SNORRRRRRRRING! CAN IT BE A DISEASE POINTER?

ANSWER IN ONE LINE- SOMETIMES YES.

  • WE OURSELVES DON’T REALISE WE SNORE.
  • SNORING HISTORY IS OBTAINED FROM YOUR SLEEP PARTNER. 
  • IF YOU ARE AN OCCASIONAL SNORER, OR SNORE WITH A MILD INTENSITY, THEN THERE IS LESS LIKELIHOOD OF UNDERLYING DISEASE. 
  • SNORING ASSOCIATED WITH EXCESSIVE DAYTIME SLEEPINESS, INCREASED FREQUENCY OF URINATION AT NIGHT, NON REFRESHING SLEEP, CHOKING, WAKING UP SUDDENLY CAN HAVE AN UNDERLYING DISEASE
  • SOMEONE WHO  HAS ALL OF THE ABOVE OR ONE OF THE ABOVE COMPLAINTS SINCE SEVERAL MONTHS OR YEARS TOGETHER WILL HAVE A DISEASE. 
  • SOME ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS ARE -RECENT INCREASE IN WEIGHT,                             

               – FAT NECK, 

               – JAW MISALIGNMENT, 

               – LONG TERM HEART DISEASE, 

               – LONG TERM RESPIRATORY DISEASE,   

               – OBESITY  

                – PERSISTENT NASAL BLOCK

 

          What happens in the disease?

  • During sleep our muscles tend to get relaxed do the other structures, especially in the neck region. This tends to compress the adjacent lying airpipe. We snore when the airway gets narrowed, the volume increases slowly (ascendo pattern) when the narrowing is progressing, and at a point there is complete narrowing. when the sound stops completely and there is no air flowing across the airway which results in apnea.
  • This leads to decrease in oxygen, subsequently brain gets alarmed  and wakes you up to breathe and reopen the airway. 
  • Once you are up the neck area gets tightened again. Airpipe opens up and oxygen level comes back to normal.
  • This process keeps repeating itself throughout the sleep. Resulting in non-continuous sleep, daytime sleepiness, increased fatiguability, and the major organs like heart, brain kidney start having some problems. 

           What do we do?

  • We can reduce the weight to avoid neck compression with help of our diet and exercise.  
  • We treat our nasal blockage
  • We prevent the tongue muscle from occluding the airway by wearing an oral appliance.
  • Jaw correction by plastic surgeon if required. e.g mandibular advancement.
  • We wear nasal pillows to prevent our partner getting disturbed of the snoring noise
  • We use a positive airway pressure mask device called CPAP/BPAP.

    CPAP/BPAP DEVICE

  • There is no medicine to cure the condition. However,
    supportive medicines are there.