VA Foreign Medical Services we diagnose and treat medical conditions of the lungs, including asthma, emphysema, sleep disorders, interstitial lung diseases and pneumonia. Our pulmonary and sleep medicine services include respiratory therapy, sleep apnea and Constant Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) education classes, in-house and at-home sleep studies, home oxygen program management, as well as out-patient bronchoscopy procedures. Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which a person’s breathing is repeatedly interrupted during the course of the night. There are three main types of sleep apnea, including the following:
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea –the most common form of sleep apnea; occurs when the throat muscles intermittently relax and block your airway during sleep
- Central Sleep Apnea – occurs when your brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing
- Complex (Mixed) Sleep Apnea Syndrome – occurs when someone has both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea
The signs and symptoms of these three types of sleep apnea tend to overlap, sometimes making it difficult to determine which type you have. Generally speaking, the most common symptoms include: loud snoring, gasping for air during sleep, awakening with a dry mouth, morning headache, insomnia, hypersomnolence (i.e. excessive daytime sleepiness), and difficulty concentrating.
For mild cases of sleep apnea, doctors may suggest lifestyle changes such as losing weight or quitting smoking, if applicable. In more serious cases, doctors may prescribe the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. A CPAP machine delivers air pressure through a mask while you sleep that is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air. This allows your upper airway passages to remain open, thereby preventing apnea and snoring.