Judith Boe learned of the symptoms of sleep apnea after a friend had a severe stroke attributed to the disorder. A former music teacher, Boe found herself running out of breath while singing a hymn. She used to wake up at night and had restless legs. A trip to the cabin with her extended family led to her own diagnosis.
“My nephew and his wife told me that when I snored the whole cabin shook,” she recalled. “That was the thing that pushed me to ask for a sleep study at the Reedsburg Area Medical Center Sleep Lab.”
Sleep labs use a polysomnograph to record a minimum of eleven channels requiring numerous wire attachments to the patient. Two channels are for the EEG, one or two measure airflow, one is for chin movements, one or more for leg movements, two for eye movements (EOG), one for heart rate and rhythm, one for oxygen saturation and one each for the belts which measure chest wall movement and upper abdominal wall movement.
After a night of being hooked up by 27 lines to the polysomnograph, Boe learned that she did have sleep apnea and her blood oxygen was dangerously low. This condition may lead to a stroke or heart attack. Her physician prescribed continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy.
When you are awake, and normally during sleep, your throat muscles keep your throat open and air flows into your lungs. In obstructive sleep apnea, however, the throat briefly collapses, causing you to stop breathing. With pauses in breathing, the oxygen level in your blood may drop to a seriously low level.
CPAP is the most common treatment for sleep apnea. For this treatment, you wear a mask over your nose or nose and mouth during sleep. The equipment blows air into your throat at a pressure level that is right for you. The increased airway pressure keeps the throat open while you sleep.
A Home Health United respiratory technician Rita Schultz is conveniently located at the sleep lab. She fitted Boe with a mask and taught her how to maintain the equipment, which is smaller than a toaster. She started sleeping every night with the CPAP machine and soon noticed differences.
“The biggest change is I have more breath to support singing high notes,” she said. During a follow-up exam with the CPAP, the equipment did not indicate any snoring. Treating sleep apnea may help you stop snoring, however that does not mean you no longer have sleep apnea or that you can stop using CPAP. Sleep apnea will return if CPAP is stopped or if it is not used correctly.
Most people adjust to wearing the mask within days and many CPAP users experience reduced blood pressure and increased blood oxygen levels. A German study found that CPAP therapy reduces the risk of a heart-related event such as a heart attack by 64 percent.
“I want to take care of things that might keep me from being fully functional,” said Boe. “And I feel strongly about sharing anything that can help someone’s health.”