Episode 6 of Airway Answers: "All of Your Sleep Questions Answered (PART 1) with Dr. Jerald Simmons"

Airway Answers with Nicole Goldfarb: Expanding Your Breath of Knowledge

Welcome to the “Airway Answers: Expanding your Breath of Knowledge” with Nicole Goldfarb, M.A. CCC, SLP- COM®. In this episode, join Nicole as she welcomes very special guest Dr. Jerald Simmons as they discuss everything you need to know regarding sleep. This is Part 1 because I have a lot more questions for Dr. Simmons, the sleep expert who is triple board certified in sleep medicine, neurology, and epilepsy.
In this interview, Dr. Simmons discusses all about:
*Stages of sleep, and what each stage does for the brain and body
*Sleep debt
*What happens to the upper airway muscles if you go to sleep too tired
*Fibromyalgia
*Can someone get no REM sleep or too little REM?
*Sleepwalking, sleepwalking, nightmares, night terrors, bed wetting, and getting up in the night urinate - when these issues are normal, and when they may be a problem
*Bruxism: causes, medications/role of antidepressants, etc.
central apneas
*Home sleep testing (HST), and what happens if someone has symptoms but their home sleep testing shows they are fine
In part 2, some of my questions will be about:
*Sleep position and positional sleep apnea
*Napping,
*Reflux,
*PLMD and RLS,
*Various medications and how they affect sleep,
is melatonin safe to give to a child,
*What about melatonin for adults,
*Pregnancy and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB)
*Relationship of PTSD to SDB
*The large co-occurrence of narcolepsy with sleep apnea
*Dreams - should we remember our dreams?…
*When to refer for a sleep study, and what happens if the results come back as “mild“ or just “snoring“… How do we handle that?
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ABOUT THE HOST:
Nicole Goldfarb, M.A. CCC, SLP- COM® is a Speech-Language Pathologist, Certified Orofacial Myologist, International speaker, author, Ambassador for the Breathe Institute, a Talk Tools educational partner, and she has served on the faculty for the Sleep Education Consortium and the Airway, Sleep, and Pediatrics Pathway (ASAP) program. She has completed over 50 presentations nationally and internationally on orofacial myofunctional therapy as it relates to sleep-disordered breathing in both children and adults. Nicole is the author of the following: 2023 article in Dental Sleep Practice Magazine “Why Every Dentist and Orthodontist Should Have an Orofacial Myofunctional Therapist on Their Team”; 2024 article in Sleep World Magazine for sleep MDs, respiratory technicians, and other sleep specialists titled “How to Restore Proper Rest: How orofacial myofunctional therapy can aid in the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing”; a two-part chapter on orofacial myofunctional therapy in a 2024 medical textbook “Growing Into Breathing Problems: The Collaborative Quest For Lifetime Solutions” with world renowned editors; and a children’s book series “The Adventures of Captain Airway and Mr. Mighty Mouth” helping to bring airway insight to young children, their parents, teachers, and other medical professionals. She serves on the Child Airway Initiative Task Force (CAST), which is a national team of doctors, dentists, and orthodontists developing a universal screening tool for all dentists to use to screen patients for sleep-disordered breathing. Nicole is the owner of San Diego Center For Speech Therapy & Myofunctional Therapy. She currently serves as a mentor and consultant to patients, professionals, and colleagues nationally and internationally in the field of orofacial myofunctional therapy. Nicole’s life-long quest is to help in the early identification and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing and airway issues. For more on Nicole, visit her practice: www.sandiegocenterforspeechtherapy.com. Follow her Facebook: San Diego Center for Speech Therapy.