Sleep Disordered Breathing- Sleep Apnea
Sleep-disordered breathing (SBD) is a general term for conditions with abnormal breathing patterns during sleep. This can impact life in many ways, from everyday functioning to health and well-being.
Learning more about these conditions can help you talk with a doctor about your symptoms and get appropriate treatment for Sleep-disordered breathing (SBD).
What is sleep-disordered breathing?
SBD, or breathing difficulties during sleep, is associated with various health issues affecting your quality of life.
Types of SDB include:
- Upper airway resistance – difficulty getting air through the upper airway
- Hypopnea– shallow breathing
- Apnea – pausing of breathing during sleep
- Restless leg syndrome
- Heavy snoring
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You might have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and feel tired even after a whole night’s sleep or tend to fall asleep during day time.
The main types of sleep apnea are:
- Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax and block the flow of air into the lungs
- Central sleep apnea (CSA), which occurs when the brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing
- Treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, also known as complex sleep apnea, happens when someone has OSA — diagnosed with a sleep study — that converts to CSA when receiving therapy for OSA.
If you think you might have sleep apnea, see your healthcare provider. Treatment can ease your symptoms and might help prevent heart problems and other health complications.
Symptoms
The symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas overlap, sometimes making it difficult to determine which type you have. The most common symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas include:
- Loud snoring.
- Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep
- Gasping for air during sleep.
- Dry mouth.
- Morning headache.
- Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia).
- Excessive daytime sleepiness(hypersomnia).
- Irritability.
- Unrefreshed sleep
- Un explained fatigue
When to see a doctor?
Loud snoring can indicate a potentially serious problem, but not everyone with sleep apnea snores.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you have symptoms of sleep apnea. Ask your provider about any sleep problem that makes you tired, sleepy, and irritable.
Dr. Sheetal Chaurasia is the senior Consultant – Pulmonary Medicine at Manipal Hospital Whitefield Bangalore. With experience spanning over two decades in the medical field, she is recognized as one of the most reputed Consultant pulmonologists in Manipal Hospital Whitefield Bangalore.
