What Is Sleep Apnea?
When you sleep, the muscles in your throat become relaxed. This will cause a slight narrowing that is not usually a problem. But in a person with sleep apnea, this narrowing causes breathing problems that are significant enough to lower oxygen levels and cause severe sleep disruption.
Because even normal persons have relaxed throat muscles when they sleep, those with sleep apnea will have additional factors that contribute to their throat closing like a large tongue or excess tissue. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) frequently occurs in persons who are overweight and this is thought to be because of the extra fatty tissue in their necks.
OSA can be worsened by consuming alcohol or taking sleeping pills or tranquilizers. Your physician should know if you have symptoms of OSA if you are having trouble sleeping at night, since the pills he may prescribe for you could be dangerous.
If you have OSA you probably don’t get the amount of oxygen you need when you sleep and you probably don’t sleep as soundly as you should to be refreshed for the next day. As a result, your daytime fatigue can affect your work and your social life. It could even lead to a car accident.
Untreated OSA will put you at risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, heart failure and psychological problems. Symptoms usually appear slowly and progress over many years. Most patients do not realize how bad they really feel until they begin therapy for their OSA.
Here are the warning signs of OSA:
1. Very loud snoring.
2. Episodes of not breathing ending with a gasp or loud snort.
3. Excessive sleepiness which causes you to fall asleep at inappropriate times, like at work or at a traffic signal.
4. Difficulty concentrating or becoming forgetful, anxious or depressed.
5. Morning headaches and getting up many times during the night to go to the bathroom.
6. Men may complain of impotence and women may have menstrual irregularities.
A sleep disorders physician can send you to a sleep diagnostics facility to be tested and treatment can begin right away. You will feel the benefits in a short period of time, sometimes right away.
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