A new form of sleep apnea
Anyone with sleep apnea is already struggling from enough sleep trouble. Now, to make matters worse, there's a new, harder-to-treat form of the illness, and research is showing that one in six sleep apnea sufferers are dealing with it.
It's called "complex sleep apnea," (CSA) and is actually a combination of two different forms of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea (which is when throat muscles relax, causing flesh in the throat to your airway), and central sleep apnea (when your brain sends mixed signals to the muscles that control your breathing). Until recently, these two forms of sleep apnea were the only known kinds.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic summed upon CSA when they realized that standard treatments were failing some obstructive sleep apnea patients. (Treatment usually consists of continuous airway pressure, or a CPAP machine, which uses an air mask to keep a person's airway open while they're sleeping.)
The researchers decided to review the records of 243 sleep clinic patients. When they were done they realized that 15 percent of the patients didn't just have central or obstructive sleep apnea-they had both forms, meaning they had complex apnea.
They also learned that this form of apnea is much more prevalent among men.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this form of sleep apnea yet. But if you have sleep apnea, and your treatment isn't working, talk to your doctor. Your case could be the one that helps doctors stumble on a cure.
