Sleep apnea is affecting millions of American and people all over the world. What is sleep apnea? It happens when a patient sleep is interrupted due to lack of oxygen and other factors. Another cause is when the muscle in the throat relaxes too much causing limited air to pass through the throat. When this happpens while the patient is sleeping, he is forced to wake up to breath in some oxygen.
Do you know the brain controls the way we are breathing? When there are interruptions in these signals, sleep apnea is born. But why are you waking up so many times in a night? This is because you are forced to reset your breathing pattern. Let’s look at it this way: when you sleep you stop breathing, so to start your breathing you are forced to wake up. There are patients who have both types of sleep apnea.
There are treatments for sleep apnea, and a doctor may suggest a sleep apnea machine that will help a patient through the night.
A Sleep Apnea Machine
Sleep apnea in the first place causes the patients to suffer from lack of sleep. Therefore the doctor will usually recommend a sleep apnea machine. The most common type that are used for this purpose is a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure which is a big sleep apnea machine. A mask is placed over the nose, so when the patients is sleeping oxygen is pumped steadily through the mask.
Previously we look at sleep apnea machine which is place over the nose and oxygen is pumped through the mask. Another sleep apnea machine is the oral type where it is put into a patient’s mouth. The purpose is to pull forward the jaw so that the throat does not close. Compare to the former one, this type is smaller and simpler to use. To make it work properly it can take some trial and error.
No matter what type of sleep apnea device is suggested, don’t just stop using it if it is uncomfortable. Make sure to contact your physician if it is uncomfortable before deciding to stop using it. Sleep apnea can be treated, if non-surgical means are not working than it may be time to look into surgery. Surgery may be needed if a patient has something obstructing their airway.
A appropriate treatment for a patient with sleep apnea, which is a serious condition can only be studied after he has been evaluated by a doctor.
Posted in Sleep Apnea