Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), is a form of obstructive Sleep Apnea which causes breathing to stop and start during the night, often caused by various medical conditions or disorders. While CSA is less common than its obstructive counterpart, many causes exist for its development.
CSA episodes cause your blood oxygen levels to rapidly drop, leading to breathing cessation and potentially leading to heart failure, stroke, or other serious health problems.
Symptoms
People suffering from Chronic Sleep Apnea (CSA) experience an insufficient restful night’s rest, leading to severe fatigue, daytime drowsiness and irritability during the daytime hours. Low oxygen levels could compromise heart health further leading to an increased risk for stroke, heart disease and other cardiovascular disorders.
Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain doesn’t send the appropriate signals to your muscles to breathe while asleep, unlike with obstructive sleep apnea in which something physically blocks your airway. Central apnea may be due to medical disorders or certain medications like sedatives and opioids causing it.
Central sleep apnea differs from its obstructive counterpart in that it doesn’t typically lead to snoring and can often be more difficult to detect due to not always including gasping or choking sounds during sleep. More likely to affect men and older adults; some individuals may even be predisposed genetically for the disorder while others could be at higher risk due to medical issues or sleeping patterns.
Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) symptoms include long periods without breathing for more than 20 seconds and shallow and fast breaths that do occur, leading to low oxygen levels and impairing circulation in the body. People living with this disorder frequently have headaches and memory problems as well as increased risk for diabetes and high cholesterol.
Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) usually develops gradually over time, but symptoms worsen over time as its severity worsens. Although rare among children, CSA may still impact them. A doctor can diagnose CSA by conducting a thorough physical exam and gathering medical history from their patient. They may also suggest an overnight stay at a laboratory to have your breathing monitored while you sleep.
Diagnoses of primary CSA can be made when PSG shows at least five central apneas or hypopneas per hour of sleep with crescendo-decrescendo patterns with cycle lengths exceeding 40 seconds, along with crescendo-decrescendo patterns of greater than or equal to 40 seconds and crescendo-decrescendo patterns that follow crescendo-decrescendo patterns spanning more than 40 seconds. It should be noted, however, that there can be considerable overlap in terms of mechanisms and clinical presentation between primary CSA and obstructive sleep apnea; thus making both diagnoses.
Diagnosis
Unlike obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which involves obstructions of the airway, central sleep apnea occurs when there is no ongoing effort to breathe. In other words, the brain fails to trigger breathing. Drops in blood oxygen levels are common and can lead to a variety of symptoms. If oxygen levels remain low for an extended period of time, brain cells can die. This can cause confusion, memory loss, depression, and dementia. Drops in blood oxygen levels can also cause the skin to take on a blue hue, a condition called cyanosis. This is because the blood vessels in the skin aren’t getting enough oxygen to carry oxygen to the rest of the body.
If a person notices pauses in their breath, they should see a doctor. A doctor will ask about symptoms and medical history and conduct a physical exam. They may refer the patient for an overnight sleep study, which will measure breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen level in the blood while the person is sleeping.
The cause of CSA can vary, from a health condition like heart failure to medications or substances the patient takes. The condition can be hereditary and run in families, or it can be idiopathic. In idiopathic cases, doctors don’t know what causes the pauses in breathing.
Sometimes CSA occurs shortly after people reach a certain altitude. This form of CSA is called high altitude periodic breathing, and it can be distinguished from other forms of CSA by its periodic crescendo-decrescendo pattern in tidal volume and hypocapnia.
Usually, treating the underlying health condition will resolve the abnormal breathing patterns in people with mild to moderate complications. People with severe complications may need treatment for both the complication and the CSA at the same time. If the underlying health condition can’t be treated, there are other treatments that may help normalize breathing patterns while sleeping and improve the quality of sleep and daytime functioning in people with CSA. These include medications, weight loss, mouthpieces or CPAP machines, surgery, and other devices that stimulate breathing. One such device is the Remede System, which delivers an electrical pulse to the nerve that controls the diaphragm during sleep.
Treatment
Sleep apnea occurs when breathing repeatedly stops and starts while asleep, leading to short and long-term health consequences. Sleep apnea can be divided into obstructive and central types based on which events happen more frequently; central sleep apnea tends to be less prevalent than its counterpart but still poses serious risks to health.
Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain fails to send proper signals to muscles controlling breathing, unlike in obstructive sleep apnea where physical obstruction blocks the airway.
