Most of the time, they do not see snoring as a complaint; We do not think of it as a reason for going to the doctor.
Sleep Apnea
If you snore regularly every night and you feel sleepy and tired during the day, you have “sleep apnea”. it could be. Although sleep apnea is a disease that is as common as asthma and diabetes in the society, it remained hidden because it was not diagnosed. Since doctors are inexperienced in this regard, they cannot direct their patients. Unfortunately, sleep apnea disease is also not well known among doctors since it has been defined and developed in the last 20 years.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea syndrome, inability to keep the airways open during sleep It is a disease that manifests itself as a result of obstruction. In patients with sleep apnea syndrome, relaxation in the respiratory muscles becomes more pronounced while asleep than in healthy people, and the airways cannot be kept open enough. As a result of this; breathing becomes difficult, oxygen uptake to the tissues is insufficient as a result of the decrease in the oxygen level in the blood, oxygen deficiency causes the patient to wake up, and this level returns to normal only after the patient wakes up. Fluctuations in blood oxygen levels are characteristic of the disease. This is called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in medicine.
What are the Symptoms of Sleep Apnea?
Most patients with sleep apnea syndrome snore heavily at night. Even if the patients themselves do not realize it, it is stated by their spouses that they have difficulty in breathing, stopping their breathing from time to time, and then breathing again with severe snoring. These respiratory events repeat many times during the night, but patients are not aware of this situation. These difficulties in breathing cause the patients to have sweating in their neck, head and nape and often get up at night to go to the toilet. Frequency of going to the toilet at night is one of the auxiliary factors in determining the severity of the disease.
After a bad and poor quality night's sleep, patients They wake up in the morning from an unrestful sleep and often have headaches and reflux complaints. The work performance of patients whose concentrations decrease and whose attention is impaired seriously decreases. During the day, they start to fall asleep while sitting, after a meal, at a meeting, while reading the newspaper. During various activities of people with severe sleep apnea problem; For example, they may fall asleep while waiting in the car at the traffic light, while at the wheel or while using a machine.
What are the Risk Factors of Sleep Apnea?
The most important risk factor is obesity. The risk of sleep apnea syndrome increases with the increase in body mass index and neck circumference. Disorders in the structure of the nose, throat and jaw, some endocrine disorders (hypothyroidism, acromegaly) and genetic predisposition are among other risk factors.
Recent studies have shown that snoring and sleep apnea are associated with many very important diseases. br>
- Irregular heartbeats
- Heart enlargement
- Increased risk of heart attack
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Extreme fatigue and daytime sleepiness
- Traffic accidents (drowsiness at the wheel)
- Reduction in sexual desire (impotence)
- Uncontrollable fatness
- Sweating during sleep, frequent urination
- Extreme irritability, depression, loss of vitality
- Death during sleep
Sleep How is Apnea Diagnosed?
The patient's history is taken, the airway is evaluated, and metabolic risk factors are determined. In the sleep laboratory, the patient is hospitalized for one night and examined.
Drowsiness during the day, restless sleep, insomnia and extreme tiredness The patient wakes up with a feeling of suffocation with shortness of breath (or these findings are told by the spouse) The sleep apnea test is the most important stage in the detection and treatment of the disease. The sleep apnea test called "polysomnography" is a test in which brain activity and respiratory events are recorded during the night. Respiratory disorder at night as a result of the sleep test The diagnosis of the disease is made when the scores are at a pathological level. Patients with calculated abnormal respiratory events above the acceptable value are diagnosed with “Sleep Apnea Syndrome”.
For detailed information about the sleep test, “What are the Sleep Tests?”
Is There a Treatment for Sleep Apnea? How Is It Treated?
Sleep apnea is treated definitively and effectively. The most widely used sleep apnea treatment in the world is “Continuous Positive Nasal Pressure (CPAP)” treatment. This sleep apnea device creates very sensitive positive pressure reflected through the nose with a small device placed on the bedside during sleep. The patient wears a CPAP mask while lying down, and the positive pressure from the sleep apnea device ensures that the airways and larynx are constantly open during sleep, as if an airbag has been placed, and eliminates apnea and snoring. The CPAP mask or sleep apnea mask as it is popularly known should be personalized, and the most suitable model should be selected for effective treatment.
In this treatment, no drugs are used and no surgical procedure is performed. The effects of improvement are seen immediately after treatment, the next day. Snoring stops, sleepiness improves, you feel vigorous and reborn. As a result of the disorders in the metabolism of the patients, it becomes difficult to lose weight and maintain it. Although the operations to open the airway can eliminate the respiratory irregularity to some extent, it may not always be beneficial.
Surgical treatment is recommended only in a small group of patients. Especially patients with face-jaw disorder and abnormal throat structure should be carefully selected. Because the disease may recur after a while after the operation. The disappearance of snoring after surgical interventions may not mean that the disease has passed. This treatment is to provide the airway opening that the patient cannot provide during sleep by putting a mask on the nose, by giving air at a certain pressure. In order to find the appropriate pressure in the patient deemed necessary, pressure adjustment night is hospitalized. When the pressure is adjusted and the respiratory disorder is corrected, h Asta sleeps a restful sleep. Many people are biased about using masks while sleeping. However, even after using it for one night, it becomes an indispensable device. Night sweats of the patients and getting up to the toilet are eliminated. He wakes up in the morning rested and rested. Daytime sleepiness, attention disorder, forgetfulness and depressive complaints disappear. By making it easier for patients to lose weight, success in blood pressure, sugar and hyperlipidemia treatments increases. More importantly, the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke decreases. The work performance of the patient who does not sleep during the day increases, and the risk of traffic accidents due to sudden sleep attacks that may develop during driving is lost. As the patients say, "They feel like they've been reborn." >
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