Originally Posted by jazzy_cyclist
Thanks for the explanation. My wife (who works in medicine) claims that I have SA mostly because I can snore heavily if I sleep on my back. My BP is okay - get some premature beats from time to time over the last several years. So -- the treatment is a device that keeps your airway open by not permitting you to lie on your back? Or is there more to it than that?
Keep us posted - this is interesting. And of course, good luck.
NOPE!
Lying on your back is what you are supposed to do. Lying on your tummy is bad.
The CPAP machine is a positive pressure device - sort of like an old-fashioned tube type vacuum cleaner with air blowing out the non-vacuum end, but much more refined, blowing into a mask that keeps your airway poen.
It is the "snoring and stopping" then snoring and stopping that is an indicator of SA. It amy or may not cause increased blood pressure. During the stopping, you are getting no air.
Other typical symptoms (but not mine) are extreme sleepiness and falling asleep during the day.
http://www.sleepapnea.org/geninfo.html#defined
The Greek word "apnea" literally means "without breath." There are three types of apnea: obstructive, central, and mixed; of the three, obstructive is the most common. Despite the difference in the root cause of each type, in all three, people with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times during the night and often for a minute or longer.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. Mixed apnea, as the name implies, is a combination of the two. With each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses people with sleep apnea in order for them to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.
Sleep apnea is very common, as common as adult diabetes, and affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Yet still because of the lack of awareness by the public and healthcare professionals, the vast majority remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, despite the fact that this serious disorder can have significant consequences.
Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Moreover, untreated sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment and motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated. Several treatment options exist, and research into additional options continues.