CPAP Therapy: How it Works, Getting Set up, & Results
If you’re reading this you’re probably concerned that you, or your bed-partner, may be suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, so you’re doing a little preliminary research on treatment options. You may have heard a little about continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, but are still unclear as to exactly what it is or how it works.
CPAP Machines are the most commonly used treatment options for people experiencing breathing problems, most notably of which is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Sufferers of OSA experience cessations in their breathing in which obstructions in the airway cause them to stop breathing for a few seconds at a time throughout the night.
The first step in getting CPAP therapy is to have a sleep study performed at a sleep clinic. The results of a sleep study will inform your sleep specialist as to the severity of your condition and best treatment options.
If a CPAP machine is determined to be the best option, you will likely have to have a follow-up sleep titration study in which you will sleep at a sleep clinic overnight while wearing various CPAP masks and using a few different machines that will be specifically calibrated to the air pressure needed to clear your airway blockage without causing any disturbance or discomfort to your sleep.
Once you have been issued a CPAP machine to take home with you, the most important thing you can do for your health is to USE IT REGULARLY!! In order to help alleviate your obstructive sleep apnea symptoms the device needs to be used on a nightly basis
CPAP Results
Those who begin using their CPAP Machines, often begin to experience immediate positive results including:
- Elimination of snoring and breathing obstructions.
- Improvement in quality of nightly sleep.
- Prevention or reversal of serious health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
- Lower blood pressure both during the day and at night.
- Increased alertness during the day.
- Significant decrease of daytime drowsiness.
