June 23, 2025 • 24 mins
Stop snoring Sleep Apnea
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Ask The Experts Florida is broadcast live Mondays at 9AM ET and Thursdays at 5PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask The Experts Florida is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Ask The Experts Florida Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talk for TV, where we bring you
educational information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, hearing, laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Stevo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, Good morning, Dallas for Worth, Welcome to another FC
expert show bring you top experts in the field of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. We do shows all over the country.
Dallas Fort Worth is my original home, spent most of
(01:16):
my life there. We are now in Florida. But this
is a very special show to me because I suffer
with sleep apnea and this show is so easy to do.
And just to let you know about how we choose experts.
(01:36):
Twelve years ago, that's I mean, our show has been
running for a long time. Twelve years ago I heard
about a top sleep clinic in the Dallas Fort Worth
area and I heard so many great things. Now, I'd
already gone through all my tests long before this, I
was already on a steappath machine. But I heard what
(01:59):
a great clinic this was. And at the time they
only had one location, and just things happen. I've been
wanting to get them on our show for twelve years
literally Now well now I believe they've got six or
seven locations. I might be wrong, but doctor Kent Smith
(02:21):
has built up one of the most incredible sleep clinics
in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And we get so
many letters now about his show, which we're going to
use those letters today. But I got to tell you
this is one of the great when it comes to
sleep apnea, without of doubt. I mean, it was worth
(02:44):
waiting twelve years to get doctor Kent Smith with Star
Sleep Wellness Good morning, Dr Smith.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Good morning, glad to be here, Steve. Let's talk.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Hey, listen, I listen. I You're by opening monologue is
always longer with you because I've got so much respect
for what you built up in the Dallas Fort Worth area,
and because I suffered from sleep apnea, or I don't
really suffer anymore because I have my seatpath machine, but
(03:17):
what you have done, and you know, I'm finding out
there's so many people out there, Doctor Smith that probably
are suffering from sleep apnea, but they're too afraid to
do anything about it. But hopefully we're going to convince
them today they need to do something about it. Tell
us about your clinic.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Yeah, well, as you reference, we started this many years ago.
I've been treating this for again going on thirty years,
long time, and it was kind of slow going at first.
There was not a lot of talk about sleep atnia,
and people just thought snoring was funny and I had
just It took some convincing, but over time we started
(04:01):
one clinic and Irving, and then we moved out to
Frisco and uh yeah, now we've got six that have
opened and seven and eight will be open before the
end of the year, we're moving out of state even
so it's really yeah, it's it's happening. So we're excited
about that. There are some complications moving outside of Texas,
(04:22):
but I think we've solved those issues. So we treat
all kinds of sleep problem. Sleep at me is the
biggest problem, So that's really what we focus on. Snoring
and sleep disordered breathing when somebody's trying to breathe and
they can't and most of the time it's the bed
partner that makes them come in. Yes, it's it. It's
(04:45):
funny and not funny. Yesterday, as a matter of fact,
we had some friends that were over. We had we
just got back from a week of scuba diving in
Turks and Caicos and the house set for us, so
they were here to kind of collect all their stuff
and go home. And I'm talking to the husband and
we've been trying to get him to have a sleep
study for years.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
We've known them for about ten years.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
As I'm talking to him, he falls asleep in the
chair and I just I can't believe you're falling asleep, dude,
And he just refuses to believe he has a problem.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
That's what we see all the time.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I noticed that I'm here in Florida now, but I
noticed that my friend her sister will fall asleep and
then the loud snoring. And you say, you're snoring in
their first thing, No, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Yeah, and I guarantee you there's probably millions of bed
partners out there that have been trying to convince their
partner to get help and to fix their snoring, and
they just refuse because they just they don't believe. There
are several reasons. Number one, they don't believe they have
a problem. Number two, they've seen the Sea pat machine,
(06:01):
and even though it's a lifesaver, they just think if
I go in and have a sleep study, they're going
to make me wear one of those masks.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
And yeah, maybe we're going to.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Suggest that, But there are other options out there now,
and people just shouldn't be scared of testing their sleep.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
We have very easy ways now.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
You know a lot of people are wearing these rings
that there's all kinds of options out there now, the
r A ring and some others that will let them
know they're not very good diagnostics, but at least their
create awareness for sleep problem. So I'm hoping if you see,
if you have one of those rings, you've bought one
(06:41):
of these over the countertop rings that tell you about
your sleep. Sometimes the Apple Watch can even tell you.
