Available treatment for sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a common condition characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. This causes serious disturbances in sleep patterns can last ten seconds or a little more. These episodes also occur through the night, leaving the person feeling tired from lack of sleep. Those who suffer from sleep apnea usually wake up frequently in his struggle to breathe. There are two types of sleep disorder: obstructive sleep apnea and central apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common of the two. This is due to relaxation of soft tissues in the back of the throat. This blocks the free passage of air and cause an obstruction of breathing. Central sleep apnea is due to irregularities in the brain as signals are not clean to breathe.

Most often people who have this disorder will have a combination of obstructive and central apnea. The most noticeable symptoms of this disorder are increased daytime sleepiness. The other symptoms of this sleep disorder are loud snoring, restless sleep, morning headaches, falling asleep during the day, trouble concentrating, forgetfulness, irritability, mood alterations, behavioral changes, depression, and anxiety etc. However, not everyone who has these symptoms suffer from apnea. People who have one or more of these symptoms must visit the doctor and get evaluated to get to know the underlying cause. This is more common in men than in women, as well as in obese or overweight individuals. 

There are various types of sleep apnea treatment available to treat this problem but it would depend on the person's medical history as well as the severity of the disorder. The first thing that is suggested to those who have apnea disturbing their sleep is to make certain lifestyle changes such as avoidance of alcohol, losing weight, as well as quitting smoking. Apart from this, they are put on medications to relax the muscles as well as sedatives to help relax the central nervous system. 

Sometimes, special pillows or devices are given to prevent people from sleeping on their backs, or other oral appliances that help to keep the airways open during sleep. However, these are all conservative treatment methods and if this doesn’t help, then doctors will recommend other methods. Continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP as it is often called is another sleep apnea treatment technique where a facemask is attached to tube and a machine pumps pressurized air into the mask in order to keep the airways open. There are also machines which offer variable positive airway pressure also known as VPAP, and automatic positive airway pressure or APAP. 

In addition, there are surgical options which are used in which soft tissue is removed to expand the airways. Among the treatment may be a combination of treatments for sleep apnea successfully. Left untreated, sleep apnea can be life threatening. Sometimes a person may fall asleep while driving and that people with sleep apnea are at increased risk of transient ischemic attacks, heart disease, hypertension and stroke. Successful treatment of sleep apnea can prevent the associated risks.