Though well-known for the short and long term distress that obstructive sleep apnea causes, not many are too keen to know anything more about it. However, if you are 50+, obese and snore, you might as well gather as much information about it as possible. This is particularly so if you have not done anything to cure snoring or lose weight.
Knowledge about it is relevant at this stage of life because you never know when this worst type of sleep disorder is going to strike. As it is, it remains one of the most undiagnosed and untreated health conditions since most of the typical features of the illness happen during sleep. But more information about this aspect would appear later in the article. Let us get to know the disorder first.
Basic information
It all starts when snoring is left untreated. The airways narrow causing immense breathing distress by way of recurrent pauses in breathing during sleep. While a single pause lasts for about 10 seconds, depending on the seriousness of the condition, a patient may experience such pauses 5 to 30 times in an hour and many times in the night.
Of the three types of the condition, obstructive type is most common. 50% of patients diagnosed, invariably has this particular type of the disorder. It happens when there is complete collapse and blockage of the airway. Apart of the short term breathing distress, the disorder eventually leads to heart problems, ischemic heart conditions and even stroke.
While obesity triggers the onset, irrational weight gain is both a feature as well as an after-effect of the condition.
sleep apnea symptoms?
Though common, it remains one of the most undiagnosed conditions because of the elusive nature of the features. Usually the bed partner notices the early signs including loud and persistent snoring, choking and gasping during sleep, restlessness in bed, intermittent pauses in breathing, etc and calls for medical help.
What ultimately drives the patient to seek medical help are signs like rapid and irrational weight gain, excessive daytime sleepiness, deterioration of mood, etc.
Sleep apnea treatment
Therapeutic initiatives are taken based on the seriousness of the condition. The two main goals of therapy when the condition is between mild and moderate are weight reduction and restoration of normal breathing for the distressed patient.
Weight loss initiatives include physical exercises, dietary control and doing special exercises for toning and strengthening the breathing muscles. This can effectively reduce fat accumulated causing such muscles to become weak and flaccid. CPAP therapy, sleeping on special pillows, quitting alcohol, changing sleeping position, raising pillow height are some other recommendations for achieving the desired therapy objectives.
However, for more severe conditions, surgery is the chosen route. There are plenty of surgical options which the doctor can opt for depending on the site of obstruction in the respiratory tract and the cause behind the onset of the condition.
When signals are confusing
There are chances of the illness remaining either undiagnosed or getting misdiagnosed because of certain overlapping signals shared with other sleep disorders. For example it could mean one of the hypersomnia symptoms or it could even mean the onset of narcolepsy.
But what is narcolepsy? It is a type of disorder arising out of neurological dysfunction characterized by sudden sleep attacks. In other sleep disorders the patient goes off to sleep gradually. Age of onset is also another clear differentiator. Obstructive sleep apnea as an example, sets in around 50 years of age, whereas, others may set in much earlier.
Do you want to know more about sleep apnea symptoms, then feel free to visit Douglas Kidder’s site and learn everything you want to know about obstructive sleep apnea.