.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/fx-gs)
What is OSA?
What is OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea)?
OSA causes your breathing to suddenly stop during the night, either due to blockages or misfiring signals in your brain. As a result, your body becomes stressed and works to make start breathing again. As your chest contracts and your body fights for air, you don’t get properly rested with the oxygen your brain and other vital organs need.
Cumulative Effect of OSA:
This means that the longer that the disease goes untreated, the greater the negative side effects and associated health risks. If sleep apnea remains untreated, other health conditions may emerge or current health problems may heighten, including:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Depression
- Reflux disease (GERD)
- Arthrosclerosis
- Gestational diabetes
- Sexual dysfunction
Consequences of OSA:
- Difficulty concentrating on tasks such as driving - fatal car accidents are increased seven fold.
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Morning and daytime headaches
- Generalized irritability
- Impaired emotional function
- Sleep disordered breathing in childhood may be instrumental in delaying or damaging cognitive development
Click HERE to find out if you are at risk for sleep apnea.
.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:66.67%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true)
Diagnosis
Talk to your healthcare provider. Complete the Sleep Screening Questionnaire and give the results to your healthcare provider to start the discussion. If appropriate, your healthcare provider will prescribe a sleep study for you.
Testing in a sleep lab. This will require that you go to a sleep center and spend the night in their facility. In order to evaluate for a number of sleep diseases, electrodes will be attached to your head and body to perform a full sleep study.
Home Sleep Testing You may be prescribed a home sleep test. This offers an easier option, as you will be able to spend the night in your own bed in familiar surroundings.
After a brief training by your healthcare provider , you can take a portable sleep diagnostic device home for a self-administered sleep test. This could save you and/or your insurance company money, as the typical cost of a home sleep test is only a fraction of the cost of an in-lab test.
.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:74.99%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true)
Treatment
A CPAP machine is the most common treatment for OSA. The CPAP machine is small, pulls, compresses, and blows air into a tube which is attached to a mask worn by the patient. The pressurized air from the CPAP keeps the airway open, allowing the patient to breathe.
Other treatment options: While CPAP is the common treatment option, other modalities of treatment do exist, including:
- Lifestyle changes
- Positional therapy
- Weight loss
- Oral appliances
- Surgical procedures
Benefits of treatment: Patients who treat OSA will return to a more normal sleep pattern allowing the body its much needed rest. Patients will feel more awake and energetic allowing increased focus and activity throughout the day. Benefits also include: reduced risk of stroke, heart failure, diabetes, hypertension and other ailments associated with OSA.