Sleep Apnea

As a former sufferer of sleep apnea myself, my main goal on this website was to help other people with sleep apnea. Throughout the site you will find tips, tricks, advice, and generally just a vast amount of information regarding the subject of sleep apnea. You will find my story of how I nearly lost my partner due to the implications and strain that sleep apnea often puts on your relationship to finally doing something about it and now a year later – Im completely sleep apnea free!

So what is sleep apnea?

There are two primary types of sleep apnea – Obstructive sleep apnea and Central sleep apnea, you may come across another known form of the condition which is called mixed sleep apnea, this is basically a combination of both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea:

Obstructive sleep apnea is by far in a way the most common form of sleep apnea you will encounter, the reason for this is because Obstructive sleep apnea is often caused by your lifestyle choices I.E being overweight. Now that doesn’t mean to say that being overweight is the only factor of increasing your risk of sleep apnea. Other factors could include:

• Overweight – The most obvious and common factor known to cause sleep apnea.

• Large Tonsils – More common in children, having large tonsils could lead to a blocked airway.

• Big Tongue – Probably one of the less common factors but it has been proven that having a long big tongue could fall back during sleep and block your airways.

• Jaw – If your upper jaw is much larger than your lower jaw than this could be a major factor (retrognathia)

• Palate – Your palate could be in different shapes which would ultimately cause your airway to be more narrow.

Can it be treated?

Short answer – Yes, but if you want to cure it completely then it will take time and effort… But thats a small price to pay when your life is at risk. Now obviously the most common method of treating sleep apnea if through a continuous positive airway pressure in other words… a cpap. And while these are proven to be effective, they don’t cure sleep apnea. Basically a cpap machine is an oxygen pump which opens up your airwaves making it much easier to sleep, however most of these machines can be slightly loud which sort of defeats the object for some people. You also have to wear a mask, the whole cpap experience can be a very unpleasant process.

For immediate treatment I would suggest a lifestyle change asap, now I go into detail a lot more about this on other posts throughout this site but I will briefly explain what needs to be done here. Firstly your weight, yes it’s  been covered already and you know what to do… get on a diet and start exercising, again more information and help can be found throughout the site as I share with you exactly how I did it. Also it’s important that you stop drinking alcohol and try not to sleep on your back for now. These 3 tips are probably the most effective for immediate results, if your looking to cure sleep apnea completely… Read on.

Central Sleep Apnea

Now central sleep apnea is slightly more complicated, fortunately I only suffered from obstructive sleep apnea but I do know people that suffer from central sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea is normally caused as a side effect of other serious life threatening conditions, these conditions usually affect the brainstem which therefore can cause central sleep apnea.

Most common conditions that could lead to central sleep apnea:

• Stroke – Not all strokes affect the brainstem so this may not be the reason you have central sleep apnea if you’ve had a stroke (Checking with doctor is very important in this case)

• Encephalitis – Which is swelling of the brain can most certainly cause sleep apnea if it is affecting your brain stem.

• Arthritis – If you have Arthritis and it is affecting your cervical spine then you need to get checked out asap and this is also known to cause central sleep apnea

• Cervical spine – If you have a condition that is affecting your cervical spine than you need to see a doctor urgently.

Can it be treated?

There are treatments for central sleep apnea that will relieve your symptoms but because more often than not central sleep apnea is caused by another condition it is more important to treat that condition first. However that isn’t to say you should not treat central sleep apnea as there multiple ways of making it better.

BiPaP

The BiPaP is very similar to the Cpap, the difference is that the Bipap has difference modes and features which allow you to set it on a timer or spontaneous you can find out how the BiPaP works by clicking here – BiPaP

Drugs

There are certain drugs available that will help stimulate breathing, however not all types of central sleep apnea will work with these drugs. It’s important you discuss everything with your doctor before taking these.

Getting Tested:

Although there many guides on the internet for self diagnosis of sleep apnea, no matter what you read there is no way you can be 100% certain. So what you need to do is you believe you have the symptoms for central sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea is go get a sleep test.

Polysomnogram – A multi parametric test (Sleep study) that records data as you sleep. There is nothing to worry about when it comes to a polysomnogram, you will probably have to go to a sleep center or hospital and you will be wired up (all painless) most likely you will stay overnight.

Echocardiogram – Although less common for diagnosing sleep apnea, a Echocardiogram is still an affective way of getting tested. It works by sending ultrasound waves through the heart, nowadays they have 3d real-time imaging data so the results are very accurate.

If you think you have sleep apnea than don’t panic, sleep apnea is dramatically on the rise in Europe and the United States so remember that you are not alone and if you have obstructive sleep apnea then you can get rid of it!