Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea

       Sleep apnea is a respiratory disease characterized by repeated breathing pauses, frequently during sleep. During the night, the flow of air stops for 10 seconds. SAS ( sleep apnea syndrome) presents different degrees of severity: mild, moderate or severe, depending on the duration and frequency of episodes of apnea or bradipnee (decreased breathing rate). Apnea episodes are ranging from 5 to 50 per hour of sleep. SAS has been classified into 3 types: obstructive sleep apnea, central apnea and mixed apnea.

Sleep apnea causes

       In sleep apnea the airflow ceases despite respiratory impulses, or is narrowing due to upper airway obstruction. During sleep the throat muscles and tongue are relaxing. Stopping breathing leads to a decrease in oxygen concentration in the blood (hypoxia). In a prone position during sleep, hypertrophied tonsils are triggering airway narrowing which contributes to sleep apnea. During the day, during walking and orthostatic position these physiological changes do not occur.

       Other factors which contribute to airway collapse during sleep are:

• alcohol, which causes the depression of respiratory muscles, they relax and these narrows the upper airway and cause sleep apnea
• obesity: fat excess from the neck exert causes compression of the airways leading to sleep apnea
• sleeping on back
• nicotine

When to call a specialist?

       You should call a specialist if you are in one of these situations:

• intense snoring and profound daytime sleepiness
• if you to stop breathing during sleep

       If you present difficulty breathing, restlessness during sleep and frequent awakenings and daytime sleepiness

Sleep apnea treatment

       Before taking any action on halting sleep apnea, the patient is undergoing more medical tests. The doctor monitors the patient to see if he has polyps or enlarged tonsils that act as a barrier to normal breathing. It also makes a somnografie to the patient and monitors him for two to three nights in a special laboratory to see brain activity, involuntary movements of the body and the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream.

Sleep apnea positioned therapy treatment

        Apnea tends to worsen when the affected person sleeps lying down because gravity causes the tongue to block the airways. Control of body position at night is a step towards reducing episodes of apnea. A method used against sleep apnea is the use of positional alarms that start to sound when the person sleeps lying down. However the method is very noisy and the sleep disturbance may be complete.

Sleep apnea weight loss

        Sleep apnea may be linked to body weight. Additional fat around the neck can cause airway narrowing, favoring the emergence of obstructions. For most overweight people, weight loss may be an effective treatment in order to reduce episodes of apnea. However it was noted that apnea itself can be a trigger for obesity. People suffering from apnea are not able to rest enough at night so that they feel too tired to do exercise and get to eat in order not to fall asleep. Thus, obesity is considered a trigger of apnea, because the airways can close during sleep.

Avoid alcohol

        Alcohol together with drugs that act as stimuli of the central nervous system, such as painkillers, sedatives, drugs for muscle relaxation may weirder symptoms of sleep apnea as respiratory muscles promotes relaxation which leads to several moments of apnea.

Surgery

       The goal of surgery is to create an open airway so that obstructions will not occur. There are several types of surgery to treat apnea, but there are also non-surgical methods. A surgery used for people suffering from apnea is somnoplastia. Somnoplastia is an intervention with laser that removes all obstacles from the respiratory tract. Within two to three weeks of such an intervention, the patient is fully recovered.