Living With Sleep Apnea

Getting treatment for sleep apnea and following your doctor’s advice can help you and your family members.

• Getting treatment for sleep apnea can help snoring and can improve your sleep.
  
• Treating sleep apnea helps you feel rested during the day.
  
• Many people will benefit by making healthy changes, such as stopping smoking and losing weight.
  
• Some people will need to wear a mask at night to help keep the throat open and improve breathing.
  
• A few people will need to have surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids, part of the uvula (the tissue that hangs from the middle of the back of the roof of the mouth), and/or the soft palate (the roof of your mouth in the back of your throat) that may block the airway.
  
• Regular and ongoing followup is needed; your sleep medicine specialist will check whether your treatment is working and whether you are having any side effects.

What Can Family Do To Help?

Often, people with sleep apnea do not know they have it. They are not aware that their breathing stops and starts many times while they are sleeping. Family members or bed partners are usually the first ones to notice that the person snores and stops breathing while sleeping.

There are many things family members can do to help a loved one who has sleep apnea, including:

• Letting the person know if he or she snores loudly during sleep or has breathing stops and starts
  
• Encouraging the person to get medical help
  
• Helping the person follow the doctor’s treatment plan, including continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
  
• Making sure the person puts on the CPAP mask before falling asleep
  
• Providing emotional support
  
• Helping with insurance paperwork

Sleep apnea can be very serious. People with sleep apnea are at higher risk for car crashes, work-related accidents, and other medical problems due to their sleepiness. It is important that people with sleep apnea see their doctor to treat and control this disorder.

Treatment may improve a person’s overall health and happiness as well as the quality of sleep for both the person and the entire family.