Obstructive sleep apnea affects your body’s ability to get enough oxygen during the night. It may also cause heart problems or stroke. The good news is that you can prevent or reduce these problems with treatment for sleep apnea treatment.
The first step is to talk to your doctor about any symptoms you’re having. They will take your medical history and examine you. They may recommend an overnight sleep study (polysomnogram). This test can help diagnose obstructive sleep apnea and find out its severity. It is performed in a hospital or sleep center with special equipment to monitor your breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and brain activity while you’re sleeping.
In some cases, a doctor may refer you to a sleep specialist. The specialist will be able to identify the cause of your sleep apnea and determine the best treatment for you. If you have obstructive sleep apnea, the most common treatment is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). This device blows a steady stream of air through tubing to a mask worn on your nose or mouth during the night. This air pressure keeps the back of your throat open and stops you from choking when your muscles relax during sleep.
CPAP is the most consistently effective non-invasive treatment for clinically significant obstructive sleep apnea, and it’s the only one that’s proven to be safe. It is usually prescribed along with treatment for any underlying health conditions you have. If you’re unable to tolerate CPAP, your doctor may prescribe an alternative type of machine or an oral appliance.
An oral appliance — or mandibular advancement splint, or MAS — is a small plastic or foam device that you wear when sleeping to help keep your lower jaw forward and out of the way during sleep. It can also reduce snoring. A similar device, a tongue retaining device, holds your tongue in place during sleep to prevent it from collapsing and blocking the airway.
Severe obstructive sleep apnea can lead to problems with your heart, including abnormal heart rhythms called arrhythmias. These can disrupt the flow of blood through your upper left heart chamber and linger for too long, which can cause blood clots to form. Some of these clots can exit your heart and travel to your brain, causing a stroke. Some can also move to the right side of your heart and lungs, where they can block your breathing and cause sudden cardiac death.
Surgery can be used to treat some types of obstructive sleep apnea. Some surgeries target the floppy epiglottis, a piece of tissue that covers your windpipe and allows you to swallow. Other procedures remove tissues from the back of your mouth and throat to widen the area where your mouth, throat and nasal passages connect. These include uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), which removes the uvula and some of the soft palate and pharynx, and tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, which remove the tonsils and adenoids. A new type of device that delivers electrical stimulation to the tongue can improve snoring and mild sleep apnea in some people.