If you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you know how difficult life can be.
The constant snoring, the lack of sleep, the irritability.
It can all be little overwhelming. If you let it, it can take over your entire life and make you miserable.
Because sleep apnea impacts your sleep, it impacts your health. A lifetime of terrible sleep is a terrible scenario.
So is there a cure for sleep apnea?
Unfortunately, for those suffering from sleep apnea, the answer is nope.
As much as we would love to be able to point everybody suffering from sleep apnea to a miracle cure, that’s not the reality.
The good news, however, is that sleep apnea is completely treatable with a CPAP machine.
Although CPAP machines won’t cure your sleep apnea, they are incredibly effective in relieving most or all of the symptoms of sleep apnea, which include snoring, choking, and gasping for air while you are sleeping.
Solution #1: CPAP Machine
A CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine is made of a motor and a mask that fits securely over the nose and mouth during sleep. It delivers a constant supply of air into your airway to help keep it open while you are sleeping, preventing sleep events, which are instances of interrupted breathing.
A CPAP machine is one of the most highly effective methods of treating sleep apnea available today.
Though side effects can include nasal congestion, sore eyes, headaches, and abdominal bloating, they are generally minimal and temporary. (They’re mostly caused by a mask that needs adjusting.)
At first glance, a CPAP machine can look intimidating. Even daunting. The mask, the hose, the straps--it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.
Don't expect the use of your CPAP machine to be an overnight success. Adapting to sleep apnea equipment can be uncomfortable right at first, but most people acclimate quite quickly.
<Image: a CPAP machine bedside>
Solution #2: Surgery?
Throat surgery or weight loss can also be recommended treatments in addition to the CPAP machine. But neither of those has been proven to work all the time for everyone.
Some people do see some positive results, but there are no conclusive results proving the effectiveness of those options.
Though surgery can be a suggested treatment option for sleep apnea, the outcome is far from certain. Many patients who undergo surgery to treat their sleep apnea report a decrease in symptoms, but just as many report that it doesn’t seem to help them at all.
One article says there’s “uncertainty” about whether surgery for sleep apnea is effective. And uses words like tracheostomy and palatopharyngoplasty reconstructive surgery.
In fact, many patients, even after surgery, still have to continue using a CPAP machine.
With any uncertainty, would you want to go through the process of a surgery--and all the complications and recovery that comes with it--when you could simply keep using a CPAP machine for far more effective treatment of sleep apnea symptoms?
Even though there is no cure, you can live the life that you deserve with the use of a CPAP machine.
As long as you approach your treatment with an open mind (and a realistic set of expectations) your CPAP machine will provide you freedom from your sleep apnea symptoms.
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