The 3 Types of Sleep Apnea

(OSA) Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is the most common form of Sleep Apnea and occurs when the muscles and tissues in the throat and air passage relax while sleeping, and this impedes the flow of air into the lungs due to a blockage of the airway. This can occur many times per hour in the sleep cycle and especially during the REM sleep stages. In REM sleep all of the muscles and in fact the entire Musculo-skeletal system goes into an extremely relaxed state that causes the tongue, soft palate, tonsils, from the nose to the glottis, and the oropharynx to completely loosen up and this creates the obstruction or impedance to the air flow, thereby causing apnea (complete stoppage) and hypopnea (partial stoppage) events, as well as snoring events.

Oxygen Saturation in the blood levels drop significantly and usually this is followed by constant neurological mechanisms or arousals with each event that may not wake the person entirely from sleep but disrupt sleep constantly enough to cause many issues. A person with Obstructive Sleep Apnea rarely gets into the REM sleep stages or restorative cycle (Slow Wave Cycle) long enough or at all and the long term effects can be quite serious and numerous.

(CSA) Central Sleep Apnea

Central Sleep Apnea is caused by the part of the brain that controls respiratory function and these centers in the brain are imbalanced and do not respond or react quickly enough to changes in oxygen or carbon-dioxide levels in the blood stream. Essentially, the brain does not respond at all to the normal triggers that would cause a person to breathe or take a breath. Pure CSA is fairly rare or uncommon. But basically the person just stops breathing for a period of time, and this can occur even when awake. A type of Central Sleep Apnea known as "Cheyne-Stokes respiration" occurs primarily in people with kidney disease, stroke, or congestive heart failure. Drops in oxygen levels (hypoxia) can cause seizures or in rare cases even death. The exact cause of Central Sleep Apnea is usually unknown and it is often partly treated with medications.

(MSA) Mixed Sleep Apnea

Also called Complex Sleep Apnea, the patient has a combination of both Central Sleep Apnea and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Treatment is usually a combination of medication and CPAP use. Advances in technology allow recently released BiPap, BiLevel and VPAP machines to treat the special needs of those with MSA.