How Do You Care for Someone with Sleep Apnoea?

Sleep Apnoea: Understanding the Condition

Also known as sleep apnea (in American English), is a serious sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. These interruptions in breathing can last from a few seconds to minutes and may occur multiple times throughout the night. Sleep apnoea can lead to fragmented sleep, which can leave individuals feeling exhausted the next day and may have long-term health consequences if left untreated.

There are two main types of sleep apnoea:

1. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA):
   This is the most common form of sleep apnoea. It occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax excessively during sleep, causing a temporary blockage of the upper airway. This blockage prevents air from flowing into the lungs and can cause loud snoring, choking, or gasping for breath during the night.
2. Central Sleep Apnoea:
   This type is less common and occurs when the brain fails to send the appropriate signals to the muscles that control breathing. Unlike obstructive sleep apnoea, the airway is not blocked, but the body doesn’t make the effort to breathe as it should.
3. Complex Sleep Apnoea (Mixed Sleep Apnoea):
   This is a combination of obstructive and central sleep apnoea, where the individual experiences both types of apnoea.

Sleep apnoea is a condition which affects some people when they sleep, leading to interrupted breathing, occurring hundreds of times over a night. This leads to unrefreshing sleep, morning headaches, daytime sleepiness, and a muzzy head in addition to other medical problems such as heart disease, poorly controlled blood pressure and irregular heartbeats.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnoea

The symptoms of sleep apnoea can vary in severity, and in some cases, individuals may not even be aware that they have the condition. Common signs and symptoms include:

• Loud, chronic snoring: This is especially prevalent in obstructive sleep apnoea.
• Gasping, choking, or snorting sounds during sleep.
• Frequent waking up during the night or feeling unrested in the morning.
• Daytime fatigue or excessive sleepiness, even after a full night’s sleep.
• Difficulty concentrating, poor memory, or mood swings.
• Dry mouth or sore throat upon waking.
• Morning headaches due to oxygen deprivation during sleep.
• Irritability or a decreased interest in daily activities.

If you or someone you know experiences these symptoms regularly, it’s important to consult a healthcare provider.

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Remedies for Sleep Apnoea

Sleep apnoea may be diagnosed through symptoms of heavy snoring with breathing pauses through the night. A partner may hear the patient choking in the night and notice them to be sleepy and fatigued in the daytime, no matter how many naps they have.

This condition is more common in men, increases with age and in those who are overweight and consume alcohol before bed.

Remedies for sleep apnoea are to reduce the airflow obstruction, usually by losing weight, exercising or using medical devices to maintain a positive airway pressure to keep breathing maintained.

• Losing weight Helps to reduce or manage sleep apnea, including maintaining a healthy weight, which helps to reduce fatty tissue buildup in the neck, reducing the risk of airway obstruction.
• Exercise: Exercise can increase your cardiovascular fitness as well as help you lose weight. Regular exercise leads to a stronger heart and lungs, supporting your body’s ability to transport oxygen.
• Sleep on Your Side: Sleep apnoea is usually worse if sleeping on your back (supine). Symptoms can be improved if you lay on your side. However, some children unlike adults may have better control of their symptoms when sleeping on their back
• Prop Your Head Up: Mild symptoms may be improved by elevating the head of the bed by 10-15cm or through the use of pillows or wedges to elevate your upper body from the waist when sleeping.

Medical Treatments to Cure Sleep Apnoea

Many things can be done to improve the symptoms of sleep apnea and reduce its severity. Weight loss can improve symptoms in those who are overweight or obese. Treatment of underlying medical problems such as heart failure, can improve central sleep apnea. Reducing sedative medications such as morphine (opioids) or benzodiazepines can improve muscle tone and reduce snoring.

24 / 48 / 72 Hour ECG

24, 48 and 72-hour ECGs are available at The Health Suite. These can help to diagnose and record irregular heart rhythms that are not present all the time, which you might otherwise be able to capture on a standard 24-hour ECG. These can be useful for patients who have abnormalities in their heart rhythm which are not present all day.

24 Hour Blood Pressure Monitor

This test takes blood pressure measures regularly throughout the day to give an average blood pressure over 24 hours. This helps to show the trend of your blood pressure as well as the average, which is a more accurate measure of blood pressure than a singular in-clinic blood pressure measurement

Home Visiting

Home visits are available for several services at The Health Suite. Sleep apnoea consultations can be completed within a patient’s home (at additional cost) for those unable to travel to the clinic. Sleep testing can also be set up within the patient’s home.

What is Sleep Apnoea? 

Obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnea syndrome (OSA or OSAHS), is characterised by repetitive episodes of airflow reduction (hypopnea) or cessation (apnoea) as a result of the upper airways collapsing during sleep.
In addition to this, OSA comprises symptoms consisting of excessive sleepiness, and cognitive-behavioural, respiratory, cardiac, metabolic, or inflammatory disorders secondary to repeated episodes of obstruction of the upper airway during sleep.

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What Causes Sleep Apnoea?

OSA occurs when the soft tissues of the upper respiratory tract such as the tongue and soft palate relax. This causes narrowing or closure of the airways.

Try to stop breathing for one minute and see what happens. The same sensation and consequences happen in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea but are repeated all night long, every night while the person sleeps.  Sometimes this occurs for more than one minute.

Due to their ability to work in real-time, they can be used to guide needle insertion in the example of a pain injection near nerve fibres or into joint spaces to help with painful or swollen joints.

Sleep Apnoea Risks?

• Obesity and a thick neck are the most common cause. However, anything that makes the Airway in the throat narrower can cause this problem. As well as anything that relaxes the individual’s muscles.
• Male gender. In men, the fat tends to be deposited in the torso, including the neck
• Menopause in females
• Craniofacial features and abnormalities in soft and hard tissues in the mouth or throat (adenoids, hypertrophic tonsils, nasal polyps, micrognathia, retrognathia, macroglossia, etc.)
• Diseases such as cardiopulmonary dysfunctions, diabetes, muscle hypotonia, stroke, neurological conditions, and
• Down syndrome, among others
• Tobacco, alcohol or sedatives (sleeping pills)
• Ageing

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Common Q&A about Sleep Apnoea