When you think of sleep apnea, maybe you think of loud snoring. While that may be a symptom, sleep apnea involves much more than that, and if left undiagnosed and untreated, can be quite serious.
Q. What is sleep apnea?
A. There are a variety of different things that are associated with sleep apnea, and there are two different kinds of sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is where something in your airway, starting from the tongue all the way down to your voice box, blocks your airway and causes obstructive events, restricting your air flow and your oxygen when you sleep at night. The other kind is central apnea, where your brain is not sending a stimulus to your lungs to take a breath. As an ear, nose and throat doctor, I see more patients with obstructive sleep apnea.
Q. Who is most at risk for developing sleep apnea?
A. There are studies that show that anywhere from 15-30% of men in America will have sleep apnea as it’s currently defined. For women, the number is closer to 5-10%. Patients who are overweight or obese are also at higher risk of developing sleep apnea. In addition, age is a risk factor.
Q. If I have obstructive sleep apnea, what is obstructing my breathing at night?
A. During REM sleep, everything relaxes – your tongue, tonsils epiglottis, voice box and throat – and any one of those can obstruct your airway.
Q. What are some warning signs for sleep apnea?
A. Some common things to look out for can include being excessively tired throughout the day or falling asleep unintentionally. About 10-30% of people with undiagnosed sleep apnea will have morning headaches when they first wake up. Sleep apnea is also associated with grinding your teeth and reflux.
Q. Other than causing fatigue, what are some of the effects sleep apnea can have on your body?
A. Over a 10-year period, people with undiagnosed sleep apnea have a 60% survival rate, compared to those who don’t have sleep apnea at closer to a 95% survival rate. It really diminishes your ability to function from many different causes. People with undiagnosed sleep apnea are three times more likely to have a myocardial infarction or heart attack, more likely to have a stroke or heart rhythm problems. There’s also the possibility of cognitive deficits or having difficulty being able to function. In addition, someone with severe, undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea is five times more likely to get into a motor vehicle accident than someone without sleep apnea. Finally, there’s an association between diabetes and sleep apnea.
Q. How do you test someone for sleep apnea?
A. We can do a sleep study, and they even have sleep studies that you can do at home now. Several different things are monitored when you have a sleep study, including your brain activity, heart rate, oxygen level, respirations in and out of your nose and your chest cavity moving up and down, which helps us to determine whether or not a patient has sleep apnea.
Q. What kind of treatment is available for sleep apnea?
A. If a child has sleep apnea, they most often undergo a surgical procedure called a tonsillectomy, where their tonsils and adenoids are removed, and that’s very often curative. For adults, CPAP therapy is the gold standard when it comes to treatment of sleep apnea. If you cannot tolerate a CPAP, there are surgical options that we can offer.
Steven Cox, M.D., is an otolaryngologist at MyMichigan Health.
