What are the causes of sleep apnea?
What are the symptoms of sleep apnea and treatment methods?
Do you snore? Then you may have sleep apnea, a common sleep disorder. People with sleep apnea usually snore very loudly. Some people cannot understand why they never feel rested after waking up despite getting enough sleep. This may be due to sleep apnea. It is known that sleep apnea threatens heart health and even people's lives.
Sleep apnea is a disease in which breathing stops for at least 10 seconds during sleep. Respiratory pauses interrupt sleep and cause the patient to not be able to sleep. Continuous insomnia triggers many diseases from fatigue, poor concentration and depression to diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attack.
There are different types of Sleep Apnea. The most common type is obstructive sleep apnea. Since sleep apnea is obstructive at a rate of 90-95%, when sleep apnea is mentioned, obstructive sleep apnea usually comes to mind.
WHY Snoring?
During sleep, muscles naturally relax a little. This includes the muscles that keep the upper airway open. In patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS), sleep-related relaxation in these muscles is too much and the relaxed muscles block the respiratory tract. Thus, the patient enters apnea and remains breathless. The brain realizes that it is breathless and increases the respiratory effort. Increased respiratory effort awakens the patient. Thus, the airway is opened and the patient begins to breathe normally. When the respiratory effort returns to normal, he falls asleep again, the airway narrows again, the respiratory effort increases, and he wakes up from sleep again. These events repeat throughout the night and these events cause snoring during sleep.
Another type of sleep apnea is central sleep apnea. In this type of apnea, although the airway is open, your breathing stops because there is no respiratory effort.
Even though sleep apnea patients wake up sometimes hundreds of times a night, they often do not remember waking up because these awakenings are mild. Sometimes, they find themselves suddenly awakened for no reason. They may not realize what is happening and think that they are just sleeping undisturbed.
OSAS is usually seen in overweight/obese men over the age of 40, but it can occur in anyone. Alcohol and smoking are factors that increase obstructive sleep apnea.
Untreated sleep apnea is also a risk factor for the following other diseases:
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Irregularities in heart rhythm
- Excessive and rapid weight gain
- depression
When sleep apnea is treated, it completely eliminates results such as insomnia and attention disorder. Treatment is also very important in terms of preventing the development of other diseases caused by this disease.
SLEEP APNES SYMPTOMS
• Loud snoring every night,
• Recurrent awakenings at night,
• Excessive daytime sleepiness,
• If you wake up with a headache in the morning, you should definitely see your doctor. Your doctor will refer you to the sleep laboratory. Sleep specialists will help diagnose and prevent or correct these breathing disorders.
SLEEP APNES TREATMENT
1. General Precautions:
Weight Loss: Obesity is one of the most important risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea. Obesity increases the tendency to apnea by both narrowing the upper airway opening and making breathing irregular.
Lying Position: Apneas increase in supine position with the effect of gravity. In this context, in order to prevent the patient from lying on his back, a piece of pillow, a tennis ball-like object can be placed on his back, and he can be uncomfortable and turn sideways when he lies on his back.
Avoiding Alcohol and Sedative - Hypnotics: An important factor that increases obstructive sleep apnea is the use of alcohol and sedative-hypnotic drugs. Therefore, individuals with sleep apnea should stop drinking alcohol 4-5 hours before going to sleep.
2. Drug Treatment
Unfortunately, there is no drug that treats OSAS.
3. CPAP Treatment
CPAP stands for "Continuous Positive Airway Pressure". The CPAP device absorbs the air in the room by passing it through the dust filter and transmits the absorbed air to the patient at a set and constant pressure, through a hose and mask. Compressed air given throughout the night prevents obstruction of the upper respiratory tract.
There are many different CPAP devices and features. Unlike standard CPAP, which works with constant pressure, automatic CPAP devices automatically adjust the pressure according to the respiratory events experienced during the night. It gradually increases the pressure in events such as obstructive apnea/hypopnea, and decreases it when there is no event. Thus, it applies the pressure that the patient needs.
BPAP devices, on the other hand, apply different pressure levels during inhalation and exhalation, instead of applying constant pressure throughout the respiratory cycle. BPAP is used in OSAS patients who need high pressure and have difficulty breathing at that pressure. At the same time, BPAP devices can be used in different diseases such as COPD and restrictive lung diseases.
fit the patient