So your snoring is driving crazy everyone in your house. Do you feel you are destined for one of dental guards or sleep apnea masks? Don’t come to a conclusion so fast. Your snoring may be due to sleep apnea, which causes frequent breaks in breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea is various times a reason of chronic sleepiness and other severe health problems. It can make sufferer’s life miserable.
Surgery Should Not Be the First Step towards Sleep Apnea Treatment
Daytime sleepiness, high blood pressure, poor concentration, fatigue, and overweight, all these conditions ought to take our thinking towards sleep apnea. Dr. Molly Cooke, president of the American College of Physicians has issued new guidelines on treatment of sleep apnea. He didn’t find it true that sleep apnea increases the risk of premature death. Reviewers to the new guidelines also found that sleep apnea surgery didn’t help a lot of people. According to them surgery should be used as the last option, if it’s used at all. It can cause excessive bleeding as a short term problem and long term problems like swallowing. Surgery is not get-it-over with cure that is what people think and go for a surgery.
Also Read: Snoring – Do You Take High Salt Diet?
How One Should Go About Sleep Apnea Treatment?
If not surgery then what should be the first line of treatment? The initial and the best treatment for sleep apnea or snoring is simple and obvious—lose weight. I know what you might be thinking—everyone with sleep apnea is not overweight. Agreed! Not everyone but most patient are overweight. When you lose weight; you get rid of fat that blocks your windpipe. This simple path of sleep apnea treatment will not only fix your sleep trouble but will help control your cholesterol level; your knees, you will feel more energetic, your clothes will look better on you and you will become a happier person.
Patient who witness sleep apnea symptoms even after shedding a few pounds might need to go for an overnight test for apena. If sleep apnea tests are positive on you, the second treatment option that you can take is CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). It delivers pressurized air to a patient’s nose that keeps the airway open. But CPAP requires wearing a tight-fitted mask while you sleep, which is quite bothering to some people. However, the CPAP masks are much more comfortable now than they were 10 or 15 years back. The machines have become lot quieter, and biggest of all improvement is the addition of heated moist air that keeps the nose moist and avoids congestion.
Final Words
Sleep apnea patients who can’t tolerate mask can try the mandibular advancement device that help move the lower jaw forwarded a bit to create some space in the back of the throat. Either you try mandibular device or CPAP you ultimately need to pressurize the airway to keep it open during sleep. This is the base of any sleep apnea treatment and will be.