Can Obstructive Sleep Apnea Be Cured?

Waking up after seven or eight hours of sleep and feeling fatigued is no way to start the day. Yet, this describes a typical day for someone with obstructive sleep apnea. Fatigue is just one of the common symptoms that come with obstructive sleep apnea. You might experience sore throats in the morning, brain fog, and other symptoms.

Sleep apnea is a subtle sleeping disorder that affects millions, and millions more don’t even know that they have sleep apnea.

Sadly, sleep apnea is not a simple condition you can hope will varnish on its own. You will need obstructive sleep apnea treatment since it affects your overall health in many ways. That’s why it’s only natural to wonder if obstructive sleep apnea can be cured naturally.

To begin, let’s get acquainted with sleep apnea.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Three types of sleep apnea exist, central, obstructive, and mixed sleep apnea. All these types of sleep apnea have different causes. In this case, obstructive sleep apnea is when you experience breathing pauses when asleep due to physical blockage of the airways by soft tissues such as a limp soft palette, enlarged tongue, deviated nasal septum, or large tonsils.

The soft tissues will cause breathing pauses throughout the night, with each pause lasting between five and 15 seconds. You can experience up to 100 breathing pauses in an hour, especially in severe cases. These pauses will cause the body to panic and wake you up to restore normal breathing. That’s why you might wake up gasping or choking.

Can It Be Treated?

Of course! Once you suspect that you have sleep apnea, you can always come to us. We offer a sleep study near you, which can help ascertain whether you have obstructive sleep apnea. The data that you will collect will help our team know the best way forward.

After ascertaining that you have sleep apnea, we will begin creating a treatment plan that suits you. Nevertheless, you might undergo some of the common treatments such as:

• Losing Weight

Being obese or overweight is usually a risk factor leading to obstructive sleep apnea. When you are obese or overweight, your neck becomes thick with fat deposits, which might block your airways. Also, the blockage can cause you to snore when sleeping.

Therefore, if you shed some extra pounds, you might notice that the sleep apnea symptoms have either reduced in intensity or varnished.

• Changing Sleep Position

Another way to deal with obstructive sleep apnea is to change your sleeping position. Repositioning yourself might take pressure from the chest and diaphragm, enabling you to breathe better. Also, repositioning your head can help keep the airways open.

• Avoiding Alcohol

Excessive consumption of alcohol could slow respiration and decrease blood oxygen levels. It can also over-relax your neck muscles, causing you to snore, and might lead to other sleep apnea symptoms.

• Treating Nasal Congestion

If the cause of obstructive sleep apnea is nasal congestion or sinus issues, then seeking treatment for nasal congestion will help improve your breathing during sleep.

• CPAP

There is also CPAP, a machine used at night to keep the airways open with air pressure. It is one of the most effective sleep apnea treatments, but some people find it hard to tolerate.

• Oral Appliance Therapy

Oral appliances that resemble mouthguards or retainers can also be used. These appliances are worn at night and are used to prevent the collapse of soft tissue, thus keeping the airways open.

• Surgery

If the above treatments aren’t effective, then surgery is an option. The surgical procedures will involve removing or repositioning various tissues in the mouth to improve or increase airflow.

Is It Curable?

Since anatomical issues cause obstructive sleep apnea, the idea of a permanent cure could be a bit complicated, treating the disease using the above methods is quite possible, but curing it could come down to the complexity or severity of your case.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a chronic condition that requires treatment to reduce or manage the symptoms.

When people think of a cure, they think of a scenario where the condition varnishes never to return. However, this isn’t the scenario with sleep apnea. Thankfully, the quality of your life will improve if you come and receive treatment.

Talk to Us

Sleep apnea causes other issues in your overall health that might be life-threatening. However, when you come to us, we offer an at-home sleep apnea test that you can use to help us determine whether you have sleep apnea and the severity of the condition.

Contact us today at Taylor Made Sleep to schedule an appointment.