Treatments for Sleep Apnea and Snoring
Health

Treatments for Sleep Apnea and Snoring

A potentially deadly disorder, sleep apnea is characterized by intense insomnia as well as high amounts of snoring. It is basically a cessation which is involuntary and obstructs the breathing of the person, thereby causing it to stop. It is one of the most fatal, yet common sleep disorders that people experience. There are three main types of sleep disorder- central, obstructive, and mixed.

Diagnose it right
In order to further understand how intense your snoring is or the kind of attention that your sleep disorder needs, your doctor will run a diagnosis. All your signs and symptoms will be evaluated based on your sleeping patterns and a sleep specialist would help you to chart the right course of treatment post this. Sometimes, tests such as nocturnal polysomnography or home sleep tests may be required to help in bettering your situation.

Treatment options
Discussed below are some of the remedies you may resort to for the management of sleep apnea before it turns detrimental.

Therapies
Some of the therapies used to treat sleep disorders include the following:

  • CPAP
    Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is one of the oldest and most conventional methods of dealing with moderate to extremely severe sleep apnea. The air-pressure provided by this device is enough to keep your passageways open, which not only helps in preventing snoring but also in getting rid of apnea.
  • Auto CPAP
    If a CPAP machine is not giving you the results that you require, then you may also opt for the auto CPAP which works towards automatically adjusting the pressure as you sleep. This device is also referred to as a self-adjusting CPAP or an auto-titrating CPAP.
  • Oral appliances
    Oral appliances are easy to use in comparison to a CPAP machine but are not as effective. Some of these are designed in such a manner, that they function by opening your throat and then bringing the jaw forward for better results.
  • Surgery
    This is required in serious cases. However, some of the surgery options that you may try in order to combat sleep disorder include the following:
  • Repositioning of jaw
    Under this particular procedure, your jaw is brought forward with surgical measures. This, in turn, causes lesser obstruction due to the enlargement of space behind the soft palate and the tongue.
  • Removal of tissue
    During this particular procedure, the surgeon will remove the tissue which is present in the rear of your mouth and extends up to the top region of your throat. This helps in alleviating the problems of your snoring as it prevents the throat structure from vibrating, which is the main cause of snoring.
  • Shrinkage of tissue
    In a few cases, the surgeon may use radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in order to shrink the rear tissue present in your throat. It may be used for sleep apnea that ranges from mild to moderate and for patients where CPAP is not proving to be effective.
  • Tracheostomy
    This is carried out only in the case of intense sleep apnea if all the other treatments fail to produce any results. For this procedure, the surgeon makes a certain incision in your neck and inserts a metal or a plastic tube so that you may breathe better.

Other home remedies
Your insomnia or sleep apnea may also be cured through many other remedies, provided they are still in a nascent stage and have not aggravated much. Some of the remedies that you may try out include the following:

  • Lose enough weight
  • Exercise regularly as it will help you sleep better and also keep you energetic
  • Avoid harmful sleeping tactics such as consumption of sleeping pills and alcohol without any medical intervention
  • Change your sleeping position
  • Quit smoking to clear your passageways, which will, in turn, ensure that you breathe properly

 

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