Sleep Apnea, which is characterized by pauses in a person’s normal breathing pattern while they sleep, is a very serious condition because it can cause a person to stop breathing up to 10 seconds or more and this can impact the amount of oxygen vital organs, especially the brain, gets during sleep. If left untreated, sleep apnea can increase the risk of having like high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, and even diabetes. Sleep apnea is dangerous because not only does it affect about one-third of people with heart failure and is known to worsen the condition.
Fortunately, advancing technology has allowed for more effective treatment options. The CPAP, Continuous positive airway pressure, is a form of positive airway pressure ventilator, which applies mild air pressure on a continuous basis to keep the airways continuously open. It is the most publicly well-known treatment option, but most patients stop using it for numerous reasons and are CPAP-intolerant.
The FDA recently approved a new kind of treatment option for those patients suffering from Central Sleep Apnea.
This differs from previous FDA approved treatment options because it stimulates the nerve directly responsible for reduced diaphragmatic function during sleep. A small device delivers electrical impulses to one of the phrenic nerves, which sends signals from the brain to the diaphragm, telling it to expand. It acts like a pacemaker, but instead of maintaining a pulse, it maintains a balanced breathing rate. Furthermore, the system activates automatically during sleep and can even be monitored or adjusted by a physician remotely through a portable tablet programming device.
If you feel symptoms such as fatigue, poor energy, nocturia (having to get up frequently to urinate during sleep), you may have sleep apnea, or underlying heart failure. It can lead to excessive daytime sleepiness, reduced exercise capacity, and irregular or very fast heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Cheyne–Stokes respiration, in which breathing is sometimes deep and rapid and at other times slow and shallow and sometimes it stops completely before restarting again, is the characteristic abnormal sleeping pattern associated with CSA. CSA worsens heart failure progression, decreases quality of life, and increases mortality rates.
A sleep specialist must assess airway integrity, making sure that the patient doesn’t have obstructive sleep apnea which requires a different kind of treatment.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a condition just as serious as Central sleep apnea, is instead caused by a physical complete or partial obstruction of the air passageways during sleep and is usually accompanied by snoring. A common characteristic of obstructive sleep apnea is increased daytime sleepiness in both adults and children. Other symptoms of OSA are similar to central sleep apnea.
The most preferred treatment of obstructive sleep apnea is oral appliance therapy (OAT), a device similar to a mouthguard which holds the lower jaw in a more forward position to effectively fix the obstruction to the air passageway and significantly improves breathing. Oral appliances, along with a 30 degree elevation of the body can improve breathing or relieve apnea altogether.
Other recent FDA-approved devices for obstructive sleep apnea include systems which manipulate the oral and nasal cavities to allow for breathing while lying down, as well as vibrating devices which help remind patients to maintain a certain position while they sleep.
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