Sleep Disorder Treatment in Greenville, SC
Sleep Disorder Treatment at IHP Greenville — TCM, in-house herbal pharmacy, functional medicine. Dr. Hendry, DAOM. Call (864) 365-6156.
"I have been going to Dr. Hendry for 2 months now, for Acupuncture and Supplements. After 2 months, this is the best I have felt in over 2 years. My energy is so much better, my gut and digestion is back to normal."
— Danny Pyatt · March 2026 · Google Review
Non-restorative sleep is the complaint I take most seriously — more than difficulty falling asleep or early waking — because it means the brain isn't completing its inflammatory clearance cycle during the night. Dantzer's work established that elevated IL-6 and TNF-alpha fragment sleep architecture at the hypothalamic level, producing exhaustion that CPAP and melatonin both fail to touch. I order a 4-point salivary cortisol and inflammatory markers before designing any sleep protocol, because the treatment for cortisol-driven sleep fragmentation is completely different from the treatment for Kidney Yin Deficiency insomnia or dopamine-deficient restless legs. Each sleep disorder has a mechanism. The mechanism determines the intervention.
How Sleep Disorder Treatment Works
Sleep disorder treatment begins with thorough characterization of your specific sleep pattern and any associated symptoms. Dr. Hendry may recommend a functional medicine sleep assessment (including salivary cortisol curve, thyroid panel, sex hormone assessment, and blood sugar markers) to identify specific biological drivers. Chinese medical diagnosis identifies the constitutional pattern (Heart Shen disturbance, Liver Qi Stagnation, Kidney Yin Deficiency) guiding treatment.
Conditions Treated with Sleep Disorder Treatment
Circadian and Inflammatory Root Causes vs. CPAP as the Sole Intervention
CPAP therapy is the gold standard for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea and reduces cardiovascular risk in compliant patients. The problem our practice encounters frequently is the patient whose CPAP adherence is good but whose daytime fatigue, cognitive fog, and non-restorative sleep have not resolved. A 50-year-old man with an AHI of 14 is CPAP-adherent, titrated appropriately, yet reports waking feeling unrested and requiring two hours before cognitive clarity returns each morning. His primary care provider has no further intervention to offer. Our workup reveals hs-CRP of 4.2 mg/L, fasting insulin of 22 mIU/L indicating insulin resistance, an inverted diurnal cortisol curve, and IL-6 in the upper quartile of the reference range. Nocturnal inflammatory cytokine activity is fragmenting his sleep architecture despite airway patency. Our protocol targets the inflammatory drivers through omega-3 repletion, magnesium, and berberine for insulin sensitization, combined with acupuncture to modulate the HPA axis and reduce systemic IL-6 activity. Sleep quality improvement follows reduction of the inflammatory substrate, not further adjustment of equipment settings.
Research & Evidence
Sleep disorders encompass a broader spectrum than insomnia alone, including circadian phase disorders, upper airway resistance syndrome, and non-restorative sleep driven by inflammatory cytokine activity during the night. Dantzer et al. (Nat Rev Neurosci. 2008) documented that elevated IL-6 and TNF-alpha activate hypothalamic circuits that fragment sleep architecture, producing hypersomnolence and non-restorative sleep even when polysomnography shows adequate sleep duration. Hannibal and Bishop (Phys Ther. 2014) established that HPA axis dysregulation produces phase-shifted cortisol curves that misalign with circadian melatonin rhythms, creating a chronobiological mismatch independent of obstructive anatomy. Upstream contributors to sleep apnea severity include obesity-related leptin resistance, which depresses hypoglossal motor neuron output to upper airway musculature, and nocturnal cortisol elevation, which increases pharyngeal inflammation. Yin et al. (J Psychiatr Res. 2017) reported that acupuncture outperformed sham and waitlist controls across multiple sleep quality domains, with benefits extending to sleep architecture as measured by polysomnography in subgroup analyses. Our evaluation incorporates inflammatory cytokine markers, diurnal cortisol curves, metabolic panels assessing leptin and insulin resistance, and circadian rhythm assessment tools before constructing individualized treatment protocols.
Your First Appointment
Describe your sleep disorder in detail — onset, what you experience (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, early waking, non-restorative sleep, daytime sleepiness). Snoring, witnessed apneas, or morning headaches suggest possible sleep apnea for referral.
Why Dr. Hendry for Sleep Disorder Treatment
Dr. Hendry's HRV biofeedback research (published 2017 and 2020 at Prisma Health) is directly related to sleep physiology — HRV measures the autonomic regulatory capacity that governs sleep-wake cycling.