Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea does more than make you feel exhausted and grumpy during the day. Without proper treatment, sleep apnea puts you at risk for serious health problems like heartburn, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke,  heart attack, heart failure, and an irregular heartbeat. The skilled team at Midwest Respiratory, Ltd. in Joliet and New Lenox, Illinois, offers comprehensive diagnosis and personalized treatment. Call the nearest office or connect online to request an appointment and learn if your symptoms are due to sleep apnea.

What is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)?

OSA occurs when you briefly stop breathing during the night because your tongue and other tissues fall back and obstruct the airway. You can stop breathing 5-30 times or more every hour while you sleep.

The collapse of the upper airway and sudden drop in oxygen alert your brain, resulting in awakenings or arousals, which makes you start breathing again. You seldom wake up when it happens, so you don’t know you have OSA.

What is central sleep apnea?

Central sleep apnea (CSA) also stops your breathing repeatedly while you sleep. However, this type of sleep apnea occurs when your brain doesn’t tell your body to breathe. The lack of communication is often caused by heart failure or neurological illnesses.

Central sleep apnea is also associated with an unusual breathing pattern called Cheyne-Stokes breathing (CSB). If you have CSB, your breathing is fast and gets increasingly shallow until you stop breathing. Your breathing resumes in a few seconds, and the cycle repeats.

What symptoms does sleep apnea cause?

Everyone with OSA snores, and often loudly. However, many people snore, and that doesn’t mean they have sleep apnea.

OSA and central sleep apnea both cause:

• Difficulty waking in the morning
• Excessive daytime tiredness
• Morning headaches
• Forgetfulness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Depression and mood changes
• Irritability

Others in your household may notice a cycle of snoring, sudden quietness when you stop breathing, and then a gasp or snort as you begin breathing again.

How is sleep apnea treated?

Your Midwest Respiratory, Ltd. provider uses the information from a home or in-lab sleep study to diagnose sleep apnea and determine the severity of your condition.

They often recommend positive airway pressure (PAP) for moderate to severe OSA and central sleep apnea. There are several types of PAP, including continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), bilevel airway pressure (BPAP), and auto servo-ventilation (ASV) devices.

All PAP devices stabilize your breathing by providing a stream of pressurized air through a mask and into your mouth or nose.

People with mild OSA can consider body positioning devices or oral appliances that stop their tongue from falling over the airway. If you’re overweight, you can often overcome mild OSA by losing the extra pounds.

Your provider may recommend upper airway surgery, glossopharyngeal nerve stimulation for OSA, or phrenic nerve stimulation for central sleep apnea. 

Call Midwest Respiratory, Ltd. or use online booking to get a sleep apnea evaluation today.