Can Sleep Apnea Be Cured?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSleep Apnea TreatmentHow Sleep Apnea Can Affect Your Mental HealthHow to Cope With a Sleep Apnea Diagnosis

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Table of Contents

Sleep Apnea Treatment

How Sleep Apnea Can Affect Your Mental Health

How to Cope With a Sleep Apnea Diagnosis

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Sleep apnea is asleep disorderthat can cause you to stop breathing for 10 to 30 seconds while sleeping. This can occur up to 400 times per night.

While sleep apnea cannot be cured, it can be managed with lifestyle changes and treatment options.

This article discusses sleep apnea treatment options, including lifestyle changes, breathing devices, oral appliances, medication, and surgery. This article also explores sleep apnea’s impact on mental health and offers suggestions for handling the emotions that you may experience upon learning that you have a chronic health condition.

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Seeking treatment for sleep apnea is important because if left untreated, it can be life-threatening.Sleep apnea is linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and a reduced life span.It can cause severe daytime sleepiness, which can increase your risk of falling asleep while driving or using heavy machinery, both of which could be fatal.

Seeking treatment for sleep apnea is important because if left untreated, it can be life-threatening.

Sleep apnea is linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and a reduced life span.It can cause severe daytime sleepiness, which can increase your risk of falling asleep while driving or using heavy machinery, both of which could be fatal.

Treatment for sleep apnea can vary depending on the type of sleep apnea you have, the severity of your symptoms, and whether you have any other health conditions.

How Sleep Apnea Is TreatedThese are some of the treatment options your healthcare provider may prescribe:Lifestyle changesMedicationBreathing devicesOral AppliancesSurgery

How Sleep Apnea Is Treated

These are some of the treatment options your healthcare provider may prescribe:Lifestyle changesMedicationBreathing devicesOral AppliancesSurgery

These are some of the treatment options your healthcare provider may prescribe:

Read on for a discussion of each treatment option.

Lifestyle Changes

Most treatment regimens for sleep apnea begin conservatively, with lifestyle changes such as:

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Medications

Treating sleep apnea may involve taking certain medications and avoiding others:

Additionally, certain hypnotic drugs and respiratory-stimulating drugs may decrease arousal threshold, helping with the condition, however, these medications have not been conclusively proven effective or formally approved for treating this condition.

Breathing Devices

Breathing devices, known as positive airway pressure (PAP) machines, are the gold standard of treatment for sleep apnea.

While there are different types of PAP machines, the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine is the most common.

How a CPAP Machine May Help YouThe CPAP machine is a special mask that you wear over your nose, and sometimes your mouth too, while you sleep.The mask is attached to a tube and a machine that blows pressurized air into your airways, which helps ensure that they stay open while you sleep.

How a CPAP Machine May Help You

The CPAP machine is a special mask that you wear over your nose, and sometimes your mouth too, while you sleep.The mask is attached to a tube and a machine that blows pressurized air into your airways, which helps ensure that they stay open while you sleep.

Wearing a breathing device such as a CPAP machine while sleeping can take some time to get used to and you may experience side effects such as congestion, runny nose, dry eyes, dry mouth, and nosebleeds.Report any side effects to your healthcare provider and ask them how to proceed.

Other types of breathing devices that help treatsleep apneainclude the auto-adjusting positive airway pressure (APAP) machine, the bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machine, and the adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) machine.

Oral Appliances

Your healthcare provider may recommend that you wear an oral appliance in your mouth to help keep your airways open:

You will need to visit adentist, who will custom make the oral appliance to your measurements and teach you how to use it.

Surgery

If other treatment options aren’t helping you, your healthcare provider may recommend surgical options, which can include:

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Over time, a sleep disorder like sleep apnea can affect your mental health in many ways. A 2018 study notes that sleep apnea is linked to a greater risk of mental health conditions such as:

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Learning that you have a serious health condition like sleep apnea that doesn’t have a cure and will require medical interventions and considerable lifestyle changes can be distressing.

These are some steps you can take to cope with thediagnosis:

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A Word From Verywell

While sleep apnea cannot be permanently cured, it can be managed withlifestyle changesand treatment options. If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with this condition, it’s important that you take steps to treat it, because it can be dangerous if left untreated.

Your treatment plan will vary depending on your symptoms, the type of sleep apnea you have, and any other health conditions you live with, and you may have to work closely with multiple healthcare providers, such as a sleep specialist, cardiologist, neurologist, dentist, nutritionist, and physical therapist, for treatment.

