Oxygen Is Important: Answering Questions About CPAP Therapy Alternatives And Sleep Apnea

CPAP or "Continuous Positive Airway Pressure" is the number one medical treatment for sleep apnea for good reason. Obstructive Sleep Apnea patients are medical-train-wreck passengers surging for a place to crash. Sleep Apnea is a killer.

Sleep apnea is a medical condition that causes a person's airway to close while sleeping. The main signs are snoring, waking up gagging and to completely stop breathing when asleep. If you or anyone you know has these traits, chances are the reason is sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea may cause or advance medical problems such as

· High Blood Pressure

· Diabetes

· Obesity

· Kidney Failure

· Liver Damage

· Nerve Disorders such as Seizures and Epilepsy

· Strokes or "Cerebrovascular Accident" (CVA)

Plus if these don't end you then this medical villain also decreases oxygen in the blood flowing to the heart which can cause:

· Irregular Heart Beat

· Chest Pain

· Heart Attack or "Myocardial infarction" (MI)

Yes that's right, sleep apnea can cause:

· Death or "Eternal Dirt Nap" (EDN)

What's more, this sleepy-time drowning also causes "temporary brain damage" from decreased oxygen to the brain. That's what my Ears, Nose and Throat (ENT) Doctor said when I was diagnosed with it and what I told my wife just before she was struck by a fit of eye-rolling. It is easy to see why doctors are quick to recommend CPAP machines and masks.

There are alternatives to CPAP therapy. Surgery is the most extreme and expensive. Surgical correction of sleep apnea is not a guaranteed fix as any good ENT Doctor will tell you.

The most basic surgical correction will remove tonsils and adenoids, if you still have them, and may cut out the uvula. You ask, "The WHAT?" The little pink-thingy hanging down in the back of the throat. Do you need it? Not to live but one of the functions of the uvula is to stop food from spilling past your esophagus, the mouth to stomach grocery pipe, and into your trachea or your "wind pipe". Nice. Yeah a uvula helps keep you from choking every time you eat or drink something. I'll keep mine, thanks.

There are non-surgical alternatives to CPAP therapy that improve breathing, health and well-being. CPAP does work and some estimate it as 99% effective, if you can tolerate it. If not, you should seek another answer. Not using CPAP is a bad decision which wrecks havoc on your health. It is important to find documented cases of alternative treatment success. Proven. Names and numbers that is. Why? Because oxygen is important.

Original article