People with Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) snore but they don’t have all the symptoms that must be present to be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea.
Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome falls between snoring and sleep apnea on the range of sleep disordered breathing. People with Airway Resistance experience a partial blockage of the airway, which results in resistance to airflow and difficulty breathing. Although snoring may or may not be present, patients with Airway Resistance do not stop breathing like patients with obstructive sleep apnea. However, airway resistance is a serious problem.
If you have Airway Resistance, it’s as if you have to breathe through a very small straw. To get enough air into your lungs you have to suck with much greater pressure which causes more work for the muscles of your heart and puts extra stress on your cardiovascular system. This can cause numerous symptoms including sleepiness or fatigue, clenching of the teeth, headaches, reflux, weight gain, and fibromyalgia.
Unfortunately, most people with Airway Resistance don’t know they have it and as a result don’t get any treatment. In fact, most people only get treated for sleep disordered breathing if they meet the diagnosis criteria for sleep apnea.
Treatment for Airway Resistance can do a lot to improve your health because it will be easier for you to breathe at night. If you start treating your sleep disordered breathing early when it is classified as Airway Resistance, you may prevent it from turning into the more severe problem of obstructive sleep apnea.
