SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sleep and good health go hand in hand. Experts recommend adults get seven to nine hours of restful sleep.
Northern California resident Karen Wolk says she didn't know what that was like until five years ago.
She's one of the nearly 40 million Americans living with obstructive sleep apnea. It's when your airway closes while you're sleeping causing people like Wolk to wake up tired — even though they might sleep more than 10 hours at a time. She calls her diagnosis a happy accident.
"I was taking a family member to an appointment with a sleep doctor for something else. They looked at their airway and immediately wanted to look at mine," Wolk said. "Small airway, small jaw, my doctor said it looked like I was breathing through a straw."
But she didn't get that diagnosis until she was 45-years-old. For years she suffered from the side effects of lack of sleep. Wolk says she would forget things, fall asleep while talking and get lost while driving. She even sought psychiatric help.
"I was going to all of these places to try and find a solution to whatever was going on with me. I went on disability from work but everything did not lead me to a sleep study," Wolk said.
Once she got her diagnosis, she tried some of the more common sleep apnea treatments like the CPAP and BIPAP machines, but the problem persisted. Then, she was introduced to Inspire.
It's a surgically implanted device based on pace-maker technology that stimulates the airway allow it to open while a person sleeps. The patient controls the process with a remote. They can bring it anywhere and sleep in any position. Wolk had the procedure done in Stockton. At the time she was one of just 300 patients, now there are thousands.
Otolaryngologist Dr. Ronald Dong says the surgery takes about an hour and the recovery is minimal. After one month of healing, the device is turned on. He says a lot of people aren't aware of treatment options beyond the traditional machines.
"For a long time it was only available in only a few centers around the country, but now in most communities you'll find a surgeon able to do that," Dong said. "For years we were doing surgeries that had less than a 50% success rate, which is not really satisfying as a physician, but as for now this new surgery that works for most people, it's less invasive and easier recovery than traditional surgery. Patients have been very happy with their device almost right away."
Wolk says the tiny remote changed her life. She now gets eight hours of sleep every night and no longer suffers from cognitive issues.
"I had a revelation like this is the best night of sleep I've ever had," she said. "I went from mostly just survival to actually living."
Dong says to speak with your primary care doctor first if you're interested in getting the device.
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