Snoring and sleep apnea are two different diseases that have similar aspects. These two diseases concern more than 20% of the society, including children.
Snoring is mostly a social problem. It concerns people who stay in the same room with the patient. Sleep apnea is a disease and therefore needs to be treated. It has now been proven that patients who snore are candidates for sleep apnea in the future. For this reason, the treatment-or-nothing approach is not the right approach for patients who only snore.
Snoring is the sound produced due to the vibration of the soft palate while sleeping. Sleep apnea is the cessation of breathing during sleep for at least 10 seconds. Sleep apnea causes a decrease in the oxygen level in the blood in the short term, an increase in the heart rate, which causes us to wake up at night in a panic with a feeling of suffocation, headaches in the morning, muscle and joint pain, dryness in the throat, feeling of obsession and tingling, feeling like we are not getting enough sleep and dozing off during the day. It causes concentration disorders.
In the long term, it can cause sleep apnea, hypertension, heart enlargement, heart failure and even sudden death during sleep. In short, it is not a disease to be ignored.
Many reasons such as diseases related to the nose, the structure of the soft palate and tonsils, the growth of the tongue root, neck and jaw structure, weight gain, advanced age and genetic factors cause snoring and sleep apnea.
In the treatment of both snoring and sleep apnea, lifestyle changes are primarily recommended to the patient. Factors such as losing weight, exercising regularly, correcting factors such as our sleeping position and bedtimes, which we call sleep hygiene, and reconsidering smoking, alcohol and drug habits are evaluated.
If lifestyle changes are not sufficient in the treatment of snoring, depending on the location of the obstruction. Surgical treatments are recommended. In sleep apnea, lifestyle changes are supportive treatment, not the main treatment. The main treatment for sleep apnea is nasal masks called CPAP.
One of the surgical methods applied in the treatment of snoring and sleep apnea is the "Barbed stitch anterior palatoplasty" surgery.
After the surgery, a feeling of stuckness in the throat, fluid from the nose. Side effects such as coming It lasts between 1 and 3 months.
The surgery should be performed by an Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases specialist who is familiar with the anatomy and physiology of the oral and throat region.
“Barbed stitch anterior palatoplasty” can be applied to sleep apnea patients and snoring patients who have problems in the soft palate area and cannot use CPAP.
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