Pay attention to that and if you see that you're
not getting good scores in whatever format it uses, it
might be time to get a real sleep study and
just see.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
You know, I look back when I from my first
sleep study doctor Smith. Oh my god. First of all,
you had to go to a special facility that was
set up for this, so you had to sleep outside
the house in a bed that probably wasn't for me,
wasn't comfortable at all. And they stick all these leads.
(07:19):
I mean you're like, you're afraid they even move. It's
so much different Now you can do it right at home.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
Yeah, it's you know, technology is what it is. It
just keeps improving in every field, and certainly it's continued
to do that in sleep. It's much much easier. We
do have rings now that are diagnostic. You can't buy
them over the counter, but uh, there's there's you know,
different degrees of complications. And sometimes if you come in
(07:49):
and you say, well I have restless legs, I just
can't get my legs to calm down. We'll give you
one kind of study for that, but in general, just
to check the health of your sleep. It's so easy now.
And some of these are even disposable. You can throw
them away after you.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Use them, Doctor Smith, Is it bother you? There's a
commercial that runs all the time and you put a
piece of tape. I should know. I tried it that
it didn't work. But you put a piece of tape
across the top of your nose, and it's supposed to
get you to stop snoring. Doesn't that irk you? I
(08:26):
mean because it did not work for me.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, at least people are trying something, and
it helps create awareness a little bit that hey, you've
got snoring, at least try to get it fixed. So
I'm not going to say too many bad things about those.
And if you can breathe better through your nose, it's
always a good thing. The nose has good filters. If
you can't breathe through your nose, you have to breathe
(08:49):
through your mouth and there's no good filters in there,
so you're more likely to get sick from the pathogens
that you're breathing in. We want people breathing through their nose.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Let's just get start. We've got so many emails that
have written from your last show last month. Kennon richardson
what are common symptoms of sleep ATNIA.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Well, I mean snoring would be one of the first ones,
but we have silent ATNA as well. We have people
that don't even snore but have sleep ATNA. So stopping breathing.
If you have a bed partner that can kind of
watch you sleep, if you stop breathing, that's a sign.
But some symptoms that you might have are daytime sleepiness.
(09:33):
You get your seven and a half hours of sleep
and you still have to drink coffee all day to
stay awake, You have to take stimulants, you have to
all the kind of stuff you have to do to
stay awake. You roll down the window when you're driving,
so we don't want people falling asleep at the wheel,
obviously for safety reasons, but also high pertension probably one
of the first things that people get. You don't necessarily
(09:55):
have to have hypertension, but if you have it, you
should check see if you have at yet because it
can lead to hypertension and many other cardiovasthlar diseases.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
You might have indigestion and reflux. You might get depressed easily.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
You really any heart problem that you have, if you've
got any of the diabetes.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
There's just so many.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
We used to say that cancer was the only thing
that wasn't caused by a breathing problem, and then we
found three different cancers that are so every single pathology
out there, every health condition you have can be tied
to untreated sleep. At me yet, you need to breathe
at night. You have to breathe. Oxygen is important. Every
(10:45):
organ in your body needs oxygen. So if you have
any ailment at all, might not be bad to get
a sleep study to check it out, just to make
sure your sleep is healthy.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Bely Mesquite, I love your show. Thank you so much
for educating us. What is better the seapap machine are
the oral appliance?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Well, that's a good question. There's also surgeries that can
treat atnia. We usually suggest using the non surgical methods
first to see if you can get it controlled, and
then if you just can't or refuse or whatever, then
you can move to the surgery. Seapap is meant for
the more severe patients. It can work. It works ninety
(11:25):
five percent of the time on all conditions. So you
could get a seapap even with mild or moderate, but
an oral device is a little easier to wear, easier
to travel with. There's no replacement parts. It's the compliance
is better. If you give somebody an oral device, they're
(11:45):
more likely to wear it than a seapap machine. But
if you've got a severe condition, and that means if
you stop breathing at least thirty times per hour every
two minutes you stop breathing, that's when you move into
the severe category, and at that point a cepath is
what we would suggest. But we have patients that we
(12:07):
have treated with oral devices that are severe. They have
been successfully true, so.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
You never know.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
It really depends sometimes on BMI. Sometimes it depends on genetics,
it depends on the position of your jaw, a lot
of things. But you know, we help you make that decision,
as every clinic should. They should allow you to make
the decision on your therapy and not limit you and
say you have to do this one thing because there
are options out there.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
We I just want to get this in real quick
and are really we sent them your phone number. Robert
fort Worth wants to know if you have an office
in Fort Worth.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
No, we don't yet. If that is in the future,
but right now we don't. Mansfield is the closest. I
don't know when is Mansfield opening up? Doctor Smith, your
life first, your life for oh soon, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
And you have another love tation opening up.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Yeah, we've got Houston opening up, but we've also got
North Carolina, and so I don't know we have anybody
here in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
But before the end of the year we'll have.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Houston and North Carolina, and then we're looking at Alabama
and Washington, Oklahoma and some other things. But for now,
it's the DFW area primarily.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Okay, John and Garland. Is there a such thing as
unhealthy sleep? And if there is, what does it look like?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Yeah, I mean it's it might not necessarily be sleep atna.
