Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea - What’s the Difference?

He gasps, he snorts, and he is grappling for breath! He likely has sleep apnea. (This can happen with women as well.)

You’ve probably heard these telltale signs.

It’s also scary. If you’ve ever lain beside someone with sleep apnea and literally watched that person stop breathing - it is scary!

Snoring
The actual loud snoring sound is created as the soft palette and the uvula vibrate. The uvula is the little fleshy bit of skin that hangs down at the back of your throat. From physics, we know that any rapidly moving air will try to elevate and vibrate the objects in its path; hence, voluminous airflow passing through the nose or mouth causes this loud, intense vibration. It’s the irregularity of the air movement when it’s not consistently even, that causes the sporadic vibration of the soft pallet. The National Sleep Foundation research suggests that about 44 women snore and this snoring affects their bed partners. When someone snores loudly and constantly every night, it is considered chronic snoring. Other times, snoring only occurs on an occasional basis and can be due to excessive tiredness, overeating, sleeping on one’s back, excessive alcohol consumption etc.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea, on the other hand, is where the sufferer’s breathing actually stops for a brief period of time - anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute. The initial culprits that trigger the onset of sleep apnea are weight gain, aging, and lose of muscle tone, though this can also occur in younger people without the typical triggers. In a home setting, sleep apnea is often misdiagnosed, as very often, it is accompanied by loud snoring, though snoring does not need to occur for the person to be having apnea events. When the throat muscles relax during sleep, the windpipe collapses. This then prevents the oxygen from flowing. As the blood oxygen level decreases, the brain finally kicks in and say, ‘Hey! It’s time to give me oxygen’, so it wakes you up just enough for you to tighten up the upper airway muscles and open your windpipe. This results in a huge intake of air and causes snorting and gasping, literally for breath. This pattern can repeat hundreds of time through the night and the sufferer is never the wiser. This is why it is so important to monitor your daytime behavior and how you feel. My husband suffers from very mild apnea events and he can always tell when he’s had a ‘bad’ night as his throat tends to be sore the next day, and he is very tired and groggy upon waking. If left unchecked or untreated, it can lead to intense irritability and depression, as well as morning headaches, loss of sex drive and a decline in cognitive functioning. There can also be an increased risk of high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, and an elevated risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Millions of people have their sleep interrupted with this disturbing medical condition…and millions go undiagnosed. This extremely common sleep disorder is one that definitely needs medical attention. It is diagnosed by spending a night or two in a sleep lab hooked up to Polysomnography equipment that monitors your heartbeat, breathing and brainwave activity.

Once sleep apnea is diagnosed, the common solution is to sleep with a CPAP mask (continuous positive airway pressure) over your nose and mouth. It provides regulated flow of air through the nasal passages, which prevents your windpipe from closing. For milder cases of sleep apnea, learning to sleep on one’s side often will correct the situation. Extreme solutions involve surgery to correct structural deformities. All solutions must be discussed with your medical practitioner.

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How can I treat my sleep apnea without a C-pap?

I am not overweight. Surgery is not an option (if you have researched it, you’d know why). I have feverishly tried using my C-pap on and off for the past 5 years and always have to eventually stop using it because I’m not getting any sleep. People say “if you wanted it enough, you’d get used to it”. Not true. If I ever do fall asleep on it, I wake up gasping every minute (even with a chin strap). What can I do? I have nothing going on in my life right now because the chronic fatigue prevents me from holding a job or going to school. I’m so dysfunctional, everything seems pretty pointless and it seems like I have reached the end of any advice. People just repeat themselves. I’ve run out of solutions.
I’ve tried provigil. It made me crazy and irritable to the point of not being able to function productively.
..I’ve also tried all of the masks they have to offer. The “nose pillow” is the best for me out of them all but still doesn’t seems to work. I have had the pressure adjusted many times. Maybe they just screwed it up the last time. I’ll have too look into that. Thanks.
Nicole: Haha.. that seems the only option I have left!

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How does severe chronic sleep apnea affect arterial blood gas levels?

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Novel Patent Targets The Most Common Sleep Complaint: Chronic Insomnia

Novel Patent Targets The Most Common Sleep Complaint: Chronic Insomnia
Consolidated Research of Richmond, Inc. (CRI) announces the awarding of United States Patent 7,654,948 - which is a novel, drug-free system for treating people suffering from the most common sleep complaint: Chronic Insomnia. An estimated 10-20% of the industrialized world’s adult population suffers from moderate to severe chronic insomnia, yet, unlike sleep apnea, there is a significant lack of …

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Sleep apnea and oxygen deprivation during sleep?

Are the effects of chronic sleep apnea similar to the ramifications of sleeping in a reduced oxygen environment? For example, a room with poor ventilation.

Hello Asker P,

Some effects of sleep apnea are the same with the side effects of sleeping in a reduced oxygen room. A patient with sleep apnea stops breathing in sleep for a lot of times, let’s say…200 times. And with every pause in breathing ( sometimes 40 seconds or more), your oxygen level from your blood drops and this can affect your brain and your heart.

