Sleep Apnea - Indications and Solutions

Author: Mrchealth Care

Sleep helps rejuvenate the body and mind and forms a very important part of a person’s schedule. Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder in which one or more pauses during breathing or has shallow breathing during the sleep. The breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes occurring thirty or more times in an hour.

Indicators of sleep apnea-

  • Chronic snoring is one of the strongest indicators of sleep apnea and must be evaluated by a health care professional.

  • Sleeplessness, concentration inability and difficulties, depression, irritability, sexual dysfunction, learning and memory difficulties, and falling asleep while working or driving.

  • If left untreated, long term symptoms of sleep apnea can include disturbed sleep, excessive sleepiness during the day, high blood pressure, heart attack, arrhythmia of the heart, congestive heart failure stroke or depression.

Sleep apnea solutions include-

Positive Airway Pressure: The most common treatment for sleep apnea is PAP, where a gentle stream of pressure is blown into the patient’s airway, ensuring it is open. This is done in two variations-

  1. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

  2. Air is blown at a continuous pressure. The pressure is set the maximum level that the patient would require throughout the night.

Auto-titrating Positive Airway Pressure (APAP)This automatically regulates the pressure depending on the patient’s requirement

Other treatments for sleep apnea

In addition to PAP, there are other treatments that a sleep specialist may recommend. These include:

  • Dental devices for sleep apnea
In mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, a dental specialist may dispense a Mandibular Advancement Splint, which is a dental device that works by pushing the lower jaw forward to increase the opening of the airway. It is a device custom made for individual patients and secured in the mouth by the dentist.

  • Surgery- a last resort as treatment for sleep apnea

Although surgery is not resorted to these days, as many other non surgical techniques have been developed, it however may still be an option for some adults with sleep apnea. Surgery includes removal of tonsils, adenoids, uvula and other soft issues. As follows with any surgery, these types of surgeries run the risk of complications and infections.

Home Screening for sleep Apnea-

Some healthcare professionals provide patients with convenient and useful methods of detecting sleep apnea. A small device runs on batteries and is portable and can be carried around in a pouch. It records the sleep activity and has a monitor with helps analysis of the sleep study by sleep specialists who on an appointment with the patients discuss the results.

Product Line useful for Sleep apnea

Many health care professionals offer products and health care services that can be beneficial for sleep apnea. These include-

  • C-PAP Therapy

  • Sound Therapy

  • Light Therapy

  • Anti Snore Devices / Oral Appliances

  • Positional Therapy / Specialized Pillows

  • Heart Monitoring Devices

  • Infection Control

Till date many sleep apnea solutions have been formulated and modified to find out the best suited for one, a trip to the sleep specialist is of utmost importance.