Day: August 12, 2021

Sciatic nerve pain can be disabling. The excruciating pain can prevent you from even getting out of your bed. The pain results from several issues including spinal trauma and tumors. Spine expert Dr. Evan O’Brien and his team offer patient-centered care to their various patients affected by spinal concerns, including sciatica in Woodbury. These professionals know that in order to understand and solve sciatic nerve pain, you have to know its exact cause. Sciatica’s radiating pain that travels from your buttocks down to your legs can either be mild or chronic, lasting much longer than it should. In some cases, the pain may result in numbness and muscle weakness, affecting your mobility.

What do you need to know about sciatica?

Sciatica is not a condition. Rather, it describes a symptom resulting from other health concerns in your lower back. Sciatica happens when something like a herniated disc irritates, inflames, or compresses your sciatic nerve or either of your nerve roots that eventually form the sciatic nerve. As a result, you might feel pain that radiates up and down your affected leg, especially from your buttocks down to your ankle. The pain you are likely to feel from the compression can be sharp, dull, or have a burning sensation. You may also feel intermittent shocks of instant shooting pains in your lower back and down the affected leg.

Also referred to as sciatic neuropathy, the radiating pain can either be intense or mild, depending on its severity. However, you are likely to worsen the pain with movements such as coughing, bending, or twisting. Relief from sciatica can take approximately six weeks depending on your treatment, though you may still experience weakness and numbness in your leg. However, your doctor may recommend advanced treatment when you have chronic sciatica that fails to resolve with treatment. The only way to rid you of sciatica is to know its root causes through a diagnosis from your doctor.

What are the common causes of sciatica?

• Herniated disc or Lumbar bulging disc

Your spinal discs serve several functions including transferring the weight you exert on your spine through to the discs. A bulge or a herniation is common in your lower back and the compression against a nerve root may result in sciatica. Disc herniation is even worse. Not only does it compress your nerve, but it also contains hyaluronic acid (chemical irritant), which is likely to result in nerve inflammation.

• Lumbar spinal stenosis

Your spinal roots branch outwards from your spinal cord through neural foramina, where they join and form nerves that extend to your body. However, with spinal stenosis, the foramina narrow, thereby compressing your nerves. The narrowing can either result from disc herniation, spinal injuries, or bone spurs.

• Spondylolisthesis

The disorder that affects your lumbar spine happens when a vertebra slips over an adjacent one, forcing the displaced vertebra to press on the nerve roots or nerves beneath it.

• Piriformis syndrome

The piriformis muscle in your spine’s lower part connects to your thigh bone and helps in hip rotation. The sciatic nerve that passes under the piriformis muscle might experience irritation from the muscle when it’s inflamed and compresses against the nerve.

Sciatica hurts. However, pain relief without a proper diagnosis can be challenging. Therefore, contact your doctor for a thorough evaluation to get appropriate treatment for your sciatic nerve pain.   

Sleep apnea can be defined as the condition that causes an individual to stop breathing while sleeping. Lack of breathing comes with the consequence of less intake of oxygen. An individual will therefore try to gasp for air, and in most cases, he or she will wake up in the process. However, you will not realize that you stopped breathing, and hence they may continue back to sleeping usually. This is a sleep condition that will require your attention because it may cause severe problems. You must understand it and seek the appropriate medical attention. Highlighted below are three main types of Bristow Sleep Apnea.

Types of sleep apnea

• Obstructive sleep apnea – is the condition that occurs when throat muscles relax. In this case, breathing stops involuntarily for brief periods due to the narrowing of the airway and space in the throat.
• Central sleep apnea – This condition mainly happens when the brain does not send the right signals to the muscles that control breathing. It is caused by the deactivation of respiratory muscles or the failure of the brain to activate respiratory muscles.
• Complex sleep apnea syndrome – the condition that is also referred to as the treatment-emergent central sleep apnea. It mainly occurs in patients who have both obstructive sleep apnea and complex sleep apnea syndrome.

Symptoms of sleep apnea

There are some signs and symptoms that you may notice from sleep apnea. The symptoms of central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea are almost similar. Some of the common signs may include the following.

• The patient may snore when sleeping
• When sleeping, you may gasp for air
• Headaches in the morning
• Waking up with a dry mouth
• Insomnia
• Feeling sleepy during the day
• Feeling irritated
• Being less attentive when awake
• Another person could report periods when you stopped breathing

Factors that may increase the risk of sleep apnea

Some key factors that may make you more like to have this condition include:

• Excess weight – people with obesity are known to suffer from this condition. It is a result of fat deposits that accumulate on the upper airway and hence obstructing your breathing.
• Circumference of the neck – those people who have thicker necks will be more prone to suffer from sleep apnea due to narrow airways.
• A narrow airway – having a narrow airway can be a family problem. Some narrow airways may be caused by large tonsils or adenoids that may enlarge, making the airway thinner. The condition mainly occurs in children.
• Age – older people are more vulnerable to this condition.
• Use of drugs- some drugs such as alcohol, sedatives, and tranquilizers will relax the muscles in your throat. It will, in return, worsen obstructive sleep apnea.

Treatment for sleep apnea

If you are suffering from the condition, be aware that you can get the treatment. If the disease is mild, the doctor will recommend that you change your lifestyle. Some changes include losing weight and quitting the use of certain drugs. If you suffer from allergies, get the treatment, and the condition will disappear. If the situation does not improve after changing your lifestyle, the doctor may recommend using devices that will keep your throat open. CPAP or continuous positive airway pressure therapy utilizes a machine that will help you recover.

