Don’t panic if you’ve been told you have sleep apnea. Even though the condition can cause many health problems, you can manage it with the proper treatments. You must learn about effective apnea treatments, and this article focuses on just that.
Try cutting out cigarettes and alcohol if you have sleep apnea. Alcohol relaxes the tongue and throat muscles, which can cause them to block your airway; smoking inflames the airway, causing it to narrow. Both of these habits can cause snoring and apnea. Some people resort to invasive surgeries to correct their sleep apnea without realizing that discontinuing these bad habits could have been a more simple and much cheaper route!
Talk to your doctor about getting a mouth piece you can wear at night. You could have an overbite, recessed chin, or narrow breathing passage that worsens your sleep apnea symptoms. You can overcome these difficulties and experience much more restful sleep by using a custom mouth guard that aligns your jaw and airway properly aligned.
Get a custom mouth guard made specifically for you. These oral devices are specially made for patients with sleep apnea sufferers. It provides a more comfortable alternative to using a CPAP machine. The mouth guard helps by keeping the airway open while offering stability for soft tissues.
A doctor looks at both your medical history and family history when diagnosing sleep apnea. Also, there may be a sleep study performed and even a sleep specialist recommended if the doctor treating you feels that your condition is severe enough to get it looked at further.
If your doctor has prescribed a CPAP machine, make an honest effort to use it at least four hours a night. It is hard for some patients to become accustomed to using the CPAP. If you struggle to adjust to it in the beginning, try to make sure you at least use your CPAP four hours each time you sleep.
Sleep Apnea
Try using a nasal spray for an irritated nose. This product should help clear your airways for a night or two. Nasal sprays with medications should not be used for many days in a row, however, because they can damage the nose. Talk to a pharmacist to see which spray they recommend.
Sleep apnea can be present in adults or children; there is no age limit. If your child is inattentive, hostility, has poor grades, hyperactivity, and/or breathes through their mouth instead of their nose, you should consider sleep apnea as a possibility to investigate. These symptoms can be similar to those of ADHD, so it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis because treatments for these two disorders are quite different.
Many folks afflicted with sleep apnea are used to sleeping on their backs. Sleeping flat on your back may cause constriction of the throat and mouth tissues to obstruct your airways. Sleeping on your side is a better option.If you have a hard time sleeping on your back all night, support yourself with pillows on one side or the other.
Do not sleep on your back if you have sleep apnea. Most people who have sleep apnea are back sleepers, which means that their airways constrict easier. Prop yourself on your side using pillows or cushions.
If you use a CPAP machine and have sleep apnea, make sure you have a medical ID bracelet.
Sleep Apnea
You may not even notice that you have apnea. Waking up gasping for air makes a lot of noise, but it may not wake you up completely. Although you are not likely to realize that you are fighting for air every night as you sleep, you may very well have developed sleep apnea.
If you are taking a vacation and suffer from sleep apnea, always remember to bring along the CPAP machine with you. You never should go a single night without the CPAP if you have sleep apnea.You should have a travel bag when you got your machine. You can use it to carry your CPAP machine with you away from home.
You can reduce the sleep apnea. Some factors (like genetic predisposition or being a man) are impossible to escape. However, many other risk factors can be cut out, like excessive weight, a smoker or a heavy drinker.
Because apnea is not a problem of the nose, but rather a problem of the throat, making the throat stronger can have positive effects on controlling apnea symptoms. If you want to learn exercises that can make your throat stronger, do a little research; there are plenty available.
Don’t sleep on your back if you are a sleep apnea sufferer. Sleeping on one’s back blocks your airways quite easily. Use cushions or pillows to prop yourself lying on your side while you sleep.
Some useful tongue exercises can help alleviate many sleep apnea.
A technical description for sleep apnea is insufficient oxygen intake while sleeping. Therefore, it is good for anyone with sleep apnea to stay away from higher altitudes. There is less oxygen available at higher elevations and this can aggravate sleep apnea symptoms. If it is possible to avoid sleeping at an elevated height, it would be prudent to do so.
If the air you breathe is moist, you will have a better night’s sleep. Many CPAP manufacturers are providing machines with integrated humidifiers, so see if your doctor can prescribe one of those for you.
How you sleep each night can determine the quality of sleep you get and how bad your sleep apnea. This is the reason why it’s vital to sleep in a proper positioning is so critical. Lift your body up on a foam wedge at the top of the bed.
There are cases where sleep apnea must be treated with surgery. This is usually when excess tissues in the throat block the airway at night. This surgery, called UPPP (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) gets rid of the additional tissue, thus, opening your airway and getting rid of the sleep apnea. Know that when this happens, they may remove your tonsils as well.
Sleep apnea can be very troublesome if not treated. As you can now see, there are things you can do to treat it. Use what you have learned in this article, and bring up the topic with a medical professional so that you can stay in good health.