More about the Disorder

There are two kinds of this sleeping disorder that are known as obstructive and central. The obstructive kind is when you feel like something is blocking your throat as you sleep that is why you stop breathing. The central kind refers to the act of your brain as it send the wrong signal to the muscles of your body that causes you to lack sleep and feel restless all along.

The most obvious symptom of this disorder is the sound of the sufferer’s snore. Instead of the usual and more common kind that most people create as sounds of their snore, you will hear something that sounds more of a grunt. Aside from the snore, you will stop breathing for short periods of time as you sleep through the night of you have this disorder. You will also suffer from morning headaches because you are not getting proper amount of rest. Other symptoms include urinating often at night, getting mood swings, dry mouth, impotence for men and depression. As a result of your sleeping patterns, you will feel tired and sleepy during the day.

Be Alert

The first thing that you need to do at this case is to accept the fact that you have this sickness. This is the only way for you to detect the causes of such disorder and you can start finding solutions to the problem. You must not take this lightly even if you are still able to sleep even if you are no longer getting enough amount of rest.

If you will think and accept that this is only normal, you may find the situation getting worse as time passes by. If you will allow this to happen, you may be surprised one day that you can no longer do anything to cure it on your own but instead, you have to resort to expensive medications and you may even be required to undergo surgical procedures.

Some of the causes of this disorder include obesity, enlarged tonsils, old age, high blood pressure, vices like smoking and alcohol and family history. You have to take the matter seriously. If you have to conduct brief research about the topic, do it and do it fast. You need to help yourself resolve the problem before it gets too complicated to handle. This may cause your other ailments like heart problems and high blood pressure to get worse.

This disorder happens more likely with men than on women. And this occurs at people who are 65 years or older. Women become more prone to get this disorder after menopause or when they get too much excess fats and become overweight.
You must not ignore sleep apnea. You have to act on it while you still can. You can consult dental professionals about how they can help you in this regard.

You can also try to improve your condition by keeping your body fit, healthy and strong.

Usually, breathing pauses involved could last a few seconds to even several minutes. In most cases, such breathing pauses happen about 10 to 30 times (sometimes more) in just an hour. This is the reason why many people are very much alarmed when they incur this sleeping disorder.

In reality, sleep apnea is usually considered as chronic or ongoing. It is a condition that often leads to disrupted sleep and could happen in a person for about three or sometimes more nights every single week. The affected person often suddenly moves out of deep sleep and goes into a very light sleep as breathing pauses or becomes very shallow. It is also observed that when the person resumes normal breathing after a sleep apnea attack, he creates a loud choking sound or snort.

Needless to say, sleep apnea is resulting to poor quality sleep, making the person tired and restless all day. The condition has been identified by experts as among the main causes of inevitable and excessive daytime sleepiness. Contrary to what others usually think, sleep apnea is not normal. It could be very risky.

Often, the disorder goes undiagnosed. No doctor could ever detect the condition upon patient consultation or visit. It is not detected through blood tests. In fact, most people who are affected by sleep apnea are not aware that they have the condition during their sleep. It is usually a bed partner or a close family member who first notices manifestations and symptoms of sleep apnea. This is the reason why it is considered very dangerous, especially if its sufferer is often sleeping alone.

There are even several types of sleep apnea. The most common of such kinds is what is called as obstructive sleep apnea. It is noted that when the condition happens, the airway collapses or gets blocked during sleep. This blockage may lead to breathing pauses or shallow breathing. Loud snoring is produced when air squeezes past this blockage. Obstructive type of sleep apnea is often manifested by overweight people, though experts warn that it could also likely affect anyone.

Another type of sleep apnea is what is called as central sleep apnea. It is a less common kind of this sleep disorder. It happens when the specific brain area that controls breathing fail to send correct signals to breathing muscles during sleep. The result: the affected person makes no effort to breathe during sleep, but only for just a few seconds. In many cases, central sleep apnea combines with the obstructive type. In some people, central sleep apnea could occur solely. Unlike in obstructive type, snoring is not common to people experiencing central sleep apnea.

There are other factors to consider when looking at sleep apnea. First, it has been found that the condition could raise the risk for heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. It could also increase risks for heart failure.

There is of course irregular heartbeats and there is a risk that the affected person may experience driving or work-related accidents, probably due to lack of sleep or sleepiness.

An undiagnosed case of sleep apnea, however, can be irritating and fatal all at the same time. Those who have it can experience as simple as fatigue and as life-threatening as heart disease. But the question is, how can one be so sure if he or his loved one is already having bouts with sleep apnea? There are warning signs to look out for, and they come as sleep apnea symptoms.

Red Flag: The signs and symptoms
Sleep apnea requires prompt attention. If the following symptoms surface, a consultation with a doctor or a sleep specialist must immediately take place.

1. Snoring. Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, but snoring is typical to those who suffer from the sleep disorder. Loud and chronic snoring is ordinarily accompanied by grunts, snorts, gasps for breath, and restless movements.

2. Breathing irregularities. Sleep apnea renders a person to have breath pauses that lead to frequent and brief silences during sleep, but which then break into loud snoring. It is the bed partner who notices these breath intervals.

3. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). It is described as the unordinary and persistent sleepiness. People experiencing EDS normally feel the urge to and sometimes involuntarily fall asleep for brief moments many times during the day and when performing daily itinerary such as eating, talking over the phone, and driving. Over time, EDS becomes a threat to someone’s performance at work and in school because it usually weakens a person’s competency to complete tasks.

4. Daytime fatigue. Due to disrupted sleep, people with sleep apnea normally feel tired as though they haven’t slept the night before. It then results in forgetfulness, lack of concentration, and learning difficulties. Mood changes are also apparent, causing the person to become irritable and anxious.

5. Depression. Although it is not clear how exactly sleep apnea contributes to depression, it is said that people with the sleep disorder are five times more prone to developing depression. Sleep apnea is also reported to aggravate an existing case of depression.

6. Morning headache. People suffering from sleep apnea wake up with morning headache. In fact, statistics says that headaches occur in approximately half of the people with sleep apnea. Headaches at night are also reported.

7. Other symptoms. People with sleep apnea have a frequent need to urinate at night and experience excessive sweating when asleep. Upon waking up, they tend to have a dry throat. Sexual dysfunction is also observed from people with sleep apnea.

Experts suggest that the more sleep apnea symptoms present in a person and the more intense they are, the more severe his case of sleep apnea is. Undergoing sleep test and treatment then is necessary. But because it is hard for a potential patient to observe some of these symptoms from himself, the bed partner is put in a place of greater accountability.

Any suspected case of sleep apnea should not be taken for granted. Rather, it should be monitored extensively.

Unlike many disorders, sleep apnea is not easily diagnosed. No doctor could tell if you have one only after one consultation or visit. It is also not diagnosed through blood tests and other clinical procedures.

It is often the roommate or bed partner of a patient who could tell if a person has sleep apnea. That is because no person could really tell what goes on during his sleep, just like no person could tell if he really snores because he could not hear himself do so during his own sleep.

There are general symptoms and signs that a person has sleep apnea. It is important that you know of such indications. If you could not observe it in yourself, probably you could observe it in your bedmate or roommate. It is also important that your housemates or family know of the following manifestations and symptoms of the condition.

First, there is chronic or ongoing and loud snoring. You may notice sudden and prolonged pauses in between snores. This could indicate that breathing is pauses, a major symptom that there is actually sleep apnea. After a while, the person could suddenly gasp or choke, an indication that there is difficulty in breathing. Take note that this could only happen during sleep.