The most common form of this condition is obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when the tissues of the throat completely obstruct the airway intermittently during the night. Some of the causes include obesity, abnormality of the jaw or throat, and enlarged tonsils and adenoids.

It is estimated that sleep apnea affects about 12 million Americans: 4% of men, 2% of women, and up to 3% of children suffer from some type of sleep apnea. The mild form of sleep apnea is most common but still poses several dangers.

Partners of sleep apnea patients report episodes of loud, frequent snoring, intermittent or unusual breathing, animated noises and body movements during sleep. The patient may experience gasping, daytime fatigue, headaches, and excessive grogginess.

Because sleep apnea interrupts natural breathing patterns, it has been fatal in some cases. Sleep apnea has also been associated with heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia, high blood pressure, and other heart problems.

Based on your degree of sleep apnea, Dr. Wooten will recommend a treatment option or combination of treatments. Although there is no cure for the condition, there are several options to reduce the occurrence of breathing pauses and encourage regular breathing patterns. Dr. Wooten may suggest some lifestyle changes to minimize the effects of apnea, such as halting use of alcohol or sedatives or losing weight.

You will be required to have a sleep study during our evaluation process. We have a Sleep Disorders Center at Akron General Medical Center the Montrose Sleep Center, conveniently located at the Akron General Health & Wellness Center - West. Testing will require that you spend a night sleeping in our "lab" that looks very much like a hotel room, but allows our technicians and physicians to monitor you throughout the whole procedure.

The exact cause of OSA remains unclear. Generally, sleep apnea happens when enough air cannot move into your lungs while you are sleeping. When you are awake, and normally during sleep, your throat muscles keep your throat open so that air can flow into your lungs. However, with obstructive sleep apnea, the throat briefly collapses, causing pauses in your breathing. With pauses in breathing, your oxygen level in your blood may drop.

The initial treatment of choice for OSAS for the vast majority of OSAS patients is nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). If tolerated, CPAP has very few side effects and can immediately improve OSAS symptoms. Learn more about other treatment options.