Milder stages of sleep apnea can be treated by incremental lifestyle changes while severe sleep apnea demands immediate and severe medical attention. In a vast majority of sleep apnea patients today, treatments are, conducted through home remedies first. The primary aim of treating sleep apnea is to relieve the symptoms and restore the regular breathing cycle or circadian rhythm of the body.

Sawing trees at night not only strains your partner’s ears but also puts a strain on your own health. It becomes dangerous for snorers if the breathing stops for several seconds while sleeping. If there are pauses in breathing, so-called apneas, a sleep apnea syndrome may be present. At the themed evening in the Helios Clinic Uelzen on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, private lecturer Dr. Michael Brehm, chief physician of cardiology, and Adrian Horcea-Milcu, senior physician of neurology, on the causes of snoring, show the diagnostic possibilities of the sleep laboratory and explain how the treatment is carried out. The free lecture starts at 7 p.m., registration is not required.

At a glance: how dangerous is sleep apnea?

• The disease is not recognized in approx. 75 – 80% of people with sleep apnea because they cannot be examined.
• Untreated v erringert sleep apnea life expectancy by up to 10 years.
• Untreated sleep apnea significantly increases the risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
• The respiratory disorder is easy to diagnose and very treatable.

Sleep apnea unfolds its harmful potential in terms of cardiovascular risks primarily because it often goes untreated. Because too few people go to the doctor because of breathing pauses during sleep, snoring, and daytime sleepiness. You should take these warning signs for yourself or your loved ones very seriously. Because the disease and its consequences – the symptoms of sleep apnea syndrome – are very treatable, especially if the so-called OSA is detected early. 

If you also experience symptoms such as daytime sleepiness during the day or tend to microsleep and exhaustion quickly, you should go to the sleep laboratory for a diagnosis of possible sleep apnea. Especially if your partner also points out nightly pauses in breathing and loud snoring.

Symptoms of sleep apnea

Time and again, during sleep, the airways are blocked by the soft tissues, and breathing is blocked. Breathing is prevented for a few seconds or sometimes minutes until the patient wakes up briefly and actively takes a breath. Waking up is usually not reminded. The affected person falls back to sleep almost immediately and the cycle starts all over again. Since sleep apnea syndrome is linked to snoring, it is more likely that the partner in bed or the roommate will register that a disorder exists.

During the day, sleep apnea patients are often very tired and complain of reduced performance and ability to concentrate. It can come from microsleep or to falling asleep during the day.

Sleep apnea can have health consequences and stress the circulation, high blood pressure or cardiac arrhythmias can develop. Sleep apnea also increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Last but not least, the patient’s relationship can suffer from sleep apnea, as snoring can significantly disturb the partner.

Diagnosis of sleep apnea

Indications of the disease often result from anamnesis (examination interview). During the physical examination, the doctor checks the cardiovascular functions, among other things. Confirmation that it is sleep apnea is provided in the sleep laboratory – the sleep laboratory is a facility where patients are monitored while they are asleep. The examinations also have to distinguish sleep apnea from other diseases (differential diagnosis) that are associated with sleep disorders and daytime sleepiness.

Self Help or Home Based Treatment of Sleep apnea

In the vast majority of cases, it is obstructive sleep apnea. This means that the airway is blocked by the soft tissues. The tongue settles in the throat, especially when the person is lying on their back. The lack of breathing activity soon leads to a lack of oxygen in the blood. This causes the brain to wake up briefly so that the breathing blockage is actively released again. The processes are basically the same as when snoring. Sleep apnea syndrome occurs more frequently in men between 40 and 70 years of age. Being overweight significantly increases the risk of suffering from sleep apnea.

Whenever a sleeping disorder is, diagnosed as mild, the ideal first step to treating it is through self-help. Following provides some of the best ways of implementing self-help remedies from the comfort of your bedroom:

