Central Sleep Apnea Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

Central Sleep Apnea Symptoms: What is Central Sleep Apnea?

Apnea: Defines an occurrence of suspended breathing, without change to the state of the lungs or activity from the respiratory muscles.

Central sleep apnea in particular is a special case that is caused by a problem with the brain signaling the body to breathe. Very different from cases of obstructive sleep apnea, this particular disorder stems from the body not even trying to breathe because it receives no message to do so. Apnea can be followed by a period of rapid breathing (hyperpnea) as the body attempts to compensate and obtain more oxygen.

Cessation or reduced breathing lead immediately to these two symptoms that can cause a wider range of effects on a person suffering from central sleep apnea:

• Hypoxaemia – Lower than normal oxygen level
• Hypercapnia – Higher than normal carbon dioxide concentration

In particular, brain cells require oxygen to maintain.  If a Person’s levels of oxygen drop too low for an extended period of time it can lead to brain damage and death.  The effects are usually much milder, but it depends entirely on the length of the apnea.

These events disrupt a normal and healthy sleep pattern, leading to some or all of the following problems often associated with lack of quality sleep:

• Continued periods of stopped or inconsistent breathing during sleep – A person will obviously be unable to diagnose these themselves, observation or a professional sleep study is the best way to catch this type of symptom
• General symptoms of insomnia, trouble staying asleep and non-restorative sleep and night time awakenings
• Shortness of breath
• EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness) – Feeling overly tired throughout the day to the point of feeling overwhelming urges to nap.  EDS is a tell-tale sign of problems with either the amount or quality of sleep being achieved each night.
• Fatigue and Headaches 

What are the Causes of Central Sleep Apnea?

There can be many different underlying causes behind central sleep apnea, but it is due specifically to

1. Instability of the body’s ventilation – Can be onset by problems with heart failure, stroke, or any serious complications with the respiratory system.
2. Problems with respiratory regulation or chemoreceptors – It can also be caused by neurological disease, spinal, or brain stem damage—anything that can interfere with the brain’s communication with the body’s systems

Other specific causes are as follows:

• Cheyne-Stokes – Repeated uneven patterns of breathing that can lead to an apnea
• Altitude Change – Drastic altitude changes can lead to an unbalancing of the breathing pattern
• Drugs - like morphine or oxycodone can affect normal breathing patterns

Central Sleep Apnea Treatment Options

Treatment of central sleep apnea must be handled carefully and on a case by case basis. Because it can be caused by so many different underlying issues (targeting either respiratory or nervous systems) it is important to get a thorough professional analysis.

There are many different treatments involving correction of the unbalanced air flow that is cause by sleep apnea. These different options include:

• CPAP – Constant positive airway pressure for patients with cardiovascular related problems, specifically those with underlying congestive heart failure or Cheyne-Stokes
• ASV – Adaptive servo ventilation works to regulate uneven breathing by maintaining a variable pressure to match any changes that occur within the pattern of the patients breathing. This active regulatory method attempts to use this variable pressure to maintain a more constant state of ventilation for the patient—decreasing the negative side effects that rapid changes in the breathing pattern can have on the body’s systems.