You snore and your spouse is worried about it. At night, you periodically stop breathing, and complete silence ensues in your bedroom. Sometimes it lasts a few seconds, sometimes more than a minute. Suddenly you snore and start snoring again with renewed vigor … Your frightened partner wakes up, but you yourself do not notice anything, despite the interrupted sleep. And so it goes on all night. In the morning you feel sleepy, complain of headaches and fatigue. Throughout the day you feel tired and sleepy. It is difficult for you to cope with ordinary work, your concentration of attention decreases, irritability increases, problems in your intimate life appear …
It’s like that? We hasten to “please” you: all these signs allow you to suspect sleep apnea .
Apnea means respiratory arrest. Sleep apnea refers to the stopping of breathing during sleep. In medicine, there are two forms of sleep apnea: central and obstructive origin.
In obstructive sleep apnea , respiratory arrest is caused by obstruction (narrowing) of the upper airway. During sleep, the muscles of the body relax , including the muscles of the pharynx and soft palate, which leads to the retraction of the root of the tongue and blockage of the upper respiratory tract. At the same time, the diaphragm (the main respiratory muscle of the body) continues to receive respiratory impulses from the brain and, as a result, to contract intensively. This creates negative pressure in the airways, causing the airways to collapse and become blocked.
With sleep apnea lasting more than 10 seconds, repeated 5-10 times per hour, the body begins to seriously suffer from hypoxia due to the lack of sufficient oxygen. As a result of these episodes of sleep apnea and hypoxia, the brain receives alarms that trigger emergency awakenings.
The multiple wake-up reactions within an hour due to sleep apnea are often overlooked by patients and disrupt the natural pattern of sleep. A person wakes up in the morning sleepy and feels overwhelmed, since neither the body nor the psyche is recovered properly during such a dream. This leads to a significant decrease in the quality of life.
Another consequence of sleep disturbances in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is the increased risk of accidents at home, in the workplace, and while driving. Prolonged episodes of nocturnal hypoxia negatively affect vital organs such as the heart and brain. In addition, the risk of developing hypertension is significantly increased.
Watch the video to understand why this is happening.
If you suspect sleep apnea, the patient should definitely see a specialist . This is the only way to find out the causes of the disease and its severity.
In this short video, our patient shares his feelings about CPAP therapy. How has the state of health changed? Was it difficult to get used to the CPAP machine? How did your loved ones react to the treatment? Is the patient satisfied with the treatment and will continue with it?
Currently, improved CPAP devices Prisma Line from the new line of Weinmann – Loewenstein, Germany have been developed . Their use allows the most effective and comfortable treatment of the entire spectrum of respiratory disorders in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.