FAQ’s about Sleep Apnea

What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea occurs when a person is sleeping and their breathing either stops or becomes extremely shallow for a duration lasting anywhere between 10 to 20 seconds, sometimes longer.  Over an hour’s period these pauses can happen 20 to 30 times. 

What are the symptoms?
This condition is detrimental to the individual in many ways.  For starters, it causes very restless sleep which eventually leads to fatigue during the daytime hours.  Secondly, sleep apnea causes the level of oxygen in the blood to fluctuate throughout the night, dropping when the breathing stops and rising again when the breathing resumes.  Most patients with sleep apnea snore, usually very loudly and can become bothersome to other family members in the household.

Other symptoms indicating that an individual may have sleep apnea are headaches upon awakening, irritability throughout the day, fatigue, dry throat in the mornings, and frequent urination at night.

If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to still further health problems in the future such as elevated blood pressure, and possibly even heart attack or stroke.  Diabetes has also been correlated to untreated sleep apnea.

What causes it?
Sleep apnea is caused by the collapsing of the throat muscles which block the airway.  The body continues its attempts to breath resulting in loud snores, gurgles or snorts, until finally the individual briefly awakes (they are usually unaware that they are doing so), and the throat reopens.

Who gets sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea can happen to anyone.  However, the most common groups of people include those who are overweight, those with a family history of the condition, those with high blood pressure and anyone with a decreased size in airway or increased size in adenoids, tonsils or tongue (such as swelling in these areas).

How is sleep apnea treated?
If the patient only has a mild case of sleep apnea, small lifestyle changes can actually decrease its occurrence.  Avoid smoking, excessive use of alcohol and sleep aids.  If overweight, attempt to bring the weight down into a healthy range.  Some patients have reported that sleeping on their side instead of their back decreases symptoms as well.

In more severe cases or when the above suggestions do not help, other conventional options are available.  CPAP, or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, is the most common method of intervention.  This method involves using a mask that is worn while the patient sleeps.  It blows a steady stream of air (set individually for each patient) into the airway.  This forces the airway to remain open instead of collapsing.  This type of treatment is something that must always be used, if it is stopped, the sleep apnea returns.

A second, non-invasive, conventional therapy is a mouthpiece worn at night.  The mouthpiece is fitted by a professional orthodontist.  The mouthpiece is designed to keep the tongue from falling into the airway and blocking the flow of air.

For a surer fix, there are surgical procedures that can be undertaken which will fix the problem permanently.  These surgeries usually revolve around removing particular parts of the throat and airway region that are causing the problem; this may include the tonsils, adenoids, uvula and/or a portion of the soft palate.

 

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