Now again, sleep atna is atnea is Latin for no breath,
So if you have atnea, you're not breathing like you
should be. There's other kinds of unhealthy sleep. You could
have any kind of what we call parasomnia's. You could
be sleepwalking, sleep talking, you could be you know, narcolepsy
(13:54):
is a problem, although that's not considered what we call
a pairasomnia. But regardless it, I've had patients that have
built a patient that has built a set of shelves
in their sleep. They had no idea they were doing it.
So these are the kind of things you can do
when you're asleep that aren't really healthy. There are some
neurodegenerative problems that are unhealthy people that take, you know,
(14:21):
ben a drill. If somebody takes uses ben a drill
every night to go to sleep, that's not good. It's
got what we call an anticholinergic in it. Our body
needs coaling, and if you're using a medication that fights colling,
you're more likely to develop Parkinson's. So there are some
situation like this. There's a lot of education needs to
happen in sleep, and I think a lot of people
(14:42):
don't ask the right questions or don't seek out a
professional to get help if they have unhealthy sleep.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Lynn in Dallas wants to know if I snored, does
that mean I have sleep that NOA No.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
It doesn't mean you do, but it doesn't mean you don't.
You're more likely to have it if you snore. So
if you snore and it doesn't bother anybody, the only
reason to get a study and see if you have
sleep at me is just for your health. But if
the snoring bothers somebody, then that's double reason to get
a study, just to see. Most people are shocked when
(15:18):
they find out that they stop breathing twenty times every hour.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Oh I was, It's not uncommon.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
They come in and they don't think they have any time.
I'm just here because my wife told me to come in.
Oh okay, well let's do a study. And then they
see the results, and sometimes they'll say I don't believe that.
I don't think that study is right. Well they're right.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Wow, doctor someone. I got to tell you, and I
want our audience out there, that I really understand what
you're going through. And I got to tell you when
I fell asleep in a class and the teacher had
to wake me up. First of all, that was so embarrassing,
but I got to tell you that when I hear
(16:01):
about a person who is in an auto accident, I
think about they've fall asleep at the wheel, because that's
what would happen to me. I'd be driving and all
of a sudden, I'd fall asleep, And that's when I
knew I had to go get help. Do you ever
think about that? I mean, is it just for me?
Do I When there's a wreck, you think about, Hey,
(16:23):
what if they fell asleep because they have sleep at me?
Speaker 5 (16:26):
I think that all the time. Every time I see
a wreck, I think the same.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
So I'm not weird.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Okay, No, you're not weird. No, I've heard too many stories.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
I was an expert witness in a case where a
truck driver fell asleep and killed a family of four.
And those things happen a lot. We just aren't aware
of it. I don't drive by trucks anymore, if i'm
I did a lot of research back in the day
about this and found out how many it's just hushed up.
(16:56):
We don't hear about this. But truck drive. You'll see
in the news. You'll see a truck that's hung pain
over and overpass or something. It's all these These people
drive a lot. And if you've got sleep disordered breathing
and you fall asleep, that's not a good thing, and
you could kill other people, not just yourself.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Exactly exactly. Here's one of my favorite questions, Doctor Smith.
