I have “central sleep apnea.” What is this? What causes it? Is there treatment?
I already had a sleep study, and the doctors said I had apnea, but it was "central apnea." They said I would stop breathing 20+ times during the night. My follow-up MRI was normal. No brain injury, damage or tumor–glad to hear THAT! I am not overweight, and they told me a PPAP or other sleep machine would NOT help me. I would like to know more about "central sleep apnea."
Tagged with: brain injury • central apnea • doctors • mri • sleep • sleep apnea • sleep machine • sleep study • tumor
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Machine Questions
In pure central sleep apnea , the brain’s respiratory control centers are imbalanced during sleep. Blood levels of carbon dioxide, and the neurological feedback mechanism that monitors it do not react quickly enough to maintain an even respiratory rate, with the entire system cycling between apnea and hyperpnea(faster breathing). The sleeper stops breathing, and then starts again. There is no effort made to breathe during the pause in breathing: there are no chest movements and no struggling. After the episode of apnea, breathing may be faster for a period of time, a compensatory mechanism to blow off retained waste gases and absorb more oxygen.In central sleep apnea, the basic neurological controls for breathing rate malfunctions and fails to give the signal to inhale, causing the individual to miss one or more cycles of breathing. Possible causes of central sleep apnea include heart or neuromuscular disorders, and treating those conditions may help.
Here are a couple of treatments you could ask your physician about:
Bilevel positive airway pressure (bi-PAP). Unlike CPAP, which supplies steady, constant pressure to your upper airway as you breathe in and out, bi-PAP builds to a higher pressure when you inhale and decreases to a lower pressure when you exhale. The goal of this treatment is to boost the weak breathing pattern of central sleep apnea. Some bilevel PAP devices can be set to automatically deliver a breath if the device detects you haven’t taken a breath after so many seconds.
Adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV). This more recently approved airflow device is designed to treat central sleep apnea and complex sleep apnea. The device learns your normal breathing pattern and stores the information into a built-in computer. After you fall asleep, the machine uses pressure to normalize your breathing pattern and prevent pauses in your breathing.
Courtesy Mayo Clinic
it means you snore… it’s not terrible. there is treatment, you have to where a thing on your nose for your nostrils to open up so you don’t breathe through your mouth during the night. if you don’t treat it, you could have seizures in your sleep.
There are many remedies including sprays etc. The best solution however is surgery, painfull but effective. Its basically a loose peice of fat that closes the nasal passage when you breath in. It is very stressful for the heart and prevents REM sleep. I would have the surgery if you are not overweight
ur muscular system involving respiration gets relaxed during sleep, resulting in breathlessness in sleep.u’ll get up suddenly, wherein ur breathing resumes.
u may visit our site http://www.saioam.com with full details for evaluation by our experts in allopathy, homoeo and ayurveda, etc.. all the best to u.
CSA tho rare can be treated thru various means as it can be dangerous if not treated…Forgot the many reasons you can get it,sorry..Check out http://www.sleepdisorders.com then central sleep apnea on that site.. Putting the different treatments below..
Diagnosis and treatment of underlying cause
Treatment with the drugs acerazlamide and theophyllinr to stimulate the need to breathe.
In some cases, CPAP (continuous airway pressure} may be of value.
Other possible drug therapy: protriptolyne, klonopin.
Administration of low doses of oxygen
Good luck
follow up with your pulmonologist. follow the doc’s instructions and you can live a better life.