Natural Cures For Sleep Apnea

If you suffer from sleep apnea, would you consider it to be a mild case? In other words, do you stop breathing for just a few seconds at a time - for a few times during the night?

In this case, your doctor will most likley recommend behavioural changes, rather than any serious medicine or surgery.

These changes typically include losing weight (rapid weight gain can be an associated symptom of sleep apnea), sleeping in a diferent position such as one side and not on your back.

Here are five other natural treatments you might try for your sleep apnea:

1. Minimize your use of alcohol, antihistamines, or tranquilizers.

2. Develop regular sleep habits, and especially make sure you get enough sleep at night.

3. Gargle with salt water to shrink your tonsils

4. Don't smoke or expose yourself to other irritants (such as dust or perfumes).

5.Try eliminating mucus-producing foods (such as dairy and bananas) for two weeks. Then begin eating themn again and see if you notice any differnces.

Two other semi-natural treatments

What are the treatments if you have moderate or severe sleep apnea?

There are two treatments available that do not require surgery.

First, doctors often prescribe a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (C-PAP) machine. This machine literally blows air into your nose via a tube and mask, the aim being to keep the airway open by maintaining a constant level of air pressure.

Second, for really severe sleep apnea there is another machine called the Bi Level machine(Bi-PAP). This sleep apnea machine does the same job but with two different pressures of air that help the body breath in and out properly.

If you or someone you know suffers from sleep apnea, you should know about the website, http://www.naturalsleepapneacures.com This site has some good information about the causes of sleep apnea, as well as suggestions for natural cures and natural treatments.

Douglas Hanna is a retired advertising and marketing executive who lives in Colorado. He researches and writes on a variety of health-related topics and is a successful website editor and publisher.

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Sleep Apnea Surgery

Some sleep apnea patients may need surgery to remove excess tissue from the nose or throat (removal of adenoids and tonsils, nasal polyps or other growth) and to straighten a deviated septum. Although surgery is an excellent way of treating symptomatic sleep apnea, its success rate is low. Therefore, surgery should be reserved for those patients who have not responded to other therapeutic interventions. Usually, more than one surgical procedure is attempted to realize the benefits.

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is the most common surgery to treat sleep apnea. It intends to enlarge the airways by removing all redundant tissue (tonsils, adenoids, uvula) from the pharynx. The overall success rate is 30 to 50 percent.

Laser-assisted Uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) can be performed in a specialist’s office and involves the use of a laser to remove part of the soft palate, shorten the uvula (the uvula is the tissue that hangs from the middle of the back of the roof of the mouth) and remove other excess tissue from the pharynx. However, the effectiveness of LAUP in treating sleep apnea has not yet been proven.

Tracheostomy is absolutely successful but is very invasive, both physically and psychologically and therefore is generally reserved for patients with severe life threatening sleep apnea. In this procedure, a small hole is made in the trachea or windpipe below the site of obstruction and a tube is inserted into the opening. This tube is opened only during sleeping hours, so that air flows directly into the lungs, bypassing any blocked air passage in the throat.

Other surgical procedures include radiofrequency ablation (RFA), which makes use of radiofrequency energy to remove tissue from uvula, soft palate and tongue and thereby help treat sleep apnea. In children and adolescents removal of enlarged tonsils or adenoids stands as a viable option in the treatment of sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea provides detailed information about sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea and more. Sleep Apnea is affiliated with Acupuncture For Endometriosis.

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