Sleep apnea and sleep with a CPAP mask

What is the sleep apnea?

The Greek word "apnea" literally means "without breath." Sleep Apnea is serious a sleep disorder that occurs when the breathing stops 10 seconds or longer during sleep. It can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on how many times per hour, the person stops breathing (apnea) or becomes very slow (hypopnea). Episodes of apnea may occur from 5 to 50 times per hour.

According to the national institutes of health (NIH) sleep apnea affects more than 12 million Americans. Due to the lack of public awareness, as well as the lack of awareness on the part of health care providers, but it is thought that most cases fail, despite the severity of the disorder and its effects.

There are three types sleep apnea: obstructive Sleep Apnea (axis), medium sleep apnea, (CSA) and mixed sleep apnea, (MSA). Axis is the most common type sleep apnea and causes blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue at the back of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. In the CSA airway are not blocked but the brain does not signal the muscles to breathe due to the instability in the respiratory control center. Mixed apnea is a combination of both.

What are the consequences?

Each type of apnea, the brain briefly arouses people, triggering the start breathing, which is fragmented, the poor and the quality of sleep. Sleep Apnea as a result, they may also cause poor performance in everyday activities, such as motor vehicles accidensa and school, work, and academic underachievement for children and adolescents.

If left untreated, Sleep Apnea may lead to the growing number of health problems including hypertension, stroke and heart failure, irregular heartbeats and heart attack. In addition to having memory problems, weight gain, headache, impotence may occur as a result of sleep apnea , if untreated.

Who's in danger?

Sleep Apnea can affect anyone at any age, even children, but risk factors include the following:

Being Overweight
Big neck size (17 inches or more women, or higher for men and 16 inches)
Male sex
After forty years
With a family history sleep apnea
African Americans, Hispanics, and Pacific Islanders have a higher risk sleep apnea than Caucasions. Moreover, African Americans tend to sleep apnea in younger age.
Women who have been following the move. After menopause, women at sleep apnea rate similar to that of men.
Conditions, which could cause head and face of anomalies, such as Marfan syndrome, and down syndrome.
Evaluated- If you believe that you have sleep apnea, please contact your insurance policy before the event, it may be necessary to obtain a reference to a sleep specialist from your primary care physician. It is also necessary to go into a test facility. Some insurance policies exclude coverage for the diagnosis and treatment disorder sleepand some cover the Permanent medical device and Diagnostics and treatment can be significant costs, usually over $ 1,000. Doctors who know sleep medicine may be pulmonologists (specializing in the lungs), neurologists (the brain), otolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat), Psychiatry (mental health), or primary care. Some doctors may be certified by the American Board of sleep medicine (ABSM)., or steps, which meet the requirements of this Council. In any case, you will probably also sleep Center. If your doctor does not refer you to a specific sleep Center, http://www.aasmnet.org/ you can visit for the latest list of accredited member sleep centers and laboratories.

In the Centre of sleep you can expect to undergo a sleep study, which uses several devices to record activity during sleep. In General, include the electroencelphalogram (EEG) to measure brain waves and electroculogram (EOG) to measure eye and Chin movement, how to track the phase of sleep. EKG (EKG) to measure heart rate and rhythm; chest bands to measure breathing movements and other monitors to sense oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood, as well as monitors to record leg movement. The device is not painful and there are no needles.

Treatment options:

In General, your doctor may prescribe lifestyle changes and therapy to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), but surgery is a possibility, if they are not treatment to succeed. American Association of sleep apnea identifies the CPAP therapy as the most common treatment for the condition. CPAP therapy works to prevent the closure of the airway during sleep. It is managed by sleeping through the nasal or full face mask in place called Velcro straps around the heads of the patient. The mask is connected by a tube to the small air compressor. CPAP machine sends the air under pressure pipe and into the mask, where it supplies the Internet a positive pressure on the upper airways, prevents the tissues in the back of the neck by collapsing during sleep.

CPAP therapy can be an extremely effective form of treatment, but the biggest problem is the non-compliance. It was estimated that more than 65% of patients using the computer for a maximum of 4 hours per night, which should be used for the duration of the patient's sleep. In many cases, patients report using CPAP only a couple of nights of the week.

The discomfort is an important factor contributing to the non-compliance. During sleep the party or the stomach sleeping mask presses and rubbing the patient's face, which is a problem of great comfort and you can also distort, mask, leak and deepening the problem of non-compliance.

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