Welcome to AboutSleepApnea.com
This website is designed
for:
·
people who
have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and want to learn more about the
disease
·
people who
have symptoms that may be related to sleep apnea and would like to learn
more about the disease before discussing further with their physician
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
(OSA) is a common disorder.
There are 2 major types
of sleep apnea: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and central sleep apnea. The majority of the material
presented here refers to OSA and sleep apnea refers to OSA unless otherwise
stated. OSA is a disease in
which you stop breathing or have a decrease in your breathing because your
airway is blocked. This leads
to a drop in your body’s oxygen level or it wakes you up (or
both). Central sleep apnea is a
disease in which the brain does not tell the breathing muscles to work,
which leads to a pause in the breathing.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
is a disease caused by a narrowing or complete collapse of the airway while
sleeping. This is often a repetitive
process throughout the entire night.
Patients often report very loud snoring, witnessed apneas (someone
has observed you stopping breathing while asleep), awakening tired,
excessive daytime somnolence (EDS), fatigue, difficulty concentrating,
memory disturbances, falling asleep while driving, and lack of energy.
Not all patients who
have these symptoms have sleep apnea.
These symptoms raise suspicion for OSA, but do not make the
diagnosis. Currently, the diagnosis
can only be made by undergoing a sleep study.
What should be done if
you think you might have OSA?
How do you know if you
are at risk for OSA?
What are the risks of
not treating sleep apnea?
What can be done to
treat OSA?
Please click on the appropriate
links above to learn more.
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