Sleeping Disorder: Discovering the Kinds of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that affects the quality of your sleep. Sleep apnea is a condition marked by pauses in breathing or shallow breaths during sleep, which leads to daytime fatigue.

What Is Sleep Apnea?

The term “apnea” is an old Greek word that means “loss of breath.” In sleep apnea, breathing can be stopped for a period of time. This is a wakeful process and can be scary, painful, or just plain disruptive to those around you.

Most people with this sleeping disorder don’t even realize they have a problem unless it’s severe. People often think they have a heart attack, choking on their tongue, hyperventilating, or having some type of panic attack when the air doesn’t get to their lungs.

To know how severe someone’s sleep apnea is, we need to know the kinds of apnea that the patient experiences.

Kinds of Sleep Apnea

There are three types of sleep apnea: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) Mixed Sleep Apnea (MSA). Let us look at each one of them in detail:

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea

The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It occurs when there’s an obstruction in the mouth or throat, like your tongue against your soft palate, which blocks your airway during sleep. This causes you to wake up hundreds of times a night and gasp for air. If left untreated, OSA can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. 

During an obstructive sleep apnea episode, breathing can stop for ten seconds or more. The sleeper often makes gasping noises and may even snore loudly. The sleeper may wake up with a headache or be tired during the day.

• Central Sleep Apnea

Central sleep apnea (CSA) is rarer than OSA and occurs when your brain fails to send signals that tell your lungs to breathe. When this happens, the airway collapses and blocks airflow. People with CSA often have other medical conditions, such as heart disorders or COPD.

In CSA, the sleeper wakes up and may have trouble breathing. They may be confused and disoriented during an episode.

• Mixed Sleep Apnea

Mixed sleep apnea occurs when both forms of sleep apnea are present. This can happen if a person has OSA and CSA together or if someone with OSA develops an enlarged tongue or tonsils that block the airway. The person may have both forms of sleep apnea, but usually, the symptoms are more severe with one type than with the other.

Symptoms may include loud snoring, gasping for breath during sleep, waking up frequently at night and having trouble falling back asleep, morning headaches, and dry mouth.

How to Treat Sleep Apnea

The most effective treatment for sleep apnea involves a combination of lifestyle changes and medical devices. Lifestyle changes include losing weight if you are overweight and avoiding alcohol, sedatives, or sleeping pills before bedtime.

The most effective treatment is a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which uses mild air pressure to keep your throat open and help you breathe while you sleep. Other treatments include oral appliances that move the lower jaw forward to widen the airway, surgery to remove extra tissue in the throat or tongue, and surgery to enlarge the nasal passages.

Conclusion

Sleep apnea is a serious condition that can rob your sleep of the restorative qualities you need. It can also cause a number of other health problems that can lower your quality of life. However, sleep apnea can be managed with the right intervention.

If you notice symptoms of sleep apnea, it’s important to get diagnosed to start treatment. You can go to a sleep clinic in Lethbridge for a full assessment and treatment plan. Lethbridge Snoring & Sleep Apnea Clinic can help you get a proper diagnosis. Contact us today!