What do they use to treat sleep apnea?
Monday, May 10th, 2010 at
10:20 am
My doctor now suspects that I may suffer from sleep apnea and I’m wondering what they can do to help me if I do. Anyone else have it? Do you sleep better with treatment? I’m tired of waking up tired…
Tagged with: Apnea • Sleep • they • Treat
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Treatment
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You will use an oxygen machine at night.
They use a machine called a C-Pap machine. This is a small device that sits next to your bed, it pumps air into a mask or a nasal canula into your mouth or nose depending on the mask you get. The positive pressure helps to keep your airway open at night and you will get a more recooperitive sleep/
And feel much better during the days because the increased oxygen levels in your blood.
It’s works really well, my dad has one. It’s like wearing that oxygen mask at the hospital basically.
the mask cost around $800.00
I was actually diagnosed with sleep apnea in December 2006. Since then I have been using a CPAP machine every night when I go to bed. It is a machine that is attached to hoses and a mask that you wear over your nose or nose & mouth (depending upon which one your doctor recommends for you). Ever since I started using mine last year I have felt 100% better. Now I sleep through the night (which I never used to do) and get up in the morning feeling refreshed instead of like I never went to bed. Here is a website with lots of information about different kinds of treatment http://www.sleepapnea.org . Best of luck to you!
You have to sleep with a mask that blows air into you to force you to keep breathing. Called a C-Pap or Bi-Pap Machine. My father and mother have sleep apnea it helps them. It takes time to get used to sleeping with it, but it has helped them a lot!!!!!!
Did the doctor explain sleep apnea to you? It’s basically a condition where you stop breathing hundreds of times a night, but just for a second or two because your brain wakes you up so you’ll start breathing again. It prevents you from getting into that restful REM (dreaming) phase of sleep where you get the most rest.
There are a few things they can do. The preferred treatment is the use of a machine that literally forces air into your lungs. There are two types: (1) CPAP, which stands for continuous positive air pressure, and (2) BI-PAP, which is a goofy acronym for bi-level positive air pressure. The second treatment is an oral appliance that pulls your jaw forward when you sleep to open your throat wider and pull your tongue out of the way. The third treatment is jaw realignment surgery, where they actually break and reset your jaw to do the same thing the oral appliance does, except the surgery is permanent. The last treatment is surgery to remove your tonsils, adenoids, and/or uvula.
I suffer from sleep apnea and I have a CPAP machine. It takes a while to get used to wearing a mask on your face when you sleep, and they usually have to adjust it a couple of times before they get the pressure level right, but I now use it every night and it really does help me sleep better. Last month I went to Ohio for Reserve duty, and when I got back I was tired so I went straight to bed without pulling my CPAP machine out of the car. The next morning, after I had “slept” for over nine hours, I really noticed how tired I felt. The next night I made sure I had my CPAP machine set up, and after getting only six hours of sleep I felt fine.
If the doctors determine that you have sleep apnea, they’re going to recommend a CPAP or BI-PAP machine before they recommend an oral appliance or surgery, and you DO NOT want to have surgery. Both my aunt and my father-in-law had the surgery to remove their tonsils and their uvulae (is that the correct plural for uvula?) and they both regretted it because they say it makes it very easy to choke when eating or sleeping.
Hope they get you fixed up soon.
I don’t suffer from that but the link below may be of some help to you.
I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea after my wife told me one morning that I had stopped breathing one night. I did a lot of research even before I went to my sleep study and learned quite a bit about it. By medical definition, an Apnea is when you stop breathing for ten seconds or more. There are also Hypopneas that are shorter breathing interuptions. In my sleep study, I had over 90 interuptions (both Hypopneas and Apneas) per hour. That’s well over 700 in one night.
This disorder is very serious. It can increase your chance for heart attack, stroke etc. Get a sleep study and if you are diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, get treatment. You’ll feel a lot better, happier and with more energy.
The most common and effective treatment is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). This is not, as some have said, an Oxygen machine. This takes room air and pressurizes it just enough to keep your airway open. This is why you must have a prescription to get one so your pressure isn’t too high. The pressure is noted in CM H2O pressure and generally ranges from 4 to 20.
There are surgical options but I personally know four people who went through the very painful and long recovery time surgery and only one found it effective. The other three are using CPAP machines.
In addition to CPAP, there are BiPAP and APAP machines. BiPAP machine have two pressures set, one for inhaling and one for exhaling. The pressure drops on the exhale to make breathing easier. This is normally only for those who have higher pressures above 15 CM H2O.
APAPs or Auto-PAPs are designed for those who need a great deal of change in pressure depending on their sleeping position. The machine can sense Apneas and Hypopneas and automatically adjust the pressure to eliminate them. For example, if a patient needs only 6 CM H2O on their side but needs 18 CM H2O on their back, a doctor might want them on an Auto-PAP so they aren’t receiving 18 CM H2O when they are sleeping on their side.
CPAPs and their cousins can take some getting used to but for some, like me, I couldn’t wait to start using mine and I think that attitude helped me love mine from day one. Even if you don’t, give it a chance, you will get used to sleeping with it and will probably reach a point where you can’t sleep or sleep well without it. I know I can’t.
A great book to read is Sleep Disorders for Dummies. It has a lot of good information.