Cindy and Dallas. She said, I'm so glad I found
the show My husband snore is so loud it has
hurt our marriage. I know you hear that a lot
every What happens And this is why this is such
a good question. What happens if they don't get treated well.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
I mean, for one thing, the dead partner of a snorer,
if they consistently snore every night, most of the night,
that bead partner loses an hour and a half of.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Sleep every night.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
And if your partner makes you lose an hour and
a half of sleep, that's gonna wear on a marriage. Yes,
any kind of partner is going to be And they
think sleeping in another room solves the problem, and it
doesn't it. Yeah, it helps the person who's not snoring,
but you have to consider the health of the one
who is. And it's not difficult to fix this problem.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It isn't. And I like, you know, people say that
they're afraid, like especially I went to seapap route and
I got to tell you that you just get used
to it. It's like if I have to Uh, I
had to go into the hospital or something and they
had this huge machine there for a seapap that was
(18:38):
really uncomfortable, But I got to tell you it's like,
no big deal, it really isn't and you feel so
much better The next morning. I want to get to
Leslie And this is one from Tyler doctor Smith. She said,
I love your show. My husband snores but won't admit it.
(19:01):
We've seen that a lot. How do I talk him
into making an appointment with you.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Threatened to leave him?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Well, you know if you hear it all the time,
don't you?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
So one trick I have heard is, you know, making
sure your husband's life insurance is paid up and then say,
you know, let's just say his name is Bob. Bob.
If you don't get this treated, I would prefer that
you die rather than have a stroke, because if you
have a stroke, I have to walk you around in
(19:37):
your wheelchair the rest of your life and I don't
want to do that.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
So please, if you don't get this treated, just.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Die and don't have a stroke, because either of those
things could happen.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It's you know, the things that you think that might.
I mean, I just remember that when the doctor said, well,
I'm on a what's called a BYPA machine, not a seatpap,
the BiPAP. I mean, I've got it really bad, but
I was so nervous, and I got to tell you.
(20:09):
The best thing you can do is making a point
first of all, see if you have a sleep appear
problem is go to one of your sixon to be
seven eight locations and find out if that's what your
problem is. The sleep is no big dif because I
(20:30):
can't believe you do this at home. Why did they
never think about that before? Doctor Smith? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Well, hey, I wasn't around twenty years ago either.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, I know, but it is. It makes such a
major difference in your life. And it really is. When
you think about you actually stop breathing. That alone should
scare you. And if you have a wife or a
husband that snores, you nailed it, doctor Smith. You know,
(21:02):
because it keeps the other person from getting good sleep.
You know, I haven't even thought of it that way,
but that's really true. Help people. We've got about three
minutes left. Why they should sign up, come in make
an appointment. And we just had someone who just wrote,
as does insurance cover this at all?
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Yes, medical insurance covers it. Whether it's an oral device
or a CPAP machine or a BiPAP machine, or surgery.
Medical insurance understands that if you treat it, you're less
likely to have health problems later on, which is going
to take the insurance company more. They don't want to
have to pay for a heart attack and all the
things that occur because of that. They don't want to
(21:45):
have to pay for all your medications. If you have diabetes,
they would prefer to prevent you from having that. I mean,
there are three pillars of health. There's exercise, diet, and sleep.
Those are the three things that you must do and
do healthily. What is the easiest of those things to do?
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Sleep?
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Sleep, and to sleep healthily? So we can we can
cross one of those off. If you don't want to
diet and you don't want to exercise, okay, but at
least get good sleep. That's the easiest of those three
to fix.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So is there a phone number? Is there one phone
number for all the people listening on radio and iHeartRadio
and Spotify and Apple right now? Is there one number
they can call that's good for any location?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Yes, Yes, for any location. It's eight four four or
zero nine or six five seven. And the website that's
an older website that you have scrolling there. The website
is for Star Sleeping Wellness is s t swell dot.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Com, Well dot com.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
St s well dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah, Doctor Smith with the good news is doctor Smith
with us month. He'll be back again with us next month.
Plus we replayed this show twice a month on top
of his live show we're doing now, Doctor Smith. I
am so glad that we have you as our expert
for my favorite city, Dallas Fort Worth. We will see
(23:19):
you again next month on More as the Experts.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
I'll look forward to it. Everybody sleep well out there.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yes, thanks doctor Smith. That's doctor Kent Smith. He is
may He's been doing this for a long time. We
have waited so long to have him as part of
our show and we're so glad to have him. That's
gonna do it for us today. We'll be back again
(23:47):
with you next week with more as the Experts.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Thanks for tuning in today to the Ask the Experts
show on W four CY Radio and Talk for TV.
