Sleep Apnea
Posted in Health Headlines
Sleep apnea is one of the most common causes of not getting a good night’s sleep today. Sleep apnea can be as dangerous as falling asleep with a lit cigarette in bed because if it is not diagnosed or treated properly it can severely injure a patient or even cause them to die during the night. Sleep apnea is defined as pauses in one’s breathing while sleeping. These pauses typically happen at any time during the night and can occur without warning. For the most part, people with sleep apnea do not know when the pauses in their breathing occur or how often it occurs. Instead, they will have to be told by their loved ones when it happened during the night.
An episode of sleep apnea is called an apnea. An apnea will can cause the person sleeping to miss one, two, or more breathes during the night when they are sleeping. These lapses in breath can last anywhere from five to 10 seconds at a time, causing the patient to wake up or even begin to choke during their sleep. Sleep apnea can only be diagnosed with a sleep study called a polysomnogram, which takes place during the night under the supervision of a doctor or another medical professional. A patient with clinically significant sleep apnea will experience five or more episodes per hour of missed breathes. There are three forms of sleep apnea that a patient can be diagnosed with; central sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea, or complex sleep apnea.
In central sleep apnea the breathing is obstructed by a lack of respiratory effort by the person sleeping. In obstructive sleep apnea the breathing is obstructed by a physical block to the airflow of the person despite the presence of respiratory effort of the person sleeping. In complex sleep apnea the person experiences a transition from central to obstructive during the night. As mentioned earlier, sleep apnea is rarely recognized by the person affected by the condition. Instead, they are alerted to their trouble breathing by others in the room with them at the time of their episode. Even upon awakening, people suffering from sleep apnea do not realize that they have missed breathes during their sleep or other signs of the condition. Sleep apnea can be present in patients for years at a time before it is ever diagnosed or noticed by another person.
Experts estimate that close to 20 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea each year. This equates to about one in every 15 Americans. These numbers make sleep apnea as prevalent in the country as suffering from asthma and diabetes is these days. Sleep apnea, once diagnosed, is treated most commonly with the use of a CPAP. A CPAP, or a continuous positive airway pressure device, helps the person with sleep apnea breathe freely during the night. The device will force air through the patient’s throat via pressure. A CPAP machine only assists the patient with inhaling. A BiPAP machine, used in the most severe cases, will assist the patient with both inhaling and exhaling.
