Searching For Functionally Disturbed Sleep Solutions

"Sleep Apnea is an increasingly common disorder that results in restricted airflow during sleep cycles. There are two variations of it, known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea [which is caused by a blockage of the airway] and Central Sleep Apnea [caused by the brain failing to signal the muscles to breathe efficiently]. The direct result of either variation of the disorder is an inability to receive sufficient oxygen, often resulting in a stoppage of breathing multiple times each night."

"It's the bane of my existence as a sleep doctor."
"A lot of what sleep doctors do in the first few months after diagnosis is help people be able to use their CPAP."
Dr. James Rowley, pulmonologist, Wayne State University, Detroit

Joelle Dobrow demonstrates how she puts on her sleep apnea breathing device at her home in Los Angeles. It took her seven years to find one she liked. “I went through 26 different mask styles. I kept a spreadsheet so I wouldn’t duplicate it.” (Reed Saxon/Associated Press)

The medical condition known as sleep apnea has been recognized as a condition leading to serious health issues and the condition has been known to the medical community for the last twenty years and more. Breathing that stops while someone is sleeping, and then starts again after a pause of as long as a minute has been associated with poor health outcomes of a truly serious manner, but treatment of the condition remains uncertain. There are no drugs available that help manage the condition, though there are protocols in the use of mechanical assists of questionable value.

For people suffering from the condition, throat and tongue muscles tend to relax and when they do they block the breathing airway during sleep hours. Sleep apnea tends to afflict people who are overweight and sedentary, those with compromised facial structure or simply through the process of aging. Hundreds of times nightly these people briefly stop breathing, and after a pause resume breathing, usually with a physical start and an auditory gasp, followed by stentorious snoring.

Quite apart from these interruptions in a normal sleeping pattern preventing sufferers from enjoying a deep sleep required to restore the body's and brain's physical resources, sleep apnea of any duration has the potential to cause strokes, heart attacks and problems related to normal heart rhythm. Such people are likelier than their counterparts who don't suffer from this malady, to succumb to premature death.

Needless to say, each of the conditions leading to sleep apnea -- obesity, lack of exercise or an underlying chronic health condition can themselves lead to early death. One drug has held out a modicum of hope, a THC (active ingredient in marijuana) pill, known as dronabinol, and often used to ease chemotherapy side effects. A small experiment with 73 people in the study did suggest it can help moderately, without being entirely successful.

The search continues, however for some tried-and-true measure of relief for sleep apnea sufferers. The first choice for specialists in the field is a remedy that has received a good deal of study, called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a motorized device designed to pump air through a mask; a device designed to open a sleeper's airway. An estimated five million Americans have given CPAP a try, but up to a third have discarded it, citing discomfort and inconvenience.

Mouthpieces which dentists fix into place have worked well for some but often result in jaw pain. Surgery is yet another option, but one that is frequently unsuccessful. The obvious recommendation that patients lose weight, take care with their diet and exercise to embark on a new, healthier lifestyle to prevent and/or lift the symptoms of sleep apnea seems to represent too much of a challenge for those struggling with the issue of poor sleep and its associated incrimination in other health issues.

No proof has yet arisen through experimentation that CPAP helps apnea sufferers to live longer -- yet evidence has demonstrated that its use can have the effect of reducing blood pressure, reduce snoring, improve daytime sleepiness and reduce the frequency of night-time breathing stoppages. In so doing, it improves quality of life for those using it successfully in an effort to soften the deleterious effects of sleep apnea.