Treating Sleep Apnea - Alternatives to CPAP Therapy

The alternatives to CPAP therapy are a life saver for many sleep apnea patients. Not all the persons with sleep apnea can tolerate a CPAP treatment. There many reasons why they give up their treatment, depending on each patient.

Here are several reasons:

• feeling of suffocation
• dry mouth, which is the most common side effect
• dryness of nose or nasal congestion
• mask discomfort
• the noise of the breathing machine
• the feeling of claustrophobia

Fortunately, there are solutions for these problems, and some of them are really effective. There is no issue that cannot be worked out, especially with the advanced technology of today.

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The most common alternative for CPAP treatment is a dental device or an oral appliance. This device is used to relieve the upper airway obstruction and snoring by modifying the position of the mandible, tongue, and other oral structures.

Treating Sleep Apnea - Alternatives to CPAP Therapy

An oral appliance also prevents the tongue from blocking the airway passages.

Before choosing this type of therapy is very important to consult your doctor. He knows that not all the appliances can help your breathing disorder.

However, there are some disadvantages here, and the most common complaint is discomfort and salivation. The statistics show that this alternative therapy is more successful in patients with non-severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Bilevel positive airway pressure or BPAP is another alternative to CPAP machine, and they are more efficient. BPAP machines provides two pressure levels, one during inhalation and a lower one during exhalation. The pressure drop during exhalation is designed to increase comfort for patients who have trouble exhaling against an continuous incoming pressure, such as CPAP.

Behavioral therapy is an important part of your life when you are dealing with sleep apnea, and in mild cases this type of therapy may be all that is needed.

• you should avoid the use of alcohol, tobacco, and sleeping pills, which make the airway more likely to collapse during sleep.
• if you have problems with obesity, you can benefit from losing weight. Even a 10 percent weight loss can reduce the number of apneic events for most patients.
• sleeping in a side position is often helpful. Try using a pillow or other device that may help you with this.

Playing at didgeridoo - this is the newest alternative to cpap treatment on the market, and is very well accepted by patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. This might be due to training of the muscles of the upper airways, which control airway dilation and wall stiffening.

Regular playing of a didgeridoo reduces daytime sleepiness and snoring in people with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and also improves the sleep quality of partners.

One final piece of advice: A new field of medicine offers fertile ground for scams. Shameless people are quick to exploit people's hopes and fears. Claims of miracle cures for sleep apnea are already germinating on internet. So, before trying an alternative treatment for CPAP, speak with your doctor about this option and listen to his opinion.

Treating Sleep Apnea - Alternatives to CPAP Therapy

Thiery Remy
You independent guide to Sleep Apnea Treatments and the author of http://www.Sleep-Apnea-Guide.com/ website.

If your are dealing with Sleep Apnea, quickly download his Free Sleep Apnea Guide Handbook that shows you the most important tips to have a good quality of life.

What Is Bipap/Cpap Therapy?

Cpap Therapy

The acronym (cpap) stands for continuous positive airway pressure. Cpap is used to treat sleep apnea patients, who have upper airway obstruction.

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Cpap is a simple respiratory ventilator used by sleep apnea sufferers while they sleep in there homes following a polysomnograph study in a sleep center.

What Is Bipap/Cpap Therapy?

When a patient has sleep apnea their upper airways become obstructed by the nasal cavity, palatal tissue, or the base of the tongue (hypopharynx). However in some instances it can involve the whole of the upper airway passages.

Cpap prevents the upper airway disturbance by pushing a constant steady stream of air through a mask worn while sleeping, effectively forcing the air passages to stay open allowing a patient to breathe, and alleviates the apneas.

There are numerous types of these kinds of machines on the market, which essentially all do the same thing. Usually a small compact device that is hook to tubes that carry the air to the patient when resting. Some models have heated humidifiers, as well as c-flex settings making it easier to exhale.

There are also various types of facial mask that can be worn with continuous positive airway pressure machines. Straps that go around your head and tighten, to hold the mask in place to discourage leaks.

Complications with Cpap

Some patients are not able to stand wearing a mask all night long, seriously reducing the benefit of this modality of treatment.

Still other patients want to have a good nights rest without a mask on at all, so they elect surgery.

Patients experience vertigo when using cpap therapy, chest congestion, risk of developing complex sleep apnea or (CSA), nasal dryness, sneezing runny nose, nosebleeds, in extreme cases infection around the brain lining.

By working close with your doctor and sleep therapist, you will be able to determine the correct presser settings for you.

BiPAP Therapy

Bilevel positive airway pressure, is similar to CPAP therapy however with BiPAP therapy there are two different pressure settings for the patient.

Patients who are treated with BiPAP therapy have been found to have breathing disorders beyond sleep apnea.

With continuous positive airway pressure or (CPAP) the machine delivers is a constant steady stream of airway pressure during inhilation and expiration.

BiPAP therapy is used to treat more than just sleep apnea. The bipap machine is able to detect how much pressure a patient needs and supply the adequate amount of air pressure on inhalation and exhalation.

The dual settings of the BiPAP machine, allows patients to get more air into, and out of the lungs without the normal muscular activity needed to do so.

Bilevel positive airway pressure therapy is really useful for people who have congestive heart failure and different types of lung disorders, particularly patients who have above normal carbon dioxide.

BiPAP therapy is also used in treating central sleep apnea a sleep disorder characterized by failure of the brain to signal the chest muscles to breathe.

New BiPAP machines are now in the market that have Bi-flex a very useful feature that provides pressure relief to smooth, the transition between the end of IPAP and the beginning of EPAP.

Complications with BiPAP Therapy

Complications that result from using bilevel positive airway pressure, are some have mask discomfort, some patients develop sores and numbness around the mask area.

Also there's been documented cases of patients having bloating from the swallowing of the air as well

As always, it is best to consult your physician to determine the type of pap therapy that is right for you.

What Is Bipap/Cpap Therapy?

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