Sleep Apnea Information

Sleep Apnea can be very scary! Have you ever woken up gasping for air and felt like you weren’t breathing? Or your partner wakes you up saying you weren’t breathing? You may have sleep apnea and it is a very serious condition. Over 20 million Americans suffer from this serious sleep disorder and don’t even know it.

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea symptoms may include but are not limited to:

  • Excessive daytime sleepiness
  • Snoring loudly
  • Waking up feeling tired
  • Periods of not breathing during the night
  • Waking up gasping for air
  • Memory loss
  • Weight gain
  • Headaches

The word Apnea in Greek actually means “without breath”. Sleep Apnea is a disorder where you may have brief interruptions of breathing during the night. There are 3 types of Sleep Apnea: Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Central Sleep Apnea and then a combination of the two.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is when the soft tissue in the back of the throat causes a blockage in the airway. The muscles that keep the airway open and clear during the day apparently relaxes and allows the soft tissue to close the throat off making it extremely difficult to breath. An Obstructive Apnea episode may last from 10 seconds to 2 minutes in most cases, this can happen more than 5 times in an hour. In extreme cases it may last longer and when air is cut off to the lungs and when the lungs are not receiving the oxygen needed the heart beats faster and that could lead to a possible heart attack.

Central Sleep Apnea

Central Sleep Apnea is when the brain doesn’t send the correct signals to the respiratory control center that controls breathing and breathing stop for a few seconds. Your body really just fails to remember to breath. Central Sleep Apnea normally occurs in people that have pre-existing conditions such as congestive heart failure or lower brainstem lesions. Central Sleep Apnea is a very serious condition that could possibly cause brain damage and heart failure.

The combination of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Central Sleep Apnea generally starts out as Obstructive Apnea and when not diagnosed or treated may lead to acquiring a combination of both conditions. This becomes very dangerous and will lead to even more serious problems.

If there is a suspicion you or a loved one has this condition seek treatment.

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