Sleep apnea is more than loud snoring; it’s a serious sleep disorder that causes you to stop and restart breathing several times throughout the night. These breathing pauses affect the quality of your sleep and can take a toll on your overall health.
While there are many treatments available for sleep apnea, including the gold standard continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, the FDA recently approved Zepbound® for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
Zepbound is a popular weight loss medication. So, how can injections help your sleep apnea? At Respacare in Bridgewater, New Jersey, our sleep medicine specialists, Dr. Nehal Mehta and Dr. Prashant Patel explain.
Sleep apnea makes it near impossible to get a good night’s rest. With sleep apnea, your breathing is repeatedly disrupted due to a physical blockage in the airway (obstructive sleep apnea or OSA) or because your brain doesn’t send the proper signals to your breathing muscles (central sleep apnea).
Each time your intake of air stops, oxygen levels drop and your brain briefly wakes you up to restart breathing. This cycle repeats hundreds of times per night, leaving you exhausted despite spending the recommended eight hours in bed.
Beyond poor sleep, untreated sleep apnea increases your risk for serious health conditions, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes.
Excess weight is both a risk factor and a consequence of sleep apnea. Extra tissue around the neck and airway can contribute to obstructions, while poor sleep makes it harder to maintain a healthy weight due to hunger and food cravings.
At Respacare, we customize treatment plans based on the results of sleep study testing and medical history. CPAP therapy is one of the most effective treatments for moderate to severe OSA, using positive air pressure to keep the airway open.
We customize therapy at our CPAP clinic. For patients who can’t tolerate CPAP, we also offer oral appliance therapy with Somnoguard® and neurostimulation with Inspire® therapy.
Lifestyle strategies also play an important role. Regular exercise, quitting smoking, and healthy eating benefit health and sleep. In fact, weight loss is one of the most effective and easiest ways to improve breathing for those with OSA.
In late 2024, the FDA approved Zepbound injections for the management of moderate to severe OSA. Clinical studies showed that Zepbound significantly reduced the number of apneic events per night in people with sleep apnea.
How do Zepbound injections help sleep apnea? According to the researchers, the breathing benefits are due to the effects the injection has on weight. By helping people lose excess weight, Zepbound decreases pressure on the airway and obstruction when sleeping.
While Zepbound isn’t a cure, it can be a valuable addition to the other therapies, especially for people who struggle with weight-related OSA. At Respacare, we may recommend injections alongside other therapies like CPAP or oral appliances.
Do you want to know more about how injections can help your sleep apnea? We can answer your questions. Call us today or request an appointment online.