• Weight Loss: Obesity causes an overlap of the tissues in the throat, which can even aggravate the sleep apnea to fatal phase as well. In fact, even the subtle most loss in weight, makes a breakthrough difference in the patient. As sleep apnea is, caused by the constriction in the upper airways, majority of its patients find immediate recovery through weight loss. Being overweight adds an inevitable reason to worsening sleep apnea.
• Exercise: Apart from weight loss programmes, regular exercise such as walking can ease the symptoms of sleep apnea, which in turn can introduce a gradual decrease in the somnipathy itself. Start with a 30 minutes’ walk in the morning and note the changes observed in the aftermath by adding it to your sleep diary.
• Maintain a proper sleeping posture: A super effective home remedy for most back pain, maintaining a sleeping posture is also quintessential for treating sleep apnea. The problem with sleeping on your back is that it increases the chance of making your tongue fall into the airway and block it. Hence, stop sleeping on your back. Instead, start sleeping on sides by keeping a pillow between your knees. If sleeping on sides is too uncomfortable for you, sleep on your abdomen. If it is difficult for you to avoid sleeping on your back, sew a couple of tennis balls onto the back of your night robe and sleep.
• Maintain proper sleeping routine: Sleep apnea has an intrinsic relationship with the circadian rhythm of our body. When this internal clock runs erratic, not only does your sleep worsen up, all your emotional, mental and physical stability also runs awry. To start with, maintain a sleep diary and sleep for 8-9 hours per day.
• Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Masks: The most popular and commonly used home remedy for sleep apnea, CPAP masks are fitted on the face of the patient before entering asleep. CPAP masks work by pushing the air into the throat of a person to keep the upper airway open while sleeping. There are a wide variety of CPAP masks available in the market and not everything is perfect for everyone. Make a smart choice while choosing your mask and remember that only the prolonged and accurate use of the equipment will deliver optimum results.
• Expiratory Positive Airway Pressure (EPAP) and BiLevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) Masks:– EPAP masks are, designed for the single use of a person suffering from mild to severe sleep apnea. The tiny mask is fitted over the nostrils before sleep. It works by allowing the air to enter the airway while inhaling and regulating or limiting the airflow, while exhaling. This leads to an increase of pressure in the upper airway, which also helps in keeping it open. EPAP masks are popular amongst people who generally feel uncomfortable using the grand CPAP set up.
  BiPAP masks are used for therapeutic treatment of sleep apnea by delivering optimum pressurized air to the upper airways in a patient. The mask acts as a splint to prevent the throat muscles from collapsing and obstructing the airway.

Apart from the above, many home remedies like quitting Alcohol and nicotine can make help substantially in curing sleep apnea. Regular and accurate use of oral appliances as well as observation of a strict balanced diet is necessary to make a proper start to the treatment of sleep apnea.

Clinical Treatment of Sleep Apnea

The inevitable form of treatment, if a patient suffers from severe sleep apnea or is incapable of treating the same through home remedies, visiting a sleep clinic can help. After sleep apnea is diagnosed, a variety of surgeries can help in the elimination of the blockage in the upper airway. However, all surgeries are dependent on the status of the sleep apnea, medical history of the person, and cause of the somnipathy.
Some of the clinical treatments of sleep apnea are:

1. Tissue Removal:– Also known as, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, this surgery involves collecting the excess patch of tissue from top and bottom of the mouth to eliminate. Tonsils and adenoids are surgically detached during the same process.
2. Implants:– After anaesthetizing the patient, small plastic rods are inserted into the soft palate of the mouth of a patient. This is also called the pillar procedure for treatment of snoring. Three tiny polyester implants are injected into the palate to stiffen it, which also reduce vibrations and provide structural support for the same.
3. Jaw Repositioning:– The surgery displaces the original position of the jaw to replace it forward, without changing the positions of any other facial bones. Also known as, the maxillomandibular advancement, this surgery extends the available space behind the palate and the tongue, to prevent constriction of the upper airway.
4. Tracheostomy: Creation of a secondary air passage by surgically creating a hole in the neck to insert a tube (metal or plastic) which is closed during the day and open at night, to prevent sleep apnea.
5. Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV): A Modern airflow equipment, which records the breathing pattern of a patient to save it initially as a digital copy. After the patient has drifted off to sleep, this machine utilizes the pressure to introduce a stable breathing pattern and nullify pauses during breaths.
6. Supplemental oxygen: Providing supplemental oxygen while a patient sleeps can also cure sleep apnea if it is mild.

Forecast of sleep apnea

Sleep apnea syndrome can lead to complications or secondary diseases, especially cardiovascular disorders. Treatment significantly reduces the risk of these consequences occur. Positive pressure ventilation largely prevents the airway from being blocked. Sleep apnea itself often persists in the long term, so that a breathing device has to be used over the long term.

Apart from the above, one can also sign up for nasal correction and weight-loss surgeries to remove the physical parameters that aggravate sleep apnea. In addition, make sure to discuss all the options available as treatment of sleep apnea with your doctor to understand what suits best for your body.

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