Report Symptoms of Sleep Apnea to Your Doctor
The amount and quality of your sleep can play a major role in your health. A growing body of research indicates that a sleep disorder called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline, complications following general anesthesia, accidents due to fatigue, and possibly even cancer.
“If you have OSA, you have a higher risk of several cardiovascular conditions, including hypertension, stroke, abnormal heart rhythms, and heart failure,” says Ana Krieger, MD, medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
What is OSA?
If you have OSA, while you are sleeping, your throat muscles relax and partially or totally block the air from traveling into your chest and lungs.
“The most common sign of OSA is snoring, although not all snorers have OSA,” explains Dr. Krieger. Many people with OSA stop breathing for a few seconds, and they may make a gasping or choking sound when they resume breathing. Other symptoms include daytime fatigue or sleepiness and waking with a dry mouth.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Other measures that you can take to reduce the severity and frequency of OSA include:
- Avoiding alcohol or medications, such as sedatives, that relax the muscles in your throat at night.
- Losing weight if you are overweight.
- Sleeping on your side or stomach instead of your back.
- Getting regular exercise.
- Treating allergies that may block or narrow your nasal passages.
Older age, obesity, and hypertension are key risk factors for OSA. For women, the chances of developing OSA increase after menopause.
Diagnosing OSA
If you think you may have OSA, discuss your symptoms with your doctor; he or she may refer you to a sleep medicine specialist. Testing for OSA traditionally consists of undergoing a sleep study, during which you are connected to equipment that monitors your breathing patterns, heart and brain activity, blood oxygen level, and other physiological functions while you sleep.
You may be able to have a sleep test at your home. However, home tests do not provide as much information as tests in a sleep lab, and a home test may provide a false negative result, meaning that you may have OSA but it doesn’t show up on the test.
Treatment for OSA
If you have moderate-to-severe OSA, your doctor is likely to prescribe a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. The machine pushes air through a mask you wear over your nose (or nose and mouth) while you sleep. The air pressure of your CPAP machine is calibrated depending on the results of your sleep study.
It can take some time to get used to a CPAP machine, and many patients don’t try one or don’t use one once they’ve gotten it. However, giving up on treatment means that you’re not getting good-quality, restful sleep, and your risks of several chronic diseases remain higher.
“Always discuss any problems you have with your doctor. The treatment needs to feel comfortable. There are a variety of masks available, and there are options within the CPAP equipment to adjust the pressure settings,” says Dr. Krieger. “Sometimes, an adaptation session with CPAP is also helpful—this could be performed at a sleep center.”
If you’ve previously been diagnosed with OSA but you couldn’t get comfortable with a CPAP, give it another try.
“The newer masks are much smaller, lighter, and easier to use than the masks that were available several years ago. CPAP machines are also better designed and easier to tolerate,” says Dr. Krieger.
The post Report Symptoms of Sleep Apnea to Your Doctor appeared first on University Health News.
Read Original Article: Report Symptoms of Sleep Apnea to Your Doctor »
Powered by WPeMatico
