where can i find useful information on sleep apnea?
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WebMD is one place - www.webmd.com.
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Sleep Apnea\n\n\n\nDescription\nAn in-depth report on the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of sleep apnea.\n\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction\nSleep apnea is a disorder in which a person stops breathing during the night, perhaps hundreds of times, usually for periods of 10 seconds or longer and sometimes for as long as a minute. These gaps in breathing are called apneas. (Apnea literally meaning absence of breath.) It is usually accompanied by snoring. People who have sleep apnea may not even be aware of the condition, but it inevitably causes daytime sleepiness.\n\nSleep apnea is generally categorized as obstructive, central, or mixed. A less severe form of obstructed breathing called upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is also worth mentioning.\n\nObstructive Sleep Apnea\nObstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common form of apnea, occurs when tissues in the upper throat (or airway) collapse at intervals during sleep, thereby blocking the passage of air. In general, OSA occurs as follows:\n\nOn its way to the lungs, air passes through the nose, mouth, and throat (known as the upper airway).\nUnder normal conditions, the back of the throat is soft and pliant and tends to collapse inward as a person breathes.\nCertain muscles, called dilator muscles, work against this to keep the airway open. Interference or abnormalities in this process cause air turbulence.\nIf the tissues at the back of the throat collapse and become momentarily blocked, apnea occurs. Breath is temporarily stopped. In most cases the person is unaware of it, although sometimes they awaken and gasp for breath.\nIn some cases, the interference is incomplete (called obstructive hypopnea) and causes continuous but slow and shallow breathing. In response the throat vibrates and makes the sound of snoring. Snoring can occur whether a person breathes through the mouth or the nose. (It should be noted that snoring also occurs without sleep apnea.)\nApnea decreases the amount of oxygen in the blood, and eventually this lack of oxygen triggers the lungs to suck in air.\nAt this point, the patient may make a gasping or snorting sound but does not usually fully wake up.\nObstructive sleep apnea is defined as five or more episodes of apnea or hypopnea per hour of sleep that occur in individuals who have excessive daytime sleepiness.\n\nCentral Sleep Apnea\nCentral sleep apnea is much less common. It is caused by some problem in the central nervous system, most likely a failure of the brain to signal the airway muscles to breathe. In such cases, oxygen levels drop abruptly and usually the sleeper wakes with a start. Often people with central sleep apnea recall waking up. They generally experience less sleepiness during the day than people with obstructive sleep apnea.\n\nMixed Apnea\nMixed apnea is the term used when the two apneas occur together.\n\nUpper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS)\nUpper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is a condition in which patients complain about excessive daytime sleepiness and they may snore and wake frequently during the night. However, UARS patients do not have the breathing abnormalities that characterize sleep apnea and they do not show reduction in oxygen levels in the blood. Unlike apnea, UARS is more likely to occur in women than in men. Treatments are similar to those of sleep apnea. It is not known if UARS has any serious health complications.\n\n\nHealthy Sleep\nIn sleep studies, subjects spend about one-third of their time asleep, suggesting that most people need about eight hours of sleep each day. Individual adults differ in the amount of sleep they need to feel well rested, however. (Infants may sleep as many as 16 hours a day.)\n\nThe daily cycle of life, which includes sleeping and waking, is called a circadian (meaning "about a day") rhythm, commonly referred to as the biologic clock. Hundreds of bodily functions follow biologic clocks, but sleeping and waking comprise the most prominent circadian rhythm. T
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Yes. You may want to be referred to a sleep clinic. It seems odd I know but you usually go on a couple of sleepovers there and they record every event of apnea. My best friend did it and is now using a Cpap ? machine and seems to be doing much better. \n\nGood luck!