Tune in next week and every week to hear more
from our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs,
escape planning, medicare, and many other topics in the areas
of legal, health, financial and home improvement. See you next week.
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talk for TV, where we bring you
educational information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, hearing, laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Stevo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, Good morning, Dallas for Worth, Welcome to another FC
expert show bring you top experts in the field of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. We do shows all over the country.
Dallas Fort Worth is my original home, spent most of
(01:16):
my life there. We are now in Florida. But this
is a very special show to me because I suffer
with sleep apnea and this show is so easy to do.
And just to let you know about how we choose experts.
(01:36):
Twelve years ago, that's I mean, our show has been
running for a long time. Twelve years ago I heard
about a top sleep clinic in the Dallas Fort Worth
area and I heard so many great things. Now, I'd
already gone through all my tests long before this, I
was already on a steappath machine. But I heard what
(01:59):
a great clinic this was. And at the time they
only had one location, and just things happen. I've been
wanting to get them on our show for twelve years
literally Now well now I believe they've got six or
seven locations. I might be wrong, but doctor Kent Smith
(02:21):
has built up one of the most incredible sleep clinics
in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And we get so
many letters now about his show, which we're going to
use those letters today. But I got to tell you
this is one of the great when it comes to
sleep apnea, without of doubt. I mean, it was worth
(02:44):
waiting twelve years to get doctor Kent Smith with Star
Sleep Wellness Good morning, Dr Smith.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Good morning, glad to be here, Steve. Let's talk.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Hey, listen, I listen. I You're by opening monologue is
always longer with you because I've got so much respect
for what you built up in the Dallas Fort Worth area,
and because I suffered from sleep apnea, or I don't
really suffer anymore because I have my seatpath machine, but
(03:17):
what you have done, and you know, I'm finding out
there's so many people out there, Doctor Smith that probably
are suffering from sleep apnea, but they're too afraid to
do anything about it. But hopefully we're going to convince
them today they need to do something about it. Tell
us about your clinic.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Yeah, well, as you reference, we started this many years ago.
I've been treating this for again going on thirty years,
long time, and it was kind of slow going at first.
There was not a lot of talk about sleep atnia,
and people just thought snoring was funny and I had
just It took some convincing, but over time we started
(04:01):
one clinic and Irving, and then we moved out to
Frisco and uh yeah, now we've got six that have
opened and seven and eight will be open before the
end of the year, we're moving out of state even
so it's really yeah, it's it's happening. So we're excited
about that. There are some complications moving outside of Texas,
(04:22):
but I think we've solved those issues. So we treat
all kinds of sleep problem. Sleep at me is the
biggest problem, So that's really what we focus on. Snoring
and sleep disordered breathing when somebody's trying to breathe and
they can't and most of the time it's the bed
partner that makes them come in. Yes, it's it. It's
(04:45):
funny and not funny. Yesterday, as a matter of fact,
we had some friends that were over. We had we
just got back from a week of scuba diving in
Turks and Caicos and the house set for us, so
they were here to kind of collect all their stuff
and go home. And I'm talking to the husband and
we've been trying to get him to have a sleep
study for years.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
We've known them for about ten years.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
As I'm talking to him, he falls asleep in the
chair and I just I can't believe you're falling asleep, dude,
And he just refuses to believe he has a problem.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
That's what we see all the time.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I noticed that I'm here in Florida now, but I
noticed that my friend her sister will fall asleep and
then the loud snoring. And you say, you're snoring in
their first thing, No, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Yeah, and I guarantee you there's probably millions of bed
partners out there that have been trying to convince their
partner to get help and to fix their snoring, and
they just refuse because they just they don't believe. There
are several reasons. Number one, they don't believe they have
a problem. Number two, they've seen the Sea pat machine,
(06:01):
and even though it's a lifesaver, they just think if
I go in and have a sleep study, they're going
to make me wear one of those masks.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
And yeah, maybe we're going to.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Suggest that, But there are other options out there now,
and people just shouldn't be scared of testing their sleep.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
We have very easy ways now.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
You know a lot of people are wearing these rings
that there's all kinds of options out there now, the
r A ring and some others that will let them
know they're not very good diagnostics, but at least their
create awareness for sleep problem. So I'm hoping if you see,
if you have one of those rings, you've bought one
(06:41):
of these over the countertop rings that tell you about
your sleep. Sometimes the Apple Watch can even tell you.
