Sleep Apnea Treatment

Sleep apnea occurs when someone stops breathing for at least 10 seconds while they are sleeping.  The apnea episodes can occur many times during sleep; the episodes can fully wake someone from their sleep or bring them to a shallow sleep level from a deep sleep level.  The disturbance during sleep can lead to daytime sleepiness, lack of concentration, and increase chances of falling asleep at the wheel.  If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea there are a few treatments aside from surgery.

If you have a mild case of obstructive sleep apnea you may be able to fix the problem by doing some behavioral changes.  These changes include changing your position while sleeping; sometimes apneas occur only in a certain position which is usually lying flat on your back.  Obesity is a contributive factor to obstructive sleep apnea.  Losing 10% of your body weight would improve your sleep apnea.  Some people with sleep apnea find this hard to do because the sleep loss leaves them too tired to exercise; in turn making them gain more weight which worsens the sleep apnea.  If the apnea is treated a different way it usually leads to people being able to lose weight since they won’t be as tired.

Because obstructive sleep apnea is caused by an anatomically narrowed airway, it has been difficult to find medications that can help.  In people with nasal airway obstructions, steroid nasal sprays have been shown to help.  The steroid works by decreasing the inflammation in the nose.  People who have obstructive sleep apnea because of hypothyroidism improve with thyroid treatment; of course this will not work if you have a healthy thyroid.  Another treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is dental appliances.

A dental appliance holds the jaw and tongue forward and holds the palate up which prevents closure of the airway.  The dental appliance is small, portable, and doesn’t require a machine.  This could be a great treatment option for people who have mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea.  It has been shown to help 75% of people in these levels of sleep apnea.  A dentist or oral surgeon would fit and adjust the dental appliance.  Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is probably the best non-surgical treatment for any level of obstructive sleep apnea.  The primary goal of treating obstructive sleep apnea is to hold the airway open so it doesn’t collapse during sleep.  The continuous positive airway pressure delivers air through a nasal or face-mask to hold the tissues of the airway open.  As a person breathes, the gentle pressure holds the nose, palate, and throat tissues open.  The CPAP machine blows heated, humidified air through a short tube to the mask.  The mask must be worn snug to prevent leakage and the machine is about the size of a toaster so it is portable.