Roughly 30 million Americans suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a chronic condition that interrupts your breathing while you sleep. For many people, these interruptions are so brief, they may not realize they’re having them — even though interruptions can happen dozens or even hundreds of times a night.
CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy can be a good solution for some people with OSA, but it definitely has its drawbacks — and it’s not always effective.
At ENT Specialists, our team helps patients manage sleep apnea symptoms and protect their heart health with advanced Inspire® therapy, an alternative to CPAP. In observance of American Heart Month, we’re dedicating this post to helping patients understand how Inspire can help them.
Sleep apnea happens when the tissues at the back of your throat relax during sleep, descending into your airway and temporarily preventing you from breathing. Sometimes, these interruptions lead to loud snoring or gasping during sleep, but often, they occur unnoticed.
Not surprisingly, when your breathing is interrupted, it can have a significant effect on your heart: Blood oxygen levels drop and your body “stresses out,” causing your heart to beat faster and increasing your blood pressure in an effort to deliver more oxygen to your organs and tissues.
Over time, the increased strain on your heart can lead to high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, heart disease, and even heart failure. In fact, people with OSA are twice as likely to have a heart attack compared with healthy people. Interruptions in breathing also deprive your brain of oxygen, increasing your risk of stroke, as well.
CPAP helps combat OSA and its effects by delivering a steady stream of air that helps prevent your airway from collapsing. But the CPAP device and mask can be cumbersome and uncomfortable, and many people find using the device makes it even harder to sleep. Maintaining and cleaning the device can be time-consuming, too.
Inspire offers an FDA-approved alternative to CPAP, relying on an implantable device that helps keep your airway open so you can breathe normally during sleep. Inspire eliminates the need for CPAP, providing patients with greater comfort and peace of mind.
Once implanted, the tiny Inspire device monitors your unique breathing patterns using a tiny sensor. Based on those patterns, the device uses a pulse generator to deliver tiny electrical currents to the nerves that control your throat muscles and your tongue, stimulating those nerves to keep your airway open. The pulse generator is implanted under your skin near your collarbone.
You control the device’s operation using a small handheld controller to turn the device on when you go to bed and off when you get up. Once the device is turned on, it works automatically to manage your airway during sleep. You can also use the controller to pause the device and adjust the amount of stimulation it provides.
By helping you breathe better during the night, Inspire prevents the problems that can place extra strain on your heart. Its ability to maintain healthy oxygen intake prevents the stress response that elevates your blood pressure. And, of course, because Inspire is an implantable device, you don’t have to worry about cleaning hoses or masks or maintaining a bulky, noisy machine.
To learn more about Inspire therapy and how it can help you manage your sleep apnea and protect your heart health, request an appointment online or over the phone with the team at ENT Specialists in Salt Lake City, Murray, Draper, and Tooele, Utah, today.