Pay attention to that and if you see that you're
not getting good scores in whatever format it uses, it
might be time to get a real sleep study and
just see.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
You know, I look back when I from my first
sleep study doctor Smith. Oh my god. First of all,
you had to go to a special facility that was
set up for this, so you had to sleep outside
the house in a bed that probably wasn't for me,
wasn't comfortable at all. And they stick all these leads.
(07:19):
I mean you're like, you're afraid they even move. It's
so much different Now you can do it right at home.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
Yeah, it's you know, technology is what it is. It
just keeps improving in every field, and certainly it's continued
to do that in sleep. It's much much easier. We
do have rings now that are diagnostic. You can't buy
them over the counter, but uh, there's there's you know,
different degrees of complications. And sometimes if you come in
(07:49):
and you say, well I have restless legs, I just
can't get my legs to calm down. We'll give you
one kind of study for that, but in general, just
to check the health of your sleep. It's so easy now.
And some of these are even disposable. You can throw
them away after you.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Use them, Doctor Smith, Is it bother you? There's a
commercial that runs all the time and you put a
piece of tape. I should know. I tried it that
it didn't work. But you put a piece of tape
across the top of your nose, and it's supposed to
get you to stop snoring. Doesn't that irk you? I
(08:26):
mean because it did not work for me.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, at least people are trying something, and
it helps create awareness a little bit that hey, you've
got snoring, at least try to get it fixed. So
I'm not going to say too many bad things about those.
And if you can breathe better through your nose, it's
always a good thing. The nose has good filters. If
you can't breathe through your nose, you have to breathe
(08:49):
through your mouth and there's no good filters in there,
so you're more likely to get sick from the pathogens
that you're breathing in. We want people breathing through their nose.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Let's just get start. We've got so many emails that
have written from your last show last month. Kennon richardson
what are common symptoms of sleep ATNIA.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Well, I mean snoring would be one of the first ones,
but we have silent ATNA as well. We have people
that don't even snore but have sleep ATNA. So stopping breathing.
If you have a bed partner that can kind of
watch you sleep, if you stop breathing, that's a sign.
But some symptoms that you might have are daytime sleepiness.
(09:33):
You get your seven and a half hours of sleep
and you still have to drink coffee all day to
stay awake, You have to take stimulants, you have to
all the kind of stuff you have to do to
stay awake. You roll down the window when you're driving,
so we don't want people falling asleep at the wheel,
obviously for safety reasons, but also high pertension probably one
of the first things that people get. You don't necessarily
(09:55):
have to have hypertension, but if you have it, you
should check see if you have at yet because it
can lead to hypertension and many other cardiovasthlar diseases.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
You might have indigestion and reflux. You might get depressed easily.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
You really any heart problem that you have, if you've
got any of the diabetes.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
There's just so many.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
We used to say that cancer was the only thing
that wasn't caused by a breathing problem, and then we
found three different cancers that are so every single pathology
out there, every health condition you have can be tied
to untreated sleep. At me yet, you need to breathe
at night. You have to breathe. Oxygen is important. Every
(10:45):
organ in your body needs oxygen. So if you have
any ailment at all, might not be bad to get
a sleep study to check it out, just to make
sure your sleep is healthy.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Bely Mesquite, I love your show. Thank you so much
for educating us. What is better the seapap machine are
the oral appliance?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Well, that's a good question. There's also surgeries that can
treat atnia. We usually suggest using the non surgical methods
first to see if you can get it controlled, and
then if you just can't or refuse or whatever, then
you can move to the surgery. Seapap is meant for
the more severe patients. It can work. It works ninety
(11:25):
five percent of the time on all conditions. So you
could get a seapap even with mild or moderate, but
an oral device is a little easier to wear, easier
to travel with. There's no replacement parts. It's the compliance
is better. If you give somebody an oral device, they're
(11:45):
more likely to wear it than a seapap machine. But
if you've got a severe condition, and that means if
you stop breathing at least thirty times per hour every
two minutes you stop breathing, that's when you move into
the severe category, and at that point a cepath is
what we would suggest. But we have patients that we
(12:07):
have treated with oral devices that are severe. They have
been successfully true, so.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
You never know.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
It really depends sometimes on BMI. Sometimes it depends on genetics,
it depends on the position of your jaw, a lot
of things. But you know, we help you make that decision,
as every clinic should. They should allow you to make
the decision on your therapy and not limit you and
say you have to do this one thing because there
are options out there.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
We I just want to get this in real quick
and are really we sent them your phone number. Robert
fort Worth wants to know if you have an office
in Fort Worth.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
No, we don't yet. If that is in the future,
but right now we don't. Mansfield is the closest. I
don't know when is Mansfield opening up? Doctor Smith, your
life first, your life for oh soon, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
And you have another love tation opening up.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Yeah, we've got Houston opening up, but we've also got
North Carolina, and so I don't know we have anybody
here in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
But before the end of the year we'll have.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Houston and North Carolina, and then we're looking at Alabama
and Washington, Oklahoma and some other things. But for now,
it's the DFW area primarily.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Okay, John and Garland. Is there a such thing as
unhealthy sleep? And if there is, what does it look like?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Yeah, I mean it's it might not necessarily be sleep atna.
