Sleep Apnea

Our experts will evaluate your sleep apnea symptoms with a sleep study. CPAP machines, sleep surgery, upper airway stimulation, and other options can provide relief.

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Sleep apnea is a condition that causes your breathing to stop and start repeatedly while you sleep. It can have a serious impact on your health.

If you don't treat your sleep apnea, it can make you sleepy during the day, raising your risk for accidents while driving or working. And it can increase your risk of developing life-threatening conditions like high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.

University of Iowa Health Care neurologists, pulmonologists, and otolaryngologists (ear, nose, and throat specialists) team up to treat sleep apnea. They'll find the cause of your sleep apnea and help you choose the best treatment.

Our sleep experts are also researchers who are developing and testing the next generation of sleep apnea treatments. You may be eligible for clinical trials of therapies that aren't yet available anywhere else.

Sleep apnea diagnosis from UI Health Care experts

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type of sleep apnea. It's caused by tissue in the back of your throat relaxing and blocking your airway.

Other types of sleep apnea include:

Central sleep apnea, which occurs when your brain fails to send the right signals to the muscles that control your breathing.
Complex sleep apnea syndrome, which is a combination of obstructive and central sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea symptoms

Symptoms of sleep apnea occur while you're sleeping and while you're awake.

Nighttime symptoms can include:

Night sweats
Restlessness while sleeping 
Snoring
Awaking with a sudden sensation of gasping or choking

In the morning, you might experience:

Dry or sore mouth when you wake up
Headaches
Difficulty getting up

During the day, sleep apnea can cause:

Fatigue 
Forgetfulness 
Depression
Irritability

Diagnosing sleep apnea

An overnight sleep study (polysomnography) can take place in your home or in the UI Health Care Sleep Lab.

Our highly trained sleep technologists perform more than 3,000 sleep studies each year and are experienced in interpreting the results. They'll share your study data with your provider, who will make a final diagnosis.

An in-home sleep study may work if your overall health is good. You'll wear a device that looks like a large wristwatch, a finger monitor, and a chest monitor. If this study is inconclusive, you may need an on-site sleep study in the sleep lab.
During an on-site sleep study, you'll spend the night in the sleep lab. Sensors are placed on your head, chest, and legs to record your heart rate, breathing, and other data.

If your sleep study isn't conclusive and you need further testing, a sleep surgeon may perform one of the following tests.

Drug-induced sleep endoscopy: An outpatient procedure that lets your sleep specialist examine your airway while you're asleep
Flexible nasopharyngoscopy: An in-office procedure to examine your nose, the back of your tongue, and your throat

Sleep apnea treatment from UI Health Care

UI Health Care offers the full range of sleep apnea treatment options. These include help with lifestyle changes, customized devices, sleep surgery, and implantable devices. Your sleep specialist will work with you to create a personalized treatment plan.

Lifestyle changes

If your sleep apnea is mild, your treatment plan might focus on making lifestyle changes such as:

Losing weight
Quitting smoking
Stopping your use of alcohol and/or sedatives
Medication for respiratory allergies
Wearing a custom mouth guard while sleeping

Devices

If you have moderate to severe sleep apnea, a device that you wear while sleeping may help.

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the most common treatment for sleep apnea. You wear a mask that's connected by a tube to a blower. The steady stream of air flowing through the blower acts as a “splint” to keep your upper airway open.
Automatic positive airway pressure (APAP) adjusts air pressure breath by breath to provide the lowest, most comfortable pressure you need.
Bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP, VPAP, or BPAP) delivers higher pressure for inhaling and lower pressure for exhaling.

Sleep surgery

If you try a CPAP, APAP, or BiPAP device and it doesn't work for you, sleep surgery may be an option to help the device perform better. Sleep surgeries include:

Nasal surgery to remove your adenoids, open blocked sinuses, or fix a deviated septum
Palate ablation to tighten tissue at the back of your throat
Procedures to remove tonsils or reduce the size of your tongue

Your sleep surgeon will evaluate you to see whether you might be a candidate for upper airway stimulation. This treatment involves implanting a small device that stimulates your throat muscles to keep them from blocking your airway.

If you have moderate to severe central sleep apnea, you may be approved for Remedē device. This device is implanted in your chest and monitors respiratory signals during sleep and stimulates the nerve to move your diaphragm if your breathing becomes irregular. The device restores normal breathing patterns.