Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatment
If your physician wants to evaluate you for the possible diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, he/she will send you to a sleep laboratory. You will go to sleep, on your own, during the test. Not too many medical tests are this easy on the patient - totally pain free.
The sleep study will include the following tests:
- electroencephalogram (EEG) - a graphic record of the electrical activity of the brain
- electromyogram - a graphic record of the electrical activity of a muscle
- electrooculogram - a record of the voltage between the front and back of the eye that is related with eyeball movement and obtained by electrodes placed on the skin near the eye
- pulse oximetry monitoring - a noninvasive technique used to monitor oxygen levels
- videography - to monitor body movements
Afterwards, the physician will review and evaluate if you have Obstructive Sleep Apnea from these results.
If you have this sleep disorder, the most recommended treatment is CPAP - continuous positive airway pressure. This is a machine with a mask attached to it by tubing. When the person goes to sleep, they apply this mask to their face and the machine blows positive air through the airway passages during sleep. The bad part is that some people can not tolerate wearing the mask while they sleep,
Another possible option is surgery. One surgical procedure is a uvulopalato-pharyngoplasty (That’s a mouth full to say) - this means trimming the soft palate and removing the uvula in the back of the throat.
Another option maybe an adenotonsilectomy - removal of the adenoid and tonsil
Or another option is a mandibular advancement - a surgical procedure - or an oral appliance that moves the mandible more frontward so the tongue and soft palate also moves more frontward.
Weight loss and exercising for better muscle tone may also be helpful. As well as using pillows or devices to keep a person from sleeping on there back.
I hope this has been helpful information. Please come back and visit my site again in the future for more interesting articles about sleep.
Good Night to All,
Cheryl
Tags: cpap, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, sleep apnea, sleep apnea treatment, Sleep Disorders, sleep studies, sleep study