Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You may have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and you feel tired even after a full night’s sleep.

The signs and symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas overlap, sometimes making the type of sleep apnea more difficult to determine. The most common signs and symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas include:

OSA is a serious breathing problem that interrupts your sleep. It means you have short pauses in your breathing when you sleep. These breathing pauses last for 10 to 30 seconds, maybe longer. People with obstructive sleep apnea can stop breathing dozens or hundreds of times each night.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) stops you from having the restful sleep you need to stay healthy. If it’s not treated, sleep apnea can lead to major health problems, accidents, and early death. For that reason, OSA is a very dangerous condition. If you or a loved one snore loudly at night, please have a sleep study done to rule out this potentially fatal condition.

Treatment for sleep apnoea relies on changes to lifestyle, including losing weight and cutting down on alcohol. Any contributing medical condition, such as low production of thyroid hormone, also needs to be corrected. Any surgical conditions such as large tonsils should be corrected.

The most effective treatment available is a mask worn at night that keeps the back of the throat open by forcing air through the nose. This is called nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). However, some people with sleep apnoea find the mask difficult to tolerate.