Sleep Apnea Treatments
Sleep apnea treatments are varied and will depend greatly on the medical history and other data of the patient. Treatments are aimed at keeping the airways open and are determined by the individual’s specific sleep apnea characteristics. A recent market study shows how new sleep apnea treatments are driving contract manufacturers, and describes how PAP devices, which include Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), Automatic Positive Airway Pressure (APAP), and Variable Positive Airway Pressure (VPAP) machines have become the standard and most effective treatment available for sleep apnea.
Symptoms
Sleep apnea is a condition that affects millions of people, however at the same time most of these people don’t know they are suffering from it because its symptoms manifest while you sleep. But if snoring and frequent waking are causing you to suffer from chronic daytime sleepiness, fatigue, headaches and other symptoms, you may have a serious sleep disorder called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) that occurs when breathing is interrupted during sleep.
When a patient has symptoms of sleep apnea, it is recommended that he or she receive a test called a polysomnography.
The person under the effect of this sleep disorder normally shows the symptoms, such as loud snoring during sleep, sudden awakening or getting up frequently during sleep, as well as excessive sleepiness during the daytime, while doing everyday tasks. Some of the other common symptoms of sleep apnea include the after effects such as severe headache in the morning usually after getting up.
Physicians know the diagnosis of sleep apnea is often over looked by primary care doctors or people attempt to address the symptoms of loud snoring using over the counter remedies without addressing the underlying oxygenation problem. Symptoms may also include daytime fatigue and irritation.
Regardless, obstructive sleep apnea is fairly common in people whose hearts do not pump blood adequately, which made experts wonder if obstructive sleep apnea symptoms could be lessened by taking drugs for people suffering shortness of breath from altitude sickness. Additionally people with severe sleep apnea symptoms tend to be overweight and have high blood pressure. Remember that if you have the symptoms it doesn’t necessarily mean that you suffer from sleep apnea.
Treatments
Treatments include breathing devices that keep the airway open during sleep, and surgery that reduces the amount of soft tissue near the airway. Treatments are tailored to patients’ sleep apnea and their special circumstances as revealed in a sleep study.
Mild sleep disorder remedies
For those plagued by mild cases of sleep apnea, there are some simple recommendations that can usually help the condition/ Overweight individuals are encouraged to drop those excess pounds. Exploring apnea treatments today can help you avoid more serious health risks in the future. Behavioral therapies are an important part of the treatments. Sleep apnea lifestyle changes often take time to establish (losing weight isn’t exactly an overnight activity), so other sleep apnea treatments are often employed in combination with lifestyle changes. The most popular and most studied treatment options include CPAP, oral appliances, weight loss, and oral surgery.
Throat sprays, nose stickers, ’sleep apnea pillows’ and other non-FDA regulated treatments sold over the counter have not been demonstrated to be effective in large, reproduced, randomized, reputable studies.
Moderate apnea treatments
Some obstructive sleep apnea treatments are surgery, oral appliances and an airway pressure device that blows air into the back of the throat to keep it from narrowing too much. The CPAP, or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure system, is a widely used method of treating moderate sleep apnea. Common treatments for sleep apnea in children include a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy and a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, mask.
Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatments
Generally speaking, OSA surgery is not the first treatment choice for OSA, as other sleep apnea treatments are less invasive and often more effective. When alternative methods such as continuous positive airway pressure have failed, and for severe cases of apnea, surgery is suggested. Therefore it is very important to go for sleep apnea treatments under the guidance of a doctor. There are many types of surgical sleep apnea treatments, some of which are performed as outpatient procedures. Surgery for sleep apnea is reserved for people with upper airway obstruction such as a deviated nasal septum, markedly enlarged tonsils or small lower jaw with an overbite causing the throat to be abnormally narrow. Surgery may offer permanent relief, but there are risks of infection and complications. Surgery involving the tongue can sometimes affect taste sensations. Surgery may give permanent relief, but there are risks of infection and complications.
Surgical Treatments include: Somnoplasty: A minimally invasive procedure that uses radiofrequency energy to reduce the soft tissue in the upper airway.
Mandibular maxillar advancement surgery: A surgical correction of certain facial abnormalities or throat obstructions that contribute to sleep apnea.
Nasal surgery: Correction of nasal obstructions such as a deviated septum. If surgery is recommended, you should consult another doctor for a second opinion.
Many sleep physicians only recommend surgery if CPAP machines either cannot be tolerated by the sleeper or prove ineffective. Most OSA surgery requires general anesthetic, which is always a concern when any surgery is performed on patients with sleep apnea. Your response to anesthetic may also determine whether or not you are a candidate for OSA surgery. Limited studies suggest between forty to sixty percent of sleep apnea cases improve after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty surgery, but no definitive research has yet been performed on UPPP success rates. Bleeding and infection are possible OSA surgery complications, and surgery sites are very painful in the weeks following surgery. The pulmonary airways may swell after surgery, causing difficulty breathing and respiratory distress (for this reason most sleep apnea surgery patients have postoperative overnight stays in hospitals, for observation and, if needed, prompt intervention).
CPAP Machine
CPAP prevents airway closure while in use, but apnea episodes return when CPAP is stopped or it is used improperly. CPAP is applied through a mask that is placed over the nose and/or mouth, and delivers air pressure in order to keep the airway open. CPAP prevents this closure by pushing the throat tissues open.
CPAP machines are used to treat central sleep apnea, as are Bilevel PAP and AVS (two sleep apnea treatments related to the CPAP). Other types of devices that vary in the way in which pressure is delivered are also available for people having difficulty tolerating CPAP. For those that use CPAP, the effect is often dramatic. Since CPAP utilizes air as its main component, it is very safe, and is often used as a primary treatment option for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. The CPAP machines, for example, blow a fixed amount of air pressure constantly throughout the duration of the user’s sleep cycle. Perhaps best of all, the newer CPAP machines are about the size of two video cassette (VHS) tapes stacked on top of each other. With the aid of recent ameliorations, CPAP masks are now more pleasant to wear. Newer CPAP masks come in many styles, allowing sleepers to find the mask that is most pleasant for them. Introductory results found that when the husband’s obstructive sleep apnea was treated with a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, his wife’s sleep improved noticeably, as well as her quality of life and relationship happiness.
From all of this information, you and your doctor can decide which sleep apnea treatments are best suited for you. As you can see in this article sleep apnea is a very treatable condition and many types of treatments are available. Natural alternative sleep apnea treatments are now available to help you sleep soundly and reduce the problems associated with sleep disorders, and when combined with regular exercise can often have you sleeping soundly in no time.
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Researchers have just discovered that the chronic intermittent hypoxia that often characterizes obstructive sleep apnea, a common form of Sleep Disordered Breathing, is also independently linked to the progression of liver disease.
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