Cardiomyopathy and Sleep Apnea Sleep disorders are numerous and rampant among humans today. There are a lot of sleep disorders, and many of them may have dangerous effects on human health. One of these is sleep apnea. Although it does not cause wakefulness, sleep apnea can destroy the quality of sleep because of the frequent awakenings as a response to apneic episodes. Sleep apnea is better classified as a sleep-disordered breathing problem, for that matter. When a person has sleep apnea, he experiences the stoppage of breathing during sleep. The moments with no breathing activity is called the apnea. During each apneic episode, an individual stops breathing for a while, and the body responses by gasping for air subconsciously. The individual may not even know that he gasps for air during the night. But apneic episodes may occur very often, as frequent as twice per five minutes. The result of the subconscious gasping for air is sleep fragmentation, which completely reduces the quality of sleep. There are a lot of medical disorders associated with sleep apnea, and many of them may be serious problems. Some of these include diabetes, hypercapnia, aerophagia, seizures, and even heart disorders. One of the common heart problems that may result from sleep apnea is cardiomyopathy, which is described as the weakening of the heart muscle. Cardiomyopathy is also called heart muscle disease. It is characterized by the failure or dysfunction of the myocardium, also known as the heart. Sleep apnea is one known cause of this heart problem, the classification under which it belongs is ischemic cardiomyopathy. This type of cardiomyopathy is caused by the lack of oxygen delivered to the myocardium. Ischemic cardiomyopathy includes anemia and coronary artery disease as other common causes. Because of the lack of oxygen, the muscles of the heart weaken, resulting to the said disease. Cardiomyopathy in itself is a problematic disease, but the complications may lead to various serious problems, and even death. When the muscles of the heart weaken, its capacity to do its job properly also deteriorates. It may not be able to pump as much blood as needed, and the pressure it exerts may be too hard for it to manage. This may result to different heart problems like cardiac arrest, arrhythmia, and other heart deterioration diseases. The symptoms of cardiomyopathy are very similar to many other heart diseases. These include chest pains, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling of the ankles and legs, high blood pressure, and loss of appetite. Sometimes, an individual may not be able to determine the symptoms of other health disorders in the presence of sleep apnea, but any unusual pains or problems in the body should immediately be relayed to a medical professional. In order to prevent the occurrence of cardiomyopathy in a sleep apnea patient, he should undergo CPAP therapy. This form of treatment normalizes his breathing cycles, allows the proper amount of oxygen to enter the body and pass through the bloodstream, thus allowing the heart to receive enough oxygen that it needs to function properly. CPAP therapy is usually prescribed by a doctor to a patient who has been positively diagnosed with sleep apnea. If you have not been diagnosed but suspect yourself of having sleep apnea, consult a doctor immediately in order to undergo the appropriate tests needed to finalize a diagnosis about your health condition. If you do have sleep apnea and are neglecting or setting aside the sleep-disordered breathing, then you may want to think twice about what you’re doing. Sleep apnea is a very serious disease that can cause many other health problems, like cardiomyopathy as discussed earlier. Disorders like these should be attended with the proper treatment and management methods in order to maintain the good health of the affected individual. Otherwise, the individual may experience very severe complications, and even death. Copyright © 2014
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 02:40:26 +0000