Patient/caregiver were instructed regarding pathophysiology of central sleep apnea as follows:
- The diaphragm, muscles of the rib cage, and abdominal muscles are the chief respiratory muscles, which work together with some other accessory respiratory muscles in the body, to help establish an organized breathing pattern.
- Regulated contraction and relaxation of these muscles is very important for establishing an organized breathing pattern.
- Brain controls and regulates the activity of these muscles by sending appropriate signals to these muscles, thus helping for a healthy breathing pattern.
- Various factors, such as, head injury, stroke, excess alcohol consumption, and abuse of narcotic pain medications & other medications having significant slowing down effect on the brain function, can result in poorly performing brain.
- This can lead to deficient receiving of signals from the brain and poor control & regulation of activity of the respiratory muscles.
- Poor regulation of respiratory muscle activity leads to disorganized breathing pattern with intermittent pauses, contributing to development of sleep apnea.
- So, central sleep apnea is a type of sleep apnea with dysfunction at the level of brain being the major contributory factor.
