What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea:
Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder. It causes you to repeatedly stop and start breathing while you sleep.
There are several types of sleep apnea, but the most common is obstructive sleep apnea. This type of apnea occurs when your throat muscles intermittently relax and block your airway during sleep. A noticeable sign of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring
OSA Symptoms:
- Fall asleep while driving
- Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)
- Loud snoring
- Observed episodes of breathing cessation during sleep
- Abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath
- Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat
- Morning headache
- Frequent urination at night
- Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)
How is Sleep Apnea Diagnosed:
Home Sleep Apnea Testing (HSAT)- Your health care provider might provide you with simplified tests to be used at home to diagnose sleep apnea. These tests usually measure your heart rate, blood oxygen level, airflow and breathing patterns. Your provider is more likely to recommend polysomnography in a sleep testing facility, rather than a HSAT, if central sleep apnea is suspected.
If the results aren’t typical, your provider might be able to prescribe a therapy without further testing. Portable monitoring devices sometimes miss sleep apnea. So your health care provider might still recommend polysomnography even if your first results are within the standard range.
Nocturnal polysomnography. During this test, you’re hooked up to equipment that monitors your heart, lung and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while you sleep.
OSA Treatment:
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). If you have mild to severe obstructive sleep apnea, you might benefit from using a machine that delivers air pressure through a mask while you sleep. With CPAP, the air pressure is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air and is just enough to keep your upper airway passages open, preventing apnea and snoring.
Although CPAP is the most common and reliable method of treating sleep apnea, some people find it cumbersome or uncomfortable. Some people give up on the CPAP machine. But with practice, most people learn to adjust the tension of the straps on the mask to obtain a comfortable and secure fit.
You might need to try more than one type of mask to find one that’s comfortable. Don’t stop using the CPAP machine if you have problems. Check with your health care provider to see what changes can be made to increase your comfort.
Additionally, contact your provider if you’re still snoring or begin snoring again despite treatment. If your weight changes, the pressure settings of the CPAP machine might need to be adjusted.
