Archive for May, 2008
There are many serious medical concerns from sleep apnea but now a study had linked serious and fatal complications for patients with heart failure. People with sleep apnea experience decreased or interrupted breathing during which the brain is oxygen deprived and not able to send out the messages to the respiratory muscles to inhale and exhale. Breathing can stop for several seconds or as much as a minute. Since these episodes can happen frequently during the night, it causes a special worry for people who suffer from heart problems.
Serious Concerns
Anyone who has heart failure should take note of the complications that can occur if sleep apnea is also present. A basic definition of heart failure is a disorder in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood per minute to supply the entire body’s need for oxygen and essential nutrients. The key word here is oxygen. In both sleep apnea and heart failure, the person’s supply of oxygen is reduced. When both conditions are present in a person, the failure of meeting necessary oxygen requirements is doubled to a dangerous degree.
A person suffering from heart failure is at a higher risk of dying during an episode of sleep apnea. The lower oxygen level in the body may also damage major organs as well as resulting in psychological problems from insufficient sleep.
What Can Be Done?
If you have both heart failure and sleep apnea, there are ways to help you. Because of a recent study, doctors are now prescribing acetazolamide, which is a mild diuretic and respiratory stimulant. This prescription drug is taken before going to bed and it has been shown to improve oxygen levels and to diminish sleep apnea problems. People who participated in this study noted they were less tired during the daytime and they were better able to concentrate.
Until this study, there wasn’t a major known concern between heart failure and sleep apnea. Now doctors are aware of the problems that could happen due to the extra drop of oxygen levels. If you are suffering from heart failure you may want to consult with your doctor if you suspect you may have sleep apnea as well.
Most people aren’t even aware that they have sleep apnea. Being properly diagnosed and treated will give you a better, safer night’s sleep.
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Tags: Are you suffering from sleep apnea? Do you know that sleep apnea dental appliance can mitigate or eliminate the effects of sleep apnea? In this article we are going to see a brief overview of some regularly used appliances.
How Sleep Apnea Dental Appliance Help Sleep Apnea Symptoms
What happened in sleep apnea is that the muscles in the throat may relax too much, and this may narrow the airway significantly. Not only that the tongue may also collapse, or fold back, when this happened the air passage closes off and disturbs the normal flow of breathing. This is not a minor case anymore because this is the one that may affect bigger organs like the brain and heart. Many sleep apnea patients have turned to oral appliances which have been proven to provide positive results. What it does is controlling the movement of the tongue or by repositioning the lower jaw to make sure that the airways to stay open. Sometimes, what the actually need is only a sleep apnea dental appliance to help their sleep apnea symptoms. In addition it can also be used together with a Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) machine. Before you determine which sleep apnea dental appliance is right for you, you have to get both your medical doctor and your dentist to evaluate your condition. For choosing the dentist however, it’s important that you get a dentist that has experience in fitting these oral appliances before. This is because not every dentist knows how to do that and a poorly fitted appliance may cause unnecessary problems.
Different Types Of Oral Appliances
With over forty different types of sleep apnea dental appliance available to help sleep apnea symptoms, you may feel overwhelmed at first. But your dentist will tell you that the principles used in these devices fall into two general categories, which should make your selection much easier. Basically, oral appliances are classified by how they work or by their specific design.
The names of these appliances are descriptive enough to give you the basic idea of how they work.Among all the two most widely used Sleep Apnea Dental Appliance are tongue retaining appliances and mandibular repositioning appliances. A retainer holds the tongue in a forward position if you are using a tongue retaining appliance, it stops the back of the tongue from collapsing during sleep. The second type of device puts the lower jaw in a protruded position to keep the airway open. Both of these oral appliances have been proven to be successful in curing sleep apnea patients.
Choose the Right Dentist
This step in getting a sleep apnea dental appliance cannot be stressed enough. The dentist you select must have specific knowledge in this area. Your nasal passages and airways will be completely examined with a diagnostic tool that uses sound waves. This will give the dentist a complete picture and will enable the sleep apnea dental appliance to be correctly fitted.
Do you ever experience a slump in energy during the day? Maybe you wake up tired or become fatigued during the course of your day, even after a full night’s sleep. Do people close to you complain about your snoring? You could be suffering from sleep apnea without even knowing it.
Sleep apnea is a condition in which you actually stop breathing for a few seconds, generally about 10 seconds at a time. You may not even be aware of it since this can occur throughout the night. Actually, people have only been diagnosed with sleep apnea only after someone else notices that they have stopped breathing during sleep. Clinically, a diagnosis is made using a polysomnogram, an overnight sleep test, where your breathing is closely observed while you sleep.
There are three types of sleep apnea, categorized primarily by the cause of the disorder. The first is obstructive sleep apnea and is the most common. As the name implies, it’s caused by something obstructing the flow of air. You may experience a mild form of sleep apnea if you have an upper respiratory infection. The tissues in the throat swell and block your airflow. But chronic obstructive sleep apnea usually requires medical intervention as it can lead to serious health complications, including a severe form of congestive heart failure.
Central apnea is the second type and is less common but more serious. It happens when the area of the brain that controls respirations is out of balance. When the level of carbon dioxide in the blood increases, the feedback mechanism that usually controls it does not react fast enough and keeps you from breathing normally. After the apneic episode, you may breathe very fast for a few seconds or minutes. This is how your body removes the excess carbon dioxide and oxygen is taken in. this can even happen during your waking hours.
The third type of sleep apnea is complex apnea, a combination of the first two. If obstructive sleep apnea is severe, and allowed to continue for an extended length of time, central sleep apnea can develop as a result.
One of the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring, however, just because you snore doesn’t necessarily mean you have it. It’s when your snoring suddenly stops, along with your breathing, that’s usually a good indication you may have sleep apnea. The apneic episode is typically followed by a deep gasp after which your snoring continues.
The simple exercise program I created to eliminate snoring is helpful in both main types of sleep apnea. By learning how to strengthen the muscles and tissues of the mouth and throat, episodes of obstructive sleep apnea can be lessened.
My Stop Snoring Program can also cure central sleep apnea, because the exercises which move the muscles stimulates the areas of the brain that contains the respiratory control centers.
Just a note of caution though, my Stop Snoring program is not intended for sever forms of chronic sleep apnea. You need to seek professional help from your doctor so he/she can give you proper medical treatment.
Again, not all people who snore are suffering from sleep apnea. My stop snoring program will certainly help you stop snoring and give you and your spouse a peaceful night’s sleep.
Warm regards,
Christian Goodman