Sleep Apnea
SLEEP APNEA AND SNORING
Breathing-related sleep disorders are a major cause of health, safety, and quality of life problems in our country. Not only can snoring and sleep apnea cause difficulty sleeping for those who suffer from them, they can also lead to serious medical complications, including high blood pressure, diabetes, or even stroke. They also lead to daytime drowsiness that can cause a major loss of work-related productivity, impaired driving, and a drastic decrease in your enjoyment of life and sense of well being. Sleep-related problems are also a major cause of learning and behavioral difficulties in children.
Symptoms
Snoring is a noise that you may make while breathing during sleep. Snoring can be soft, loud, raspy, harsh, hoarse, or fluttering. Your bed partner may notice that you sleep with your mouth open and that you are restless while sleeping. If snoring interferes with your or your bed partner’s sleep, either or both of you may feel tired during the day. If you temporarily stop breathing during the night, you may have sleep apnea a serious condition. Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Moreover, untreated sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment and motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated. Several treatment options exist, and research into additional options continues.
Cause
Snoring and Sleep Apnea may be caused by:
- Enlarged tissues in the nose, mouth, or throat. Enlarged tonsils are a frequent cause of snoring in children.
- Blocked nasal passages, which make it more difficult to inhale. This affects the tissue of the throat, which may pull together during the extra effort it takes to breathe, which in turn narrows the airway. A blocked nasal passage can be caused by an upper respiratory infection (such as a cold), an allergy, or nasal polyps.
- A deviated nasal septum , which disturbs airflow in the nose.
- Loss of muscle tone in the throat, which makes it easier for tissue to collapse. This can be due to aging or lack of fitness.
Other things that may contribute to snoring and sleep apnea include:
- Drinking alcohol, which depresses the part of the brain that regulates breathing. This can overly relax the tongue and throat muscles, causing them to partially block air movement.
- Obesity. Fat in the throat may narrow the airway.
- Medicines that relax you or make you drowsy, such as those taken for allergies, depression, or anxiety.
Treatment Options
The first treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) consists of making lifestyle changes. Your sleep apnea may be helped if you:
- Lose weight (if needed), weight loss should be part of managing sleep apnea.
- Wake up at the same time every morning.
- Sleep on your side. Sleeping on your side may eliminate mild sleep apnea.
- Avoid the use of alcohol and some medicines, especially sleeping pills and sedatives, before bed.
- Quit smoking. The nicotine in tobacco relaxes the muscles that keep the airways open. If you don’t smoke, those muscles are less likely to collapse at night and narrow the airways.
- Raise the head of your bed 4in. to 6in. by putting bricks under the legs of the bed. You can also use a special pillow (called a cervical pillow) when you sleep. A cervical pillow can help your head stay in a position that reduces sleep apnea. Using regular pillows to raise your head and upper body will not work.
- Promptly treat breathing problems, such as a stuffy nose caused by a cold or allergies.
Surgery Choices
- Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty removes excess tissue in the throat to make the airway wider. It is the most common surgery to treat sleep apnea in adults.
- Tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy removes the tonsils and/or the adenoids. It is an option if you have enlarged tonsils and adenoids that are blocking your airway during sleep. This is often the first treatment option for children because enlarged tonsils and adenoids are usually the cause of their sleep apnea.
- Other surgical procedures are used to repair bone and tissue problems in the mouth and throat.
Surgery for children
Tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy usually is the first choice for children, because enlarged tonsils or adenoids cause most cases of sleep apnea in children.
Post-Op Information
You may feel temporarily drowsy and nauseated from the anesthesia. Medication is available for nausea. You may experience some vomiting due to swallowing blood during the surgery. It should subside without difficulty.
Expect some throat and ear discomfort. Take medication prescribed by your physician for pain. Pain can also be relieved by gargaling every 2 hours while awake for the first several days with lukewarm salt water (1 tablespoon of table salt in 1 quart of water). Use ice packson your throat, if possible, during the first 24 hours. Antibiotics may be prescribed and in addition to limiting infection infection they also help lessen pain. If pain is not relieved, contact your physician.
Fever greater than 101 degrees orally (or 102 rectally) can usually be lowered with plain Tylenol or Advil. Do not use Aspirin/ Some fever is to be expected. Should the fever persist, call the office.
Watch for postoperative bleeding. You may have a very small amount of dark red blood. A little bleeding the day of surgery is normal.
Hacking, coughing or clearing one’s throat should be avoided. Coughing can be suppressed with medication.
A follow up should always be arranged after surgery.
As you can see, a sleep-related disorder isn’t something to be taken lightly. You, or someone you know may be suffering from one right now. The physicians at our Sleep And Snoring Center are here to help you! We have vast, proven experience in the diagnosis and effective treatment of all types of sleep disorders. We offer diagnostic options designed to best suit your needs, including at-home sleep monitoring, and formal sleep laboratory studies.
Once we have a diagnosis, we will work with you to decide on a course of treatment that best suits your needs, whether it be medical management or surgical intervention.
If you suffer from a sleep-related disorder, we urge you to allow or highly qualified team of sleep specialists to help you sleep better, and improve your health and quality of life.
