Ask me a question

Forum's are a community of information. Ask me a question....

Visit the forum.

Did you know?

You're not the only one…According to H. Dugan’s “Bedlam in the Boudour” (1947): “Twenty of thirty-two Presidents of the Unitied States are proved or believed on a thick web of circumstances to have been nocturnal nuisances in the White House” and “President Theodore Roosevelt once snored so loudly in a hospital that complaints were filed by almost every patient in the wing where he was recuperating”
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Print E-mail
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine is used for the treatment of sleep apnea at home. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the upper airway becomes narrow as the muscles relax naturally during sleep. This reduces oxygen in the blood and causes arousal from sleep. The CPAP machine stops this by delivering pressurized air via a hose to a nasal pillow, nose mask or full-face mask.  The airway is kept open by this air pressure provided the best known treatment for sleep apnea. This has the additional benefit of eliminating the extremely loud snoring that usually accompanies sleep apnea.

The CPAP machine blows air at a prescribed pressure (also called the titrated pressure). The necessary pressure is usually determined by a sleep physician after review of a study supervised by a sleep technician during an overnight study (polysomnography) in a sleep laboratory. The titrated pressure is the pressure of air at which most (if not all) apneas and hypopneas have been prevented, and it is usually measured in centimetres of water (cm H2O). The pressure required by most patients with sleep apnea ranges between 6 and 14 cm H2O. A typical CPAP machine can deliver pressures between 4 and 20 cm H2O. More specialized units can deliver pressures up to 25 or 30 cm H2O.

CPAP treatment can be highly effective in treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. [1] For some patients, the improvement in the quality of sleep and quality of life due to CPAP treatment will be noticed after a single night's use. Often, the patient's sleep partner also benefits from markedly improved sleep quality, due to the amelioration of the patient's loud snoring.

Given that sleep apnea is a chronic health issue and doesn't go away, ongoing care is needed to maintain CPAP therapy. Based on the study of cognitive behavioral therapy (referenced above), ongoing chronic care management is the best way to help patients continue therapy by educating them on the health risks of sleep apnea and providing motivation and support.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

smaller | bigger

busy