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What is Sleep Apnea?
Breathing repeatedly stops and begins during sleep, a symptom of a potentially dangerous sleep disease called obstructive sleep apnea.
Learn More About Sleep Apnea
Although there are other varieties of sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea is the most prevalent kind. It happens when your throat muscles occasionally relax and restrict your airway while you're asleep.
While not everyone with obstructive sleep apnea snores, it is the most obvious symptom of the condition. If you snore loudly and feel exhausted even after getting a full night's sleep, you might have sleep apnea. Consult your physician if you suspect that you may have sleep apnea.
In order to prevent cardiac issues and other complications, treatment is required. Obstructive sleep apnea can strike anyone, although it typically strikes older persons. Additionally, it is particularly prevalent in overweight individuals.
Treatment for obstructive sleep apnea may include having tissue removed from your mouth, throat, or nose, or it may include using a CPAP machine to maintain an open airway. When the muscles that support the soft tissues in your throat, such your tongue and soft palate, momentarily relax, obstructive sleep apnea develops. Your airway narrows or closes and your breathing is momentarily interrupted when these muscles relax.
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Sleep Apnea Symptoms
You may have numerous effects from sleep apnea. The symptoms can range from the commonplace, like snoring as you sleep, to the extreme, like nodding off while driving. See your doctor about the diagnosis and treatment options for sleep apnea if you suffer from any of the following symptoms.
- Fall asleep while driving
- Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)
- Loud snoring
- Observed episodes of breathing cessation during sleep
- Abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath
- Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat
- Morning headache
- Frequent urination at night
- Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)
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Consult a medical professional if you experience, or if your partner observes, the following:
- Snoring loud enough to disturb your sleep or that of others
- Shortness of breath that awakens you from sleep
- Intermittent pauses in your breathing during sleep
- Excessive daytime drowsiness, which may cause you to fall asleep while you’re working, watching television or even driving a vehicle
Not everyone who has sleep apnea snores, and snoring is not generally considered a major indicator of medical problems. But if you snore loudly, especially if it's interspersed with stillness, make sure to consult your physician. When you sleep on your back with sleep apnea, your snoring usually gets louder, and when you change to sleep on your side, it gets quieter. Consult your physician about any sleep issue that causes you to feel drowsy, exhausted, or agitated all the time. Hypersomnia, or excessive daytime sleepiness, can be caused by narcolepsy or other illnesses.
How is Sleep Apnea Diagnosed?
Your doctor may make an evaluation based on your signs and symptoms or may refer you to a sleep disorder center (Sleep Lab). There, a sleep specialist can help decide whether you need further evaluation. The evaluation may involve overnight monitoring of your breathing and other body functions during sleep. Sleep Apnea is generally diagnosed using one of three types of overnight sleep studies:
Nocturnal polysomnography. During this test, you’re hooked up to equipment that monitors your heart, lung and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while you sleep. This can help your doctor rule out other conditions — such as periodic limb movements or narcolepsy — that can also cause excessive daytime sleepiness, but require different treatment.
Oximetry. This screening method involves using a small machine that monitors and records your blood oxygen level while you’re asleep. A simple sleeve fits painlessly over one of your fingers to collect the information overnight in a sleep lab. If you have sleep apnea, the results of this test will often show drops in your blood oxygen level during apneas and subsequent rises with awakenings.Â
Portable cardiorespiratory testing. Under certain circumstances, your doctor may provide you with at-home tests to diagnose sleep apnea. These tests usually involve oximetry, measurement of airflow and measurement of breathing patterns. Your doctor may also refer you to an ear, nose and throat doctor (otolaryngologist) to rule out any anatomic blockage in your nose or throat.
How is Sleep Apnea Treated?
For milder cases of obstructive sleep apnea, your doctor may recommend lifestyle changes, such as losing weight or quitting smoking. If these measures don’t improve your signs and symptoms or if your apnea is moderate to severe, a number of other treatments are available. PAP therapy is the most common and successful treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and is designed to help open up a blocked airway during sleep. In other cases, dental devices or surgery may be an option.
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Sleep Apnea Therapies
Positive Airway Pressure (PAP)
If you have moderate to severe sleep apnea, you may benefit from a machine that delivers positive air pressure (PAP) through a mask placed over your nose while you sleep.
The most common type is called continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP (SEE-pap). With this treatment, the pressure of the air breathed is continuous and somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air, which is just enough to keep your upper airway passages open. This prevents apnea and snoring. Alternatively, your doctor might prescribe Auto-adjusting Positive Airway Pressure (APAP). APAP works much the same as CPAP, except with APAP the pressure delivered throughout the night adjusts according to your needs rather than delivering a consistent pressure throughout. This can result in a more comfortable therapy experience.
Although PAP is the most consistently successful and most commonly used method of treating sleep apnea, some people find it cumbersome and uncomfortable at first. With some practice and help from our CPAP Specialists, most people learn to adjust the mask to obtain a comfortable and secure fit. You may need to try different types to find a suitable mask. If you’re having particular difficulties tolerating pressure, there are machines that have special adaptive pressure functions to improve comfort. Some people also benefit from using a humidifier and/or heated tubing along with their CPAP system.
Don’t stop using the CPAP machine if you experience problems. Check with our PAP specialists at FPM Solutions to see what adjustments you can make to improve your comfort. In addition, contact your doctor if you still snore despite treatment or begin snoring again. If your weight changes, your doctor may need to adjust the pressure settings.
Mouthpiece (oral device)
Another option is wearing a mouthpiece designed to keep your throat open. While positive airway pressure is nearly always an effective treatment, oral appliances are a successful alternative for some patients. Some are designed to open your throat by bringing your jaw forward, which can sometimes relieve snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea.
Others hold your tongue in a different position. If you and your doctor decide to explore this option, you’ll need to see a dentist experienced in dental sleep medicine appliances for the fitting and follow-up therapy.
A number of devices are available from your dentist. You may need to try different devices before finding one that works for you. Because oral appliances aren’t as consistently effective as CPAP, close follow-up is needed to ensure successful treatment of sleep apnea.
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Surgery or other procedures
The goal of surgery for sleep apnea is to remove excess tissue from your nose or throat that may be vibrating and causing you to snore, or that may be blocking your upper air passages and causing sleep apnea. Speak with your doctor about the benefits and risks associated with such a procedure.