Upon commencing treatment, some people start to feel better almost immediately, whereas for some it can take three to six months of consistent treatment to start seeing improvement.During this time, it’s also important that you take care of your mental health and well-being.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Its Effect on Mental Health

14 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Family Physicians.Sleep apnea.National Health Service.Sleep apnea.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.Johns Hopkins Medicine.The dangers of uncontrolled sleep apnea.National Library of Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.Cleveland Clinic.Sleep apnea.St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management: Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906EDIoannidou D, Kalamaras G, Kotoulas SC, Pataka A.Smoking and obstructive sleep apnea: Is there an association between these cardiometabolic risk factors?Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;57(11):1137. doi:10.3390/medicina57111137Pavwoski P, Shelgikar AV.Treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea.Neurol Clin Pract. 2017;7(1):77-85. doi:10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000320National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea.National Library of Medicine.Central sleep apnea.Medic G, Wille M, Hemels ME.Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:151-161. doi:10.2147/NSS.S134864Kaliyaperumal D, Elango Y, Alagesan M, Santhanakrishanan I.Effects of sleep deprivation on the cognitive performance of nurses working in shift.J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):CC01-CC03. doi:10.7860/JCDR/2017/26029.10324Kaufmann CN, Susukida R, Depp CA.Sleep apnea, psychopathology, and mental health care.Sleep Health. 2017;3(4):244-249. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2017.04.003

14 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Family Physicians.Sleep apnea.National Health Service.Sleep apnea.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.Johns Hopkins Medicine.The dangers of uncontrolled sleep apnea.National Library of Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.Cleveland Clinic.Sleep apnea.St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management: Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906EDIoannidou D, Kalamaras G, Kotoulas SC, Pataka A.Smoking and obstructive sleep apnea: Is there an association between these cardiometabolic risk factors?Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;57(11):1137. doi:10.3390/medicina57111137Pavwoski P, Shelgikar AV.Treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea.Neurol Clin Pract. 2017;7(1):77-85. doi:10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000320National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea.National Library of Medicine.Central sleep apnea.Medic G, Wille M, Hemels ME.Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:151-161. doi:10.2147/NSS.S134864Kaliyaperumal D, Elango Y, Alagesan M, Santhanakrishanan I.Effects of sleep deprivation on the cognitive performance of nurses working in shift.J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):CC01-CC03. doi:10.7860/JCDR/2017/26029.10324Kaufmann CN, Susukida R, Depp CA.Sleep apnea, psychopathology, and mental health care.Sleep Health. 2017;3(4):244-249. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2017.04.003

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

American Academy of Family Physicians.Sleep apnea.National Health Service.Sleep apnea.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.Johns Hopkins Medicine.The dangers of uncontrolled sleep apnea.National Library of Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.Cleveland Clinic.Sleep apnea.St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management: Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906EDIoannidou D, Kalamaras G, Kotoulas SC, Pataka A.Smoking and obstructive sleep apnea: Is there an association between these cardiometabolic risk factors?Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;57(11):1137. doi:10.3390/medicina57111137Pavwoski P, Shelgikar AV.Treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea.Neurol Clin Pract. 2017;7(1):77-85. doi:10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000320National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea.National Library of Medicine.Central sleep apnea.Medic G, Wille M, Hemels ME.Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:151-161. doi:10.2147/NSS.S134864Kaliyaperumal D, Elango Y, Alagesan M, Santhanakrishanan I.Effects of sleep deprivation on the cognitive performance of nurses working in shift.J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):CC01-CC03. doi:10.7860/JCDR/2017/26029.10324Kaufmann CN, Susukida R, Depp CA.Sleep apnea, psychopathology, and mental health care.Sleep Health. 2017;3(4):244-249. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2017.04.003

American Academy of Family Physicians.Sleep apnea.

National Health Service.Sleep apnea.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.

Johns Hopkins Medicine.The dangers of uncontrolled sleep apnea.

National Library of Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.

Cleveland Clinic.Sleep apnea.

St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management: Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906ED

Ioannidou D, Kalamaras G, Kotoulas SC, Pataka A.Smoking and obstructive sleep apnea: Is there an association between these cardiometabolic risk factors?Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;57(11):1137. doi:10.3390/medicina57111137

Pavwoski P, Shelgikar AV.Treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea.Neurol Clin Pract. 2017;7(1):77-85. doi:10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000320

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea.

National Library of Medicine.Central sleep apnea.

Medic G, Wille M, Hemels ME.Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption.Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:151-161. doi:10.2147/NSS.S134864

Kaliyaperumal D, Elango Y, Alagesan M, Santhanakrishanan I.Effects of sleep deprivation on the cognitive performance of nurses working in shift.J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):CC01-CC03. doi:10.7860/JCDR/2017/26029.10324

Kaufmann CN, Susukida R, Depp CA.Sleep apnea, psychopathology, and mental health care.Sleep Health. 2017;3(4):244-249. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2017.04.003

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