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Continuous positive airway pressure – CPAP
CPAP is the abbreviation for the health care machine called continuous positive airway pressure, which is employed for treating the people who suffer from the sleep disorder called sleep apnea. CPAP is made of two parts and while one part is the electronic assembly, the other part is the mask that should be worn throughout the night when the person with sleep apnea sleeps. The wearing of this mask can be quite unpleasant and discomforting so those people who plan to buy a CPAP should know all the facts about this machine.
Sleep apnea and CPAP
Sleep apnea is the name for a sleep disorder that appears when one cannot breathe properly during the night, and it tends to wake him/her up. Most of the times, the person is not even aware that he/she stays without a breath for even about 20 seconds during the night. The sleep apnea occurs since the airways are obstructed and here the CPAP helps since this machine uses the pipe and mask to insert the pressure in the airways, thus solving the problem with breathing.
However, continuous positive airway pressure is not only used for the sleep apnea patients, but also for those people who suffer from coronary artery disease, as well as from the heart disease.
Benefits of CPAP mask
The CPAP is a very effective machine for alleviation of the sleep apnea symptoms, and many patents with this sleep disorder have found the benefits of continuous positive airway pressure. The breathing is easy with this masks and it also increases the quality of sleep. Furthermore, it is also observed that snoring in the people who use this machine is significantly reduced. When one sleeps well, then the daily consequences of the bad sleeping disappear, such as fatigue, poor concentration and headaches.
The CPAP mask can be of different types and while some cover only the nose, there are the masks that cover both, the nose and mouth, and the patient can choose which mask best suits him/her.
Disadvantages of CPAP mask
Wearing the mask can be quite uncomfortable and for some people even irritating and every person has different opinion regarding his/her tolerance towards wearing of the CPAP mask. Many people stop using this machine after the first two or three days because they experience some of its disadvantages like dry mouth and nose, sneezing and irritation of the facial skin and the eyes. Headache, abdominal swelling, nose bleeding and runny nose are also some of the disadvantages of the CPAP mask.
- www.nhs.uk/conditions/obstructive-sleep-apnoea/treatment/
- www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2012/11_0117.htm
- Photo courtesy of Joe Mabel by Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CPAP_mask_01.jpg
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