by Renee Dawson

Created on: February 02, 2008

There are two types of sleep apnea. There is centralized sleep apnea in which the brain forgets to tell the body to breathe. Secondly, there is obstructive sleep apnea, the most common of the two, it is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the back of the throat blocks the airway causing the obstruction.

What happens when someone continuously does not breathe or is unable to get oxygen into the lungs is that the oxygen level in the blood drops. When this happens, the brain tells the heart to work harder to circulate the blood in the body to get some oxygen from those lungs. What usually happens is the person wakes up and takes a breathe and goes back to sleep and continues to obstruct. This happens though out the time when the person is sleeping. The strain on the heart is very serious and several things can occur.

1. High Blood Pressure

The heart is working hard and pumping hard and not getting a lot of work done, the blood pressure goes up.

2. Right sided heart failure (cor pulmonale)

What happens when the heart tries and to get oxygen from the lungs, it becomes enlarged on the right side and begins not to be able to pump the way it should. Right sided heart failure. This can result in Pulmonary Hypertension, which is very, very difficult to treat.

3. Heart Attack

The heart is saying, "I need oxygen, I need oxygen, I need oxygen, I am dying, I need oxygen...heart attack...."

4. Stroke

Same as the above. The brain needs oxygen to work. When it doesn't get it for extended periods of time, the brain can die.

5. Cardiac Arrest

The body is not made to go with out breathing for too long at all. The oxygen in the body is quickly consumed. The carbon dioxide level continues to climb with no where to go but the blood. The pH of the blood in the body falls. If it gets low enough, the body dies. The heart dies. The brain dies. Everything stops...Cardiac Arrest.

Treatments for Obstructive Sleep Apnea are as follows:

The most common form of treatment is CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). This device will help keep the airways open. If you have ever watched anyone sleep who has obstructive sleep apnea, it might seem strange for a while, then, it gets familiar, and then it turns into, "well, that is just how he sleeps." It is dangerous not to get Obstructive Sleep Apnea treated. A lot of people refuse to wear CPAP because, "it looks funny", "it feels uncomfortable", "it blows in my eyes". Whatever the reason, it is better to go ahead and wear

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