When breathing of a person during sleep is reduced or stops, this condition could be diagnosed as sleep apnea.Routine visits to the doctor, however, are usually not enough to detect sleep apnea and this disorder often goes undiagnosed. Most patients would not know if they have sleep apnea because it only happens to them while sleeping. This problem could only surface if a patient’s bed partner or family member notices the condition.
Diagnosis may reveal any of three types of sleep apnea. These apnea types include central apnea, obstructive apnea, and a combination of the two.
Central apnea occurs when the brain of a person asleep fails to activate the muscles for breathing. Obstructive apnea, on the other hand, happens when the person’s airway collapses during sleep. This is the most common type of sleep apnea and occurs mostly in overweight patients. There are several complications of obstructive apnea. These include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, daytime sleepiness, difficulty in concentration and thinking which could result in accidents while driving. To diagnose and evaluate obstructive sleep apnea, a patient will undergo physical examination and polysomnography. If you think you might be suffering from sleep apnea you should see a doctor for sleep apnea treatments.
Seeking treatment is very crucial for a patient diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. It is tempting for most people afflicted with this disorder to forego treatment. The treatment may involve the inconvenience of wearing dental appliances and masks nightly. Using a dental appliance for sleep apnea is uncomfortable at first but you can get used to it. A sleep apnea chin strap is slightly less uncomfortable, but is very unattractive. There’s surgery, but it’s painful and there is no guarantee for successful treatment.For these discouraging reasons on surgery and personal appliances, only 10% of sleep apnea patients have been estimated to have undergone treatment.
It is therefore important to educate the rest of the 90% of those patients of the consequences of non-treatment of their disorder.r In addition to putting themselves at risk, they likewise pose risk to others particularly when driving. To the patient, the non-treatment of obstructive sleep apnea carries the increased risk of strokes, heart attacks, high blood pressure, poor work productivity, reduced attentiveness, and in extreme cases, untimely death.
Persons with obstructive sleep apnea should discuss treatment with their doctor right away. Other than surgery, wearing mask and dental appliances, there are more palatable treatments of patients. These include behavioral therapy, continuous positive airway pressure, auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure, and bi-level positive airway pressure.
Changing a patient’s lifestyle could also help treat sleep apnea. These include refraining from taking alcoholic drinks or muscle relaxants, weight reduction and stopping smoking. Having the body at a 30-degree elevation while sleeping to prevent airway collapse due to gravity could also help in apnea treatment. Sleeping on a sideways position may also beneficial in reducing the gravitational cause of sleep apnea.
There are several surgical procedures for those patients who elect surgery. Procedures that may be suggested include, nasal surgery, tongue reduction surgery, palate implants, bariatric surgery, maxi-mandibular advancement and uvulopapatopahryngoplasty.
Posted under Sleep Apnea Test
This post was written by admin on June 21, 2009
