess Hospital offers diagnosis and treatment for specific sleep disorders, such as snoring, sleep apnea and hundreds of other conditions. The lab is staffed by board-certified pulmonologist Elwood Williams, MD, a Stanford University-trained sleep specialist. In addition, the lab staff includes experienced, nationally credentialed respiratory therapists and registered polysomnographic technologists, all of whom specialize in the treatment of sleep disorders.
One out of three Americans has a sleep disorder which makes sleeping or waking hours miserable. Many people suffer needlessly because they are unaware that a problem exists. Once detected, most sleep disorders can be corrected.
At the Deaconess Sleep Lab, patients undergo a one-night (or occasionally a two-night) study during which their sleep is monitored using 12 to 16 electrodes. A technical diagnosis and comprehensive summary report, including color graphics and treatment recommendations, are then made available for the referring physician’s use.
Once detected, most sleep disorders can be easily corrected using a variety of techniques, such as:
- Changes in habits or behaviors
- continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP and BiPAP) devices and pressure support ventilation
- medications
- oral appliances and dental devices
- surgery (including tonsillectomy, laser surgery and coblation (radio frequency tissue reduction)
- weight loss
Symptoms of sleep disorders include:
- abnormal movements during sleep
- snoring, gasping, snorting and long pauses in breathing during sleep
- nocturnal sweating
- morning headache
- decreased sex drive
- memory loss
- personality changes/irritability
- difficulty in falling to or maintaining sleep
- difficulty in awakening or staying awake
Left untreated, these disorders can lead to:
- hypertension
- stroke
- low blood oxygen levels
- an enlarged heart
- congestive heart failure
- death
For more information on Deaconess Sleep Diagnostics, call .
Sleep disorders are common
- Periodic limb movement disorder -- A common problem that worsens as we get older. It is characterized by frequent, repetitive jerking of the limb that causes arousal during sleep.
- Insomnia – More than 30 million Americans cannot achieve continuous sleep and sometimes cannot sleep at all.
- Narcolepsy – More than 100,000 Americans afflicted with this illness cannot stay awake during the day. Excessive sleepiness is the number one complaint, which brings our patients to the Lab.
- Sleep apnea syndrome – This frequent and deadly problem has various degrees of severity and afflicts more than 20 million Americans.
- Stroke and epilepsy – The nature of sleep predisposes a person to occurrences of strokes and seizures. Substantially more of these often-catastrophic episodes occur while a person is awake.
Sleepless facts
- Fifteen percent of middle-aged adults report falling asleep while driving.
- Five percent report falling asleep driving more than five times and 1.3 percent report an accident or mishap due to falling asleep.
- Sleep loss can impair your attention span and reaction time.
- More than 20 percent of people over age 65 report falling asleep during the day.
- Many established or potential risk factors for stroke are related to snoring or sleep apnea
Sources: National Institute of Health Commission no Sleep Disorders
William Dement, MD, Director of Sleep Disorders Center at Stanford University
Source 9-94: A Report of the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research
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