Contact a sleep apnea specialist

While some sleep apnea conditions are mild and recover by lifestyle change, other cases will require a specialist. The specialist will give the right sleep therapy, and this will help you recover. The team at Momentum Dental Care will deliver the service that you deserve.

Expanders have become one of the most orthodontic treatments recently, and many people are turning to them to prevent oral complications and improve overall oral health. Robert J. Lopatkin, an orthodontist at Advanced Digital Orthodontics, offers Expanders in Roslyn to manage a crossbite or a narrow upper jaw. However, the treatment option can also be recommended to handle various common dental complications, particularly alignment issues. Many exciting benefits are experienced when using this treatment, and here are some of them. Have a look.

Promotes the Natural Process of Upper Jaw Expansion

Using expanders, particularly for your children, can augment their upper jaw until the age of 14 or 15, when the mid palatal suture is almost permanently fusing. This midpoint between the right and left halves is expanded slowly and gently to create new bone tissues within the area. This makes the upper jaw wider, unlike without the expander. The entire process is stimulated by the natural processes around a child’s growth.

The Expansion Process is Comfortable

When using the expanders, they will be activated daily, and the expansion occurs at a rate of about 0.2 millimeters a day. This makes the process slow with minor discomfort. As a result, many children barely notice the changes happening in their jaw as the palate expands to the anticipated width. Generally, the process takes about 3-6 weeks with daily activation to achieve the desired jaw width. At the end of the duration, it becomes possible to undergo any additional treatment successfully.

It Simplifies and Enhances Other Treatments

During your expansion process, your provider will demand a regular and frequent checkup to monitor your progress. You may require orthodontic visits every week or two weeks to help your provider carefully follow your process and halt the treatment once the required width is attained. However, the expander is left in the mouth for about six months to allow the bone to fuse naturally, and it becomes solid and stable. This makes it ready for the next part of your orthodontic treatment helping your provider proceed easily.

The Expander Can Correct Various Issues

It is not often to find a solution that can address several issues altogether. But with an expander, you can manage posterior crossbites, lower jaw asymmetry, and crowding. These complications can affect your child’s ability to bite and chew and cause permanent asymmetry alongside other complications such as temporomandibular joint syndrome. But when an expander creates a better balance between the upper and the lower jaws, it not only improves these issues but also gives your child an aesthetically appealing smile.

It Makes Breathing Easier

Many patients who use expanders report that breathing through the nose becomes easier. When the upper palate is expanding, it also raises the nasal airway, hence the improved breathing. However, this is not a predictable outcome, but it is a possibility. Studies suggest that for those who breathe through the mouth, snore, or are suffering from sleep apnea due to a narrow upper jaw, the use of an expander can make a significant difference over time.

Learn if you or your child can benefit from expanders by contacting Dr. Lopatkin at Advanced Digital Orthodontics. Dr. Lopatkin will help you understand the treatment process and what you can expect during the consultation appointment.

Acute Care Surgery is an area that has three vital sections. It deals with critical care, emergency surgery, and trauma. Surgical specialists involved in acute care use quality and evidence-based procedures to improve patients’ treatment with time-sensitive surgical conditions. If you are experiencing a condition that requires acute care surgery, visit the Surgical Specialists of NY, who are regarded as the best Upper East Side acute care surgery specialists. The highly-skilled team practice medicine with passion and offer the best services to their patients.

Below are some of the conditions that need acute care surgery:

Appendicitis

Your appendix is a vital organ that is pouch-like and found on the abdomen’s right side. This condition is a short-term disease. That is, it resolves within a few days or weeks. It starts with pain around the belly button and relocates to the right side. Later, symptoms such as nausea, poor appetite, fever, and vomiting then follow. You may wonder what could trigger your appendicitis. Here are its causes:

• Abdomen trauma.
• Blockage of the appendix’s opening from the inside.
• Stool or growth that can cause coughing of your appendix.

Its treatment is either antibiotics or surgery(Acute Care Surgery). If this condition persists without a specialist’s attention, it can cause rupture to the appendix.

Intestinal Obstructions

This is a condition that affects both the small and large intestines. Intestinal obstruction is a condition that occurs when there is compression of the gut by fibrous tissues. There are two types of intestinal obstructions, namely functional and mechanical. Functional obstructions arise when there is neither physical blockage nor food movement through the tract. On the other hand, mechanical problems occur when the movement of food is prevented due to blockage. Some of the causes include hernias, impacted stool, foreign bodies, tumors that can block the intestines, and gallstones.

Diverticulitis

It is also known as colonic diverticulitis and affects people aged 40 and above. It is an infection found along the walls of the large intestines. Some of the symptoms include pain in the abdomen, nausea, and vomiting, among others. Therefore, it would be best if you visited a doctor any time you have severe abdominal pains. How to treat the condition:

• Exercise regularly.
• Drink lots of fluids.
• Avoid smoking.
• Eat more fiber.

Changing lifestyle habits and eating patterns would help with the condition.

Perforated Ulcers

A perforated ulcer is a critical condition that occurs when an untreated ulcer has burned through the wall in a segment of the digestive tract. It later leads to leakage of gastric contents into the abdominal cavity. The symptoms of this condition include:

• Pain developing from the back or shoulder.
• Lack of appetite.
• Swollen belly.
• Severe pain in the abdomen.

For this condition, you should seek immediate treatment. In most cases, your doctor will advise you on immediate surgery.

Consult an Acute Care Expert Today

Some of the conditions that require Acute Care Surgery can be fatal. Therefore, it is crucial If you are undergoing any of the health problems mentioned above to see a specialist immediately. In addition, if you are a resident of New York City, Surgical Specialists of NY are absolutely the way to go. They not only operate on their patients but also perform palliative care. Call them today to schedule a consultation with the specialists.