Types of Sleep Apnea-Central And Mixed Apnea

Central Sleep Apnea

Central Apnea is when you repeatedly stop breathing while sleeping because the brain temporarily stops sending signals to the muscles that control breathing.

It occurs when the airway is NOT blocked, but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe because there is an underlying problem with the nerves that control the breathing problem which comes from the brain, and not from the upper airway.

So...even if you don't have an obstruction of the upper airway, you can still have this disorder.

How do you breathe while sleeping with CSA syndrome?

A person with this disorder has issues with the respiratory center from the brain. This center controls the chest muscles to make breathing movements. When the respiratory center stops working, then your breathing stops, too. The brain does not respond to the changes of the respiratory gas levels from the blood (oxygen and carbon dioxide).

In CSA, you stop breathing while sleeping for a period of time (at least 10 seconds), but there is no effort to breathe at all, like in OSA. Therefore, snoring is not present in central apnea.

Typically, you will wake up several times at night, often with the sensation of gasping or choking. If this waking up episode is frequent enough to cause disruption and making you restless during snooze, then you may feel very tired during daytime.

Causes of CSA:

The cause of this particular disorder is unknown, but there are risk factors that can influence the development, such as:

    * Age

    * Gender - There is an increased prevalence in the elderly

    * Sleep State

    * Thyroid Disease

    * Neurological or Cardio-logical abnormalities

    * Narcolepsy

It is often seen in people with panic about falling asleep. They breathe quickly which results in low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. This is a problem. When they fall asleep, the breathing reflex fails to start, because of the low levels of carbon dioxide.

Nevertheless, central apnea is most commonly seen in persons with neurological disorders that affect the control center of respiration, such as:

    * Lesions of the brain stem

    * Cardiovascular disorders

    * Cerebral vascular disease

    * Lesions of the spinal cord

CSA can also occur in infants who are prematurely born. Such symptoms generally disappear in the first six months of age. However, there is an increased risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in infants who suffer from CSA.

The snoring is less common in central apnea, but it may be a symptom of mixed sleep apnea. In children, its syndrome is usually accompanied by a change in their facial color, such as a bluish or purplish skin, and they may also a change in their muscle tone like a limp body.

The long-term effects of CSA disorder are:

    * Abnormal heart rhythm.

    * Heart failure.

    * Lung complications.

    * Enlargement of the heart.

Mixed Sleep Apnea

As the name implies, it is the combination of the two types of apnea Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Central Sleep Apnea (CSA). All three types of apnea cause sleep deprivation and oxygen deprivation.