In a reduced oxygen environment, your brain will have the same situation. The level of oxygen from your blood will be very low and it can affect your health.

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Promising Non-surgical correction for deviated septum.

Unique treatment offers hope for many Sleep Apnea, chronic sinus trouble suffer’s and snoring patients using cranial adjustment or NueroCranial Restructuring or NCR. Using endonasal balloons the sinus can be manipulated to move open and allow clear natural breathing without a CPAP. Your sleep study will show low oxygen during sleep when you most need the regenerative oxygen levels high. I’m a Chiropractor and Naturopath. I practice in Sarasota, Florida and have for 14 yrs. I like to say I practice what I preach and stay healthy myself. Our clinic is Advanced Wellness Center and we are the 3rd largest Holistic center in the state of Florida. We are diversified and often help people who no one else can. Some of the special services we offer besides Acupuncture and chiropractic are NeuroCranial Restructuring, Pettibon, Class 4 laser (k-laser) Prolotherapy, Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy, EWOT or exercise with oxygen, super slow zone training, Asyra testing and biological terrain testing acupoint injection therapy. Dr. John Lieurance, D.C. Sarasota FLORIDA. 941 330 8553 or www.advancedwellness.us

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Chiropractor offers unique Sleep Apnea Cure with cranial release.

Hutch, 91, can breath better than he can remember after just the first treatment. Follows him through 4 visits during a series of cranial adjustments (NCR). NeuroCranial Restructuring is a cranial therapy using endo nasal balloons that yeilds amazing changes in the shape of your sinus’s allowing you to breath like you couldn’t imagine. Many who are prescribed PCAP machines don’t use them due to the irritation. Increased nasal cavity means more oxygen and more regeneration for the body especially important during sleep. After his sleep study . We also find people have normal sinus drainage and often find chronic sinusitis a thing of the past. Dr. Lieurance is one of only 2 doctors in the state of Florida, sarasota, that perform this amazing treatment. Call (941) 330 8553 or visit www.advancedwellness.us for more infoAlso using neuroscience for neurotransmitter testing for dopamine, serotonin, gaba, acetyl choline, histamine, tauren, glycine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, hormones such as cortisol, dhea, testosterone, estrogen, dht, progesterone, for specific areas of interest or for anti aging for longevity and vitality.

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Obstructive vs Restrictive Lung Disease: Diagnosis and Management

This topic discusses the management of obstructive vs. restrictive lung diseases. It talks about the diagnostic tests necessary to perform to distinguish among the various diseases, as well as the acute and chronic management of the various diseases and much more! This video covers all the essentials of Lung Disease(obstructive vs. restrictive) in less than 10 minutes. ENJOY!

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sleep apnea related to chronic leg pain?

Hello. In December of 08 my doctor ordered me to go to a sleep study in which they found out that I have very severe sleep apnea. My ear nose and throat specialish (different doc from b4 bt was sent to him during the process) told me that I was way off the charts severe and I am going into surgery. I have to wait another month because insurance won't let me do the tonsil and pallet surgery until I have had the cpap for 3 months. I've been using my cpap every night for the past 2 months and it has made a huge difference. However for about 3-4 months I have been experiences severe leg pain every night. It has never been this bad before. I do work 8-9 hours 5 days a week and I'm on my feet for pretty much all of the 8-9 hours. I'm in the process of trying new shoes with all the comfort I can afford. However I am wondering if the sleep apnea and/or cpap has anything to do with this leg pain. While I'm at work it gets worse and worse throughout my shift. As soon as I get off I rush home just so I can sit down and rest my legs. But when I get up from resting the pain is a lot worse. I walk like an old man and I am a 20 year old girl. The pain is a shooting pain and it goes from my toes all the way up to the about mid thigh. While at work I try to keep stretching them as I go to keep my blood going. Do anyone have any idea what this could be? Could it be that I just need new shoes? Is it related to sleep apnea? Are there any other things I could do at work to keep the pain away?

Talk to your doctor about the pain. Get a professional evaluation.

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Ascending aortic aneurysm?

I have been told by 3 different cardiac surgeons that if they operated on me my chances of dying would be 95% and if I did survive I would be a vegetable. The following is a list of my ailments. Since they all belong to a major HMO I'm wondering if what they are saying is true or if they are just saying that to save the HMO money. I'm on Medicare and Medicade so I don't have money to get opinions outside of my HMO. Anyone know?
Congestive Heart Failure
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
Ascending aortic aneurism of 5.50 CM COPD
Aortic Regurgitation
Sleep Apnea CPAP setting at 14 CM
Restrictive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic Lower Back Pain & Sciatica
Major Depression/Anxiety/Panic attacks
Osteoporosis/Osteoarthritis

I was told that with everything combined surgery is out of the question and I should just enjoy the rest of my life.

Aneurysm surgery is very complicated and I don't think your heart could take it, nor your lungs for anesthesia.Unfortunately their opinion is absolutely right. Enjoy your life and do whatever you want………….

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