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Sleep apnea is the cessation of breathing for a short period of time, usually ten seconds or more. Some patients stop breathing for up to two minutes every time. There are three types of sleep apnea; central, mixed and obstructive which is the most common. The causes are still unknown for many sleep apnea cases.
Airway obstruction is the most common cause for obstructive sleep apnea. Many obese people get obstructive sleep apnea because the excess fat makes their airways close down. Other causes can be chronic respiratory disease and a central nervous system disorder where the body literally forgets to breath. This type is central sleep apnea. The rarest form of this disorder is the mixed sleep apnea being a combination of the other two types.
Symptoms often include severe snoring, waking up gasping for air, morning headaches, choking while asleep, daytime fatigue and memory loss due to the anxiety and depression that can also go along with it.
Another person may notice a cessation of breathing while you are asleep. If this is the case, see a doctor and see if he/she will order a sleep study. A sleep study will positively diagnosis sleep apnea if you have it. It will also let the doctor know just how severe your case is.
If sleep apnea is left untreated it can become very dangerous. A person with sleep apnea can be so tired during the day that he/she may fall asleep while driving. There can be pulmonary problems also. Periods of not breathing is depriving your brain of the needed oxygen. You never reach that REM state of sleep so you are sleep deprived. This in turn can cause depression and anxiety and memory loss. It can appear to be dementia (brain damage) in severe cases.
Risk increases with stress, recent stroke, obesity, excess alcohol consumption, drug use and dementia. Avoid all risk factors if you have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is rare. Only 4% of men and 2% of women are diagnosed. Many may have it and it is never diagnosed.
The most common treatment is the CPAP machine. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. This device is worn when you go to bed. It is humidified air that is forced through a mask into your airways. Your chin is strapped shut to prevent the air from going out your mouth. It has helped many people recover from sleep apnea. Many people can not tolerate the CPAP device.
Another treatment is surgery. The UPPP is a cutting away of the upper palate, and sometimes the uvula, in the back of the throat. Surgery is also done to enlarge the nasal passages. A deviated septum is corrected through surgery at times also. In extreme cases the lower jaw is surgically moved forward to open up the airway.
Sleep apnea can be a very bad problem especially in patients who stop breathing more than 300 times a night or fifty times an hour. The most common patient with sleep apnea is middle aged men who are overweight. High blood pressure can develop if sleep apnea is not treated. Patients can’t concentrate due to lack of sleep and lack of oxygen.
Seventy percent of patients with sleep apnea are overweight. The other 30% are not. Sometimes enlarged tonsils can contribute to sleep apnea. Have these removed if this is the case. Visit an ear, nose and throat specialist for an examination. He may want to do a scope by going through your nose and down your throat. This procedure is done in the office and is just a little uncomfortable. The ENT doctor can find out what is causing your sleep apnea and what can be done for it, if you can not tolerate the CPAP machine.
Other problems that can happen is heart problems. The right pumping chamber of the heart can become enlarged and weak. This results in ventricular hypertrophy and eventually cor pulmonale. The heart becomes so weak that it can not pump blood through the lungs.
The sleep study, or polysomnogram, may be recommended to accurately diagnosis your sleep apnea. This procedure is done in a lab. You will be hooked up to a machine and watched with a camera while you sleep. The machine will record when and how long each episode of not breathing is. This study also measures muscle strength of the diaphragm, and straining of the thorax. It assesses the strength of the breathing attempt, the ability to take in oxygen into the blood and esophageal reflux. Esophageal reflux is the pushing of the stomach contents back up in to the esophagus. If you are having tiny seizures, this study will detect them. If your airways are collapsing, the study will detect that also. Oxygen saturation is measured. A healthy person is close to 100%. With sleep apnea you can drop to dangerous levels of 70 or below. An arterial blood gas test is done also to check levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your body. The sleep study is not hard or does not give you any discomfort. The technician hooks you up and says goodnight. The next morning you go home. That’s it. The ENT will then look over the results to determine his next course of action.
Apnea is a Greek word meaning ‘want of breath’. Sleep apnea was first described in 1965. They are still learning about it and finding new treatments for it. It seems that sleep apnea runs in families. There may be a genetic link. Infants get sleep apnea too. It is being looked into being the possible cause of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.
If there is a possibility that you may have sleep apnea, go see your doctor and discuss it. Early detection is important to prevent other conditions from happening. This is a disease where you may look fine and not even feel that bad, but can be very dangerous. Don’t mess around with it and get it treated in some way.
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