People suffering from central sleep apnea experience episodes of stopping and starting breathing while sleeping, usually for longer than those associated with obstructive sleep apnea, often followed by gas (such as carbon dioxide) that forces them to breathe more rapidly and deeply than they otherwise would have. There are multiple forms of central sleep apnea (CSA), including:
Cheyne-Stokes Breathing: This form of controlled breathing anomaly (CSA) occurs when there is an irregular pattern of small and large breaths punctuated with lengthy pauses, typically seen among those suffering from congestive heart failure or stroke. Drug-Induced CSA: Certain opioid medications interfere with the brain’s ability to initiate and regulate breathing properly – this phenomenon most often seen with opioids such as morphine, methadone or oxycodone taken orally or intravenously. High Altitude Periodic Breathing may occur upon reaching higher altitudes where oxygen concentration is lower.
Symptoms of Chronic Subacute Allergies vary between people, and may include:
Your health care provider will first assess your symptoms and medical history, before conducting a physical exam and suggesting a sleep study to detect signs of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). A sleep study involves being connected to a monitor which records your breathing and heart rate throughout the night as well as measuring how often you stop and start breathing during sleep; results of this test will indicate whether CSA exists as well as its severity.
Prevention
Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), unlike its physical cousin obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), occurs when the brain fails to send appropriate signals to muscles that control respiration resulting in interrupted or slowed breathing for 10-30 seconds during sleep – placing those who suffer from it at higher risk for cardiovascular and other health problems including high blood pressure and stroke – but it can be prevented! Luckily.
CSA symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness and poor quality of restful sleep, with restless or unusually heavy snoring less frequently than in obstructive sleep apnea; additionally, a bed partner might notice patterns of breathing pauses during their partner’s slumber.
As with obstructive sleep apnea, many people with central sleep apnea (CSA) are obese. Sometimes changing one’s sleeping habits, for instance sleeping on different surfaces or using a mouth guard to stop snoring can help ease symptoms; additionally, avoiding alcohol consumption and taking sedatives before going to bed may also prove helpful.
Weight loss, exercise regularly and avoiding medications with sedative effects are other ways of preventing cardiac arrhythmias (CSA). People living with heart disorders should follow their doctor’s recommendations for managing them – including controlling blood pressure and cholesterol as well as treating symptoms like arrhythmias or congestive heart failure.
CPAP therapy, commonly employed to treat obstructive sleep apnea, may also be recommended as treatment for CSA. This device delivers continuous flow of air through a mask worn over the nose or mouth while sleeping and delivers a fixed or variable amount of pressure when breathing in (IPAP), or offer adjustable settings that meet individual needs (variable pressure settings or bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP). Another form of therapy known as bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP) combines these features. It works similarly to ASV in that this device delivers constant flow of air pressure when breathing in and different levels when breathing out; similarly bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP) can deliver one level of pressure when breathing in while setting another when exhaling (BPAP or bilevel positive airway pressure or vice versa). Bilevel positive airway pressure therapy uses similar devices similar to ASV in terms of its delivery while in and exhaling, such therapy BPAP can deliver both levels when breathing out while sleeping (ASV). BPAP also delivers constant flow while sleeping; in fact it uses devices similar to ASV but uses different levels when exhaling/exhaling when inhaling/exhaling while other modes are set simultaneously when in and exhaling. BPAP), similar to ASV but allows different pressure when exhaling) This type of therapy allows bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP), that allows this type of therapy delivers air pressure while another option called bilevel positive airway pressure delivers air pressure while using similar settings when in/exhaling therapy or bilevel positive airway pressure may provide one level when breathing out similar pressure when exhaling similar settings when in/out when itering from different devices similar devices to deliver air pressure from different when in and exhaling/out pressure as per breathes/out. Another similar therapy but has various settings which differ when breathing in/out and then different. When sleeping (BPAP), although not only one level when exhaling which varys off./BPAP may deliver either pressure when in/ BPAP can vary when breathing out depending on/ out. for bilevel positive airway pressure is being delivered with one level while another pressure then other is delivered while breathing out when used while breathing when they vary while sleeping but delivers two different pressure when switching! BPAP does either way (BPAP does… respectively for when in/ out. respectively when one level when needed and different pressure when each phase out unlike when breathing out./out combining when you breathes either out, either set by having different settings so both options simultaneously while used. when it could change at different when out when/out!). Another type called Bilevel positive airway Pressure). Similar like ASV.). For this type (BPAP does delivers when changed depending on/ BP)… When sleeping depending when each step and not change from when needed to deliver different. or another when breathing out or can change between out from it differ depending on – different pressure depending on different pressure when out/In according to changing when being breathes changed/ Out/V!). when switching (BP). etc etc… etc similar type. * When breathing!). While doing both. etc!). Another therapy that similar but differently during/ out ). Bi-level change when sleeping! Both methods. etc v (BP… when needed!). Finally this option (BP). Also similar/V). (BP). Finally
