CPAP Wholesale Blog

When Should You Worry About Chronic Snoring?

July 16, 2009 on 5:11 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Chronic snoring can be more than just a minor annoyance for the snorer and anyone else who lives in the same home. If you’re the snorer, you probably wake up feeling as if you haven’t slept at all because people who snore find it difficult to reach the restful REM stage of sleep. If you happen to live with someone who snores, you’ve probably spent many nights on the couch trying to catch a quiet night of sleep or spent nights wide awake listening to your partner struggle to breathe.

Nearly everyone snores once in a while, especially if they are sick. But if you’re snoring every night and feel as if you’re missing out on restful sleep, you could be suffering from a dangerous sleep disorder called sleep apnea.

Types Of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea comes in two forms: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Although these two conditions share a name, their causes and treatments are vastly different.

Obstructive sleep apnea is common in adults and occurs when air cannot get into the lungs. After being inhaled, air must go through the nasal passages, behind the palate, uvula and tongue base, through the throat muscles and finally, between the vocal cords before reaching the lungs. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when there’s a problem with any of these steps.

The causes of an obstructive sleep apnea can be a deviated septum, enlarged palate or uvula, a constriction of the walls of the throat, if the tongue falls backward or being overweight. Being overweight can put additional pressure on the muscles the body uses to breathe, making it difficult to breathe when lying down.

An obstructive sleep apnea can be treated with a CPAP or BiPAP machine. Losing weight is also a great way to eliminate the apnea, but since it can take a while to get the pounds off, it’s a good idea to take advantage of a BiPAP or CPAP machine.

The other type of sleep apnea is known as a central sleep apnea. It’s most common in babies, especially premature ones, or people who suffer from heart disease, cerebrovascular disease or another type of congenital disease. This is because the brain fails to send a message to the muscles that control breathing. If the muscles don’t take that breath, a central sleep apnea occurs.

Central sleep apnea in adults is treated by treating the disease causing the apnea. In babies, there is no treatment. Instead, babies use an apnea monitor, which tracks their breathing. If the monitor detects that 20 seconds have gone by without a breath, an alarm sounds. The alarm will wake both the child and the parents and usually then the child will take a breath. Babies usually outgrow this type of sleep apnea as they get bigger.

Do You Suspect Sleep Apnea?

If you think you may have either central or obstructive sleep apnea, your doctor will likely order a sleep test. This test is one in a sleep disorder lab and you will probably have to spend the night to get the most precise results.

The typical sleep apnea test is a polysomnogram. This painless test is administered by placing sensors on your scalp, face, chest, limbs and finger. Throughout the night, these sensors will record brain activity, eye and muscle movement, your heart and breathing rate, the amount of air you inhale and exhale and the level of oxygen in your blood, all while you sleep. Your sleep disorder specialist will take the results from this test and if needed, diagnose you with sleep apnea.

Using A BiPAP or CPAP Machine

If you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you may be required to use a BiPAP or CPAP machine. These machines are designed to help you breathe while you sleep by dispensing air directly into your nose, requiring you to breathe.

A CPAP machine works by forcing your airway open while you sleep. CPAP, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure, keeps the back of your throat open by pumping in a continuous stream of air. These machines are available with a variety of masks, from a CPAP full face mask to a smaller CPAP mask that leaves more of the face uncovered.

A BiPAP machine is similar, in that it applies air to help the user breathe. The main difference though, is that BiPAP applies pressure when the user both inhales and exhales. BiPAP stands for bi-level positive airway pressure and the machine is able to sense the correct pressure for both inhalation and exhalation. While these machines can be used to treat sleep apnea, they are more commonly used for people who are unable to breathe on their own.

If snoring is keeping you or a loved one up at night, consider visiting a sleep specialist. There may be a medical reason and your snoring could be a symptom of a dangerous condition known as sleep apnea. Once you’ve woken up from your first good night’s rest, you’ll wonder why you didn’t call sooner.