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Sleep Apnea (Expert Forum)
if not sleep apnea then what is cause
Answered by
Steven Y Park, MD - sleep-breathing disorders
Private Practice
New York - NY
Questions in the Sleep Breathing Disorders Forum are being answered by Dr. Steven Y. Park.
if not sleep apnea then what is cause
by rozbel, Nov 01, 2009 02:29AM
i have recently had the results of a home sleep study which showed that i am not suffering from sleep apnea. the study showed 23 events over a nights sleep of 9 hours, even though i was only asleep for about 7 of those hours. the events consisted of 4 apneas the rest were hypopneas? i am still waking up gasping for breath very soon after i fall asleep which sometimes happens about 5 or 6 times that i am aware of. the ent surgeon has put me on omeprazole and gaviscon and instructed me to raise the head of my bed. none of these measures has had any effect what so ever. i was also found to have a deviated septum and the left side of my nose is blocked and i have been prescribed a steroid nasal spray for that. i also snore loudly. my question is what could be the cause of the waking gasping for breath. could it be the deviated septum as on the rare occasion that i have managed to unblock my nose with heavy doses of decongestant nasal spray used with breathe right strips i havent had the waking with gasping. just recently i havent been able to clear the blocked nose no matter what i use.
Doctor's Answer
by Steven Y Park, MD, Nov 10, 2009 03:04PM
, Nov 10, 2009 03:04PM
An apnea means that you stop breathing for 10 seconds or longer and then wake up. If you stop breathing and wake up between 1-9 seconds, then it's not counted. So you can stop breathing 25 times every hour but if each episode lasts less than ten seconds, then you're told you don't have any sleep apnea. But you still have a major sleep-breathing problem. Treatment is the same as if you had sleep apnea. First of all, take care of your nose definitively. If medicine doesn't work, talk to your ENT about nasal procedures, depending on what's causing your nasal obstruction. Hopefully, this will be enough, but if not, then you can consider other sleep apnea treatment options.
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