Now again, sleep atna is atnea is Latin for no breath,
So if you have atnea, you're not breathing like you
should be. There's other kinds of unhealthy sleep. You could
have any kind of what we call parasomnia's. You could
be sleepwalking, sleep talking, you could be you know, narcolepsy
(13:54):
is a problem, although that's not considered what we call
a pairasomnia. But regardless it, I've had patients that have
built a patient that has built a set of shelves
in their sleep. They had no idea they were doing it.
So these are the kind of things you can do
when you're asleep that aren't really healthy. There are some
neurodegenerative problems that are unhealthy people that take, you know,
(14:21):
ben a drill. If somebody takes uses ben a drill
every night to go to sleep, that's not good. It's
got what we call an anticholinergic in it. Our body
needs coaling, and if you're using a medication that fights colling,
you're more likely to develop Parkinson's. So there are some
situation like this. There's a lot of education needs to
happen in sleep, and I think a lot of people
(14:42):
don't ask the right questions or don't seek out a
professional to get help if they have unhealthy sleep.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Lynn in Dallas wants to know if I snored, does
that mean I have sleep that NOA No.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
It doesn't mean you do, but it doesn't mean you don't.
You're more likely to have it if you snore. So
if you snore and it doesn't bother anybody, the only
reason to get a study and see if you have
sleep at me is just for your health. But if
the snoring bothers somebody, then that's double reason to get
a study, just to see. Most people are shocked when
(15:18):
they find out that they stop breathing twenty times every hour.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Oh I was, It's not uncommon.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
They come in and they don't think they have any time.
I'm just here because my wife told me to come in.
Oh okay, well let's do a study. And then they
see the results, and sometimes they'll say I don't believe that.
I don't think that study is right. Well they're right.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Wow, doctor someone. I got to tell you, and I
want our audience out there, that I really understand what
you're going through. And I got to tell you when
I fell asleep in a class and the teacher had
to wake me up. First of all, that was so embarrassing,
but I got to tell you that when I hear
(16:01):
about a person who is in an auto accident, I
think about they've fall asleep at the wheel, because that's
what would happen to me. I'd be driving and all
of a sudden, I'd fall asleep, And that's when I
knew I had to go get help. Do you ever
think about that? I mean, is it just for me?
Do I When there's a wreck, you think about, Hey,
(16:23):
what if they fell asleep because they have sleep at me?
Speaker 5 (16:26):
I think that all the time. Every time I see
a wreck, I think the same.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
So I'm not weird.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Okay, No, you're not weird. No, I've heard too many stories.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
I was an expert witness in a case where a
truck driver fell asleep and killed a family of four.
And those things happen a lot. We just aren't aware
of it. I don't drive by trucks anymore, if i'm
I did a lot of research back in the day
about this and found out how many it's just hushed up.
(16:56):
We don't hear about this. But truck drive. You'll see
in the news. You'll see a truck that's hung pain
over and overpass or something. It's all these These people
drive a lot. And if you've got sleep disordered breathing
and you fall asleep, that's not a good thing, and
you could kill other people, not just yourself.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Exactly exactly. Here's one of my favorite questions, Doctor Smith.
