Sleep apnea is a health condition that can interrupt your sleep and is not good for your health. This condition occurs suddenly when your breath stops for a little moment between sleeping, which means your body did not get oxygen properly. Here, you can learn about different types of sleep apnea.
This article will guide you about three types of sleep apnea, and treatment for each type. These types are obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, and complex sleep apnea. You can learn their symptoms, causes, and treatment. After learning about these types of sleep apnea, you can easily understand in which conditions to visit a doctor.
What is Sleep Apnea?
This is a sleep disorder caused during sleep, and its main reason is that your breath gets stopped when you are in deep sleep. After the given situation, the oxygen level becomes lower, which will lead to sleep problems and also effects.
Here, you can learn about various types of sleep apnea. However, the most affected type is obstructive sleep apnea. The airways get blocked and stop when you are sleeping. After this situation, people get awakened quickly because of feeling difficulty breathing.
Common Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
Some common symptoms of sleep apnea include:
- Snoring loudly
- Waking up gasping for air
- Feeling tired during the day
- Difficulty concentrating
- Morning headaches
- Dry mouth
- Nocturia (getting up to urinate at night)
Types of Sleep Apnea
This is a serious medical issue that causes interruption when you are sleeping and causes serious healthy conditions. There are various types of sleep apnea, and everyone has their own characteristics and treatment options.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
Here, we will discuss more common sleep disorders, and this is called the common kind of sleep. This is caused when you are sleeping, and your oxygen level becomes lower due to sleep apnea. In this condition, your body does not provide oxygen.
Some things that can cause OSA are:
- Being overweight: Extra weight can make it more likely for your airway to get blocked.
- Big tonsils or adenoids: When tonsils or adenoids are bigger than normal, they can block your airway.
- Small jaw or tongue: A smaller jaw or tongue can make it harder to keep the airway open.
- Throat issues: Certain problems with the shape of your throat can also raise the risk of OSA.
OSA can lead to a number of serious health problems, including:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
- Depression
Central Sleep Apnea (CSA)
Here, we will discuss central sleep apnea, which is caused by your brain's failure to send correct signals to your muscles that are needed for breathing. If you have this type of issue, you can stop breathing for a short period of time when you are sleeping.
CSA is often caused by underlying medical conditions, such as:
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Medications
CSA can also be caused by certain neurological disorders.
Complex Sleep Apnea
Discussing complex sleep apnea is important for awareness. This is a combination of OSA and CSA. this will happen when you have both obstructive and central options.
This condition is not easy for the patient and is difficult to diagnose and treat. Patients have to do various therapies, for example, CPAP and medication.
Causes and Risk Factors
Risk Factors for OSA
- Obesity: When your weight is not normal and very high, it is hard to breathe because your airways become smaller.
- Large tonsils or adenoids: Big tonsils or adenoids can block the airway and make breathing difficult.
- Small jaw or tongue: A small jaw and tongue will create issues to keep the airway open.
- Structural problems: Many people have structural issues, and a few problems related to the throat can lead to breathing issues.
- Family history: This is a heritable disease. If it's found in your family member, then there is a huge chance that you have it, too.
- Age: Sleep apnea is more common in older people.
- Gender: Men tend to get sleep apnea more than women.
- Smoking: Smoking can irritate the throat and cause breathing issues.
- Alcohol: When people are addicted to alcohol, they can relax the throat muscles, and it is hard for them to breathe.
- Certain medicines: Some medicines can increase the chance of having sleep apnea.
Risk Factors for CSA
- Heart failure: Heart failure will lead to weakening the muscles that help you breathe.
- Stroke: Having any type of stroke will also damage the part of the brain that controls breathing.
- Medications: Certain medications can increase the risk of CSA.
- Neurological disorders: Here are some conditions like Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis that can improve the chance of CSA.
- Sleep apnea syndromes: Various sleep disorders, like obstructive sleep apnea, will lead to CSA.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Sleep Study
Having a proper sleep study is the only way to diagnose someone has sleep apnea. With the help of study, doctors observe how you can sleep and breathe in the night.
There are two kinds of sleep studies:
- In-lab sleep study: For sleep study purposes, you have to visit a sleep center, where a technician observes your sleep the whole night.
- At-home sleep study: If you do not reach the sleep center, then do this at home by wearing a small device while sleeping.
Treatment Options for OSA
The way of treatment by doctors is decided after observing how bad your condition is. Some treatments are here:
- CPAP therapy: When you wear a mask that blows air into your nose and mouth, it will help you to keep your airway open.
- Oral appliances: Here are the special devices that fit over your teeth and jaw to help you keep your airways open.
- Surgery: If the condition is severe. There is a need to have surgery to take the tonsils out or change the shape of your jaw, and this will help you breathe in a better way.
Treatment Options for CSA
Treatment done for central sleep apnea will depend on the exact cause of the condition. Here some common options are given below:
- CPAP therapy: To treat CSA, try CPAP as the best therapy to treat it. This is not too effective, as OSA creates issues for patients.
- Medications: Certain medications can help to improve breathing in people with CSA.
- Pacemaker therapy: In some cases, a pacemaker can be used to help regulate breathing.
Conclusion
Sleep apnea is a common and serious health issue that affects the common lifestyle. In this article, you can learn about three types of sleep apnea, and every type contains its own damage and treatment. In case you notice any single symptoms, contact your doctor and begin the treatment and prevent it from being severe. Having the proper treatment and taking medicine regularly will help you to take control of this sleep apnea.