Sleep apnea is a disease that all Ear, Nose and Throat physicians have been focusing on since 1985.
Any obstacle that blocks the respiratory tract from the tip of the nose to the vocal cords can cause respiratory arrest during sleep. and causes snoring.
Let me point out here that not every patient who snores has sleep apnea, but every patient with sleep apnea snores.
Apnea is normal when the breathing air entering through the mouth and nose stops for 10 seconds. Having more than 5 apnea attacks during a night's sleep is called sleep apnea disease.
The back of the tongue and the area where the soft palate and uvula meet with the nasal cavity is an area that can narrow spontaneously. When these structural stenoses overlap each other, they vibrate with breathing and snoring occurs. Complaints in children include; adenoids and enlarged tonsils.
In adults; It is caused by the weakening, decreased tension and relaxation of the soft palate muscles.
There are three types of the disease: Central (Cerebral cause), obstructive (Nose, nasal, intraoral, throat cause) and mixed (Central and obstructive cause mixed). There is.
What we will focus on is Obstructive sleep apnea disease (sleep apnea).
The disease causes from light snoring to heart and lung diseases, and even death due to respiratory arrest while sleeping in bed.
At least 45% of adults snore from time to time. This complaint is persistent in 25% of cases. Snoring problems usually occur in adults who have recently gained weight and increase with age. It can pose a serious problem that affects family life. If you are a person who snores and stops breathing for minutes during your sleep, you are used to being warned by your partner to wake you up at night and change the way you sleep. A person who snores becomes a laughing stock. Other members of the family are held responsible for their sleepless nights. A snorer becomes an unwanted roommate on holidays and business trips. The harm that stopping breathing during sleep causes to a person is great. There are nights spent without rest. High blood pressure is more common in people who snore excessively than in people who do not snore. your snoring The most severe form of snoring is the "obstructive type" snoring disease.
The oxygen level in the blood of these patients decreases excessively during their sleep due to their shortness of breath. During this period when oxygen decreases, the heart is forced to pump more blood. After a while, the heart rhythm deteriorates, and over the years, high blood pressure, heart enlargement and lung problems occur. People with obstructive snoring disease can go into the deep sleep phase in a very small part of their sleep. They can never sleep comfortably and deeply. They frequently turn over in their beds at night and urinate frequently, thus making the day spent sleepy, tired, tense and unproductive after a night spent without rest. Because of sleeplessness at night, they will fall asleep while sitting or doing work during the day, and young children will fail in their classes and be irritable. Most importantly, according to the characteristics of the workplaces they work in and their living conditions; Accidents and deaths will occur in those who live alone, drive a car, and work in the industry due to lack of attention and concentration.
Suggestions for people who snore are generally as follows;
Losing weight under the supervision of a physician
Increasing muscle tone Doing sports to increase sleep.
Sleeping pills, sedatives and allergy medications called antihistamines should not be taken before sleep.
One should not drink alcohol 4 hours before sleep, or even any alcohol at all.
Heavy meals should be avoided 3 hours before sleep.
/> Excessive fatigue should be avoided.
Lying on the side while sleeping should be preferred.
Elevating the head of the entire bed so that the person lies with his/her head upside down.
Waiting for the people at home who do not snore to fall asleep before you, so that they can fall asleep before you. Give it time.
The definitive diagnosis and type determination of the disease is made in sleep laboratories by polysomnography examination.
In polysomnography, the person with the disease is put to sleep for one night in a specially prepared quiet room in the sleep laboratory. The recordings obtained from the electrodes placed on the body are evaluated. Thus, the number of sleep apnea obtained during a normal night's sleep is;
0 to 5 is considered mild
5 to 15 is moderate
15 to 25 and above is considered severe sleep apnea.
This is to the day Hundreds of companies have developed devices against sleeplessness and snoring. Some have suggested that patients stick a tennis ball to their pajamas to prevent them from sleeping on their back (snoring increases when lying on your back). Some have suggested chin straps, neck braces, cervical collars, and intraoral devices, but to no avail. Electronic devices have been found that work with the sound of snoring and wake the patient up. All of these are considered as the patient's practice of sleeping without snoring. However, unfortunately, snoring is a problem that is not under the control of the person and all these devices are only intended to keep the patient from sleeping. Today, in appropriate cases, devices called SPAP or BIPAP, which are used in line with the information obtained as a result of polysomnographic examination and give positive air pressure by attaching to the outside of the nose with a mask, are successful.
In surgical treatment, as we mentioned above, the anatomical structures that cause blockage (in the nasal, oral and throat sections) from the tip of the nose to the vocal cords are cleaned.
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