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First thing I have sleep apnea and it is simply treated with a device called a CPAP !\n\nNOW !!!   Sleep apnea simply means stopping breathing more than so many times, for a specific length of time, during a given period of time.\n\nWe go to sleep but never  go into what is called REM sleep where our brain really gets its rest! For probably the past 40+ years I  was not truly sleeping! I denied that I had a problem, I really wasn't tired. But, my wife finally convinced me. She deserves a gold Star, Probably a Congressional Medal of Honor! I am a Hard Headed 61 year-old I'm afraid that I was extremely hard on her! She no doubt has saved my life and no words will ever be able to thank her enough. After all I WAS ASLEEP. ALL WAS OK AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERNED!!! How do I know what quality sleep I encounter, when I am asleep!\n\nIn the "usual" cases apnea is caused by blockage of the airway. This blockage is caused frequently by the collapse of the airway thus a positive air pressure is applied to "inflate" this airway. A Constant Pressure Air device CPAP is prescribed. It will furnish air at a specific pressure measured in inches of water that will be / or has been prescribed from the sleep lab session. The pressure in inches of water, where your brain goes into REM (for rapid eye movement) pattern on the EKG. This is the ideal pressure!\n\nThey will set up the machine for you. Don't worry it will all go smooth. I promise that soon you will get use to the CPAP machine PROBABLY even love it! If you live up North, you can always bundle yourself underneath tons of blankets and breath. Kinda like breathing underwater!\n\nThis will be a good adventure for you! You will feel better overall I promise regardless of any other conditions that you might have!  \n\nMain thing is that you do go to a SLEEP CLINIC FOR A EVALUATION!\n\nNOT TO BE UGLY BUT MY "PND" STANDS FOR POST NASAL DRIP!\n\nI DO HAVE SOME INITIALS THOUGH .... "RLS" FOR RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME IT DISTURBS YOUR REM SLEEP ALSO JUST LIKE SLEEP APNEA DOES AND KEEPS YOU FROM GETTING QUALITY SLEEP!\n\nSLEEP APNEA CAN RARELY CAUSE DEATH!\n\nPLEASE SEE A DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!\n\nAPS
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Narcolepsy Research:\nhttp://www.medical-research-studies.org/narcolepsy.shtml
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You need to participate in a sleep-study or sleep-diagnostic counseling.  The doctor/counselor should be able to recommend things you can do or take to help with your sleep apnea.
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Look up: Sleep Apnea on Google /thats the clinical term for snoring ...and Good Luck !!!
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You can find some excellent information and pictures at:\nhttp://www.virology.net/Big_Virology/BVDNAmyo.html\n\nor if you are looking for higher level information you can find a good paper at http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12626685\n\nwww.pubmed.com is a great source for any scholastic/scientific information.  You can read all of the latest research that has been published in peer reviewed journals there.  Its worth the time to learn how to use it.
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Has he gone to a sleep lab?  I can only help you chip away the sleep thing.  I use one of those CPAP thing nightly, now I am 61 years old and was diagnosed at 60.  I feel like I am in my 40's!  True sleep is wonderful, my whole adult life I never had a good night's sleep!  I also had a knee twitch that kept my brain from going into REM stage of sleep.  Thats where the eyes dart around, its like perfect sleep time, anyway I lived without it for 40+ years.\n\nI hated going to the lab and did not enjoy the whole idea of it. The idea of having something poked up my noise was not comforting! I HATED IT! BUT MY WIFE MADE ME GO !!!!\n\nThe lab was tolerable, but the results are unbelieveable!\n\nTHE DARN MACHINE WORKS MIRACLES!  SO ... LIKE A SAVED SINNER,  I AM HERE TO SPREAD THE WORD, TELL THE WORLD WHERE THEIR REDEMPTION MAY BE FOUND ( WELL MAYBE A LITTLE PUSHY )!\n\nWISH YOU LUCK ON ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS,  BREATHING THROUGH THE NIGHT SERIOUSLY HAS RE-STARTED MY WHOLE PERSONAL LIFE!\n\nHAVE A GOOD DAY.\n\n\nAPS
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome
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I usually just vist http://health.yahoo.com\nThey provide genuine links to all other related health sites. It's basically a great starting point for all my health related queries
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You ever heard of Google????\n\nhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000188.htm
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You can try webmd.com   It may give you some information you are looking for.
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Actually, sleep apnea is a condition where you actually stop breathing during sleep. For most people, this causes them to wake up quickly; for others, it's a life-threatening situation (especially for babies and small children). I imagine if you're not getting much rest, when you do finally get to sleep your body is so tired it's hard for your body to wake up when you stop breathing. Also, even though your body eventually trains itself to sleep lightly in order potentially avoid apnea, when YOU finally get some sleep your body falls into a deeper sleep. This makes it harder for your body to avoid apnea. I would advise you to get plenty of rest whenever possible. I believe you should obtain a sleep apnea monitor from your physician. This will sound an alarm to wake you up when you stop breathing, or if your oxygen saturation level drops below a certain percentage. This may alleviate some of your anxiety and help you sleep better at night. Just a thought. Good luck.
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http://www.diabetes.org
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I agree with most of the posts, it sould also be SLEEP APNEA which is a potentially  dangerous condition, but there is treatment, get it checked out if the other suggestions don't work! http://www.sleepapnea.org/
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Go to a med school library, many are open to the public. If you are close to Washington DC, the National Library of Medicine is super great. And lastly, if the paper you are looking for is older than 6 months, some full text papers are on line at pubmed central.