Cindy and Dallas. She said, I'm so glad I found
the show My husband snore is so loud it has
hurt our marriage. I know you hear that a lot
every What happens And this is why this is such
a good question. What happens if they don't get treated well.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
I mean, for one thing, the dead partner of a snorer,
if they consistently snore every night, most of the night,
that bead partner loses an hour and a half of.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Sleep every night.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
And if your partner makes you lose an hour and
a half of sleep, that's gonna wear on a marriage. Yes,
any kind of partner is going to be And they
think sleeping in another room solves the problem, and it
doesn't it. Yeah, it helps the person who's not snoring,
but you have to consider the health of the one
who is. And it's not difficult to fix this problem.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It isn't. And I like, you know, people say that
they're afraid, like especially I went to seapap route and
I got to tell you that you just get used
to it. It's like if I have to Uh, I
had to go into the hospital or something and they
had this huge machine there for a seapap that was
(18:38):
really uncomfortable, But I got to tell you it's like,
no big deal, it really isn't and you feel so
much better The next morning. I want to get to
Leslie And this is one from Tyler doctor Smith. She said,
I love your show. My husband snores but won't admit it.
(19:01):
We've seen that a lot. How do I talk him
into making an appointment with you.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Threatened to leave him?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Well, you know if you hear it all the time,
don't you?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
So one trick I have heard is, you know, making
sure your husband's life insurance is paid up and then say,
you know, let's just say his name is Bob. Bob.
If you don't get this treated, I would prefer that
you die rather than have a stroke, because if you
have a stroke, I have to walk you around in
(19:37):
your wheelchair the rest of your life and I don't
want to do that.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
So please, if you don't get this treated, just.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Die and don't have a stroke, because either of those
things could happen.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It's you know, the things that you think that might.
I mean, I just remember that when the doctor said, well,
I'm on a what's called a BYPA machine, not a seatpap,
the BiPAP. I mean, I've got it really bad, but
I was so nervous, and I got to tell you.
(20:09):
The best thing you can do is making a point
first of all, see if you have a sleep appear
problem is go to one of your sixon to be
seven eight locations and find out if that's what your
problem is. The sleep is no big dif because I
(20:30):
can't believe you do this at home. Why did they
never think about that before? Doctor Smith? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Well, hey, I wasn't around twenty years ago either.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Yeah, I know, but it is. It makes such a
major difference in your life. And it really is. When
you think about you actually stop breathing. That alone should
scare you. And if you have a wife or a
husband that snores, you nailed it, doctor Smith. You know,
(21:02):
because it keeps the other person from getting good sleep.
You know, I haven't even thought of it that way,
but that's really true. Help people. We've got about three
minutes left. Why they should sign up, come in make
an appointment. And we just had someone who just wrote,
as does insurance cover this at all?
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Yes, medical insurance covers it. Whether it's an oral device
or a CPAP machine or a BiPAP machine, or surgery.
Medical insurance understands that if you treat it, you're less
likely to have health problems later on, which is going
to take the insurance company more. They don't want to
have to pay for a heart attack and all the
things that occur because of that. They don't want to
(21:45):
have to pay for all your medications. If you have diabetes,
they would prefer to prevent you from having that. I mean,
there are three pillars of health. There's exercise, diet, and sleep.
Those are the three things that you must do and
do healthily. What is the easiest of those things to do?
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Sleep?
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Sleep, and to sleep healthily? So we can we can
cross one of those off. If you don't want to
diet and you don't want to exercise, okay, but at
least get good sleep. That's the easiest of those three
to fix.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So is there a phone number? Is there one phone
number for all the people listening on radio and iHeartRadio
and Spotify and Apple right now? Is there one number
they can call that's good for any location?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Yes, Yes, for any location. It's eight four four or
zero nine or six five seven. And the website that's
an older website that you have scrolling there. The website
is for Star Sleeping Wellness is s t swell dot.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Com, Well dot com.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
St s well dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah, Doctor Smith with the good news is doctor Smith
with us month. He'll be back again with us next month.
Plus we replayed this show twice a month on top
of his live show we're doing now, Doctor Smith. I
am so glad that we have you as our expert
for my favorite city, Dallas Fort Worth. We will see
(23:19):
you again next month on More as the Experts.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
I'll look forward to it. Everybody sleep well out there.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yes, thanks doctor Smith. That's doctor Kent Smith. He is
may He's been doing this for a long time. We
have waited so long to have him as part of
our show and we're so glad to have him. That's
gonna do it for us today. We'll be back again
(23:47):
with you next week with more as the Experts.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Thanks for tuning in today to the Ask the Experts
show on W four CY Radio and Talk for TV.
Tune in next week and every week to hear more
from our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs,
escape planning, medicare, and many other topics in the areas
of legal, health, financial and home improvement. See you next week.
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