Posts Tagged ‘Uvula’
Sleep Apnea Surgery - Why You Ought To Consider It As The Last Option For Treating Your Sleep Apnea
Sleep Apnea surgery is often proposed as a final resort in treating people who are clinically diagnosed with this life-threatening sleep disorder which plagues many folks while asleep. This is considered an extremely dangerous disorder which causes stoppage of breathing at several times while asleep.
There are many problems that are experienced by the patient as a result of sleep apnea. The sufferer experiences excessive snoring. This can lead to loud snorting simply because of the patient’s failure to breath as a result of insufficient oxygen flow in the blood (hypoxemia) since there was blockage of oxygen while sleeping. The sufferer is continually awakening because he can’t breath. The Uvula , a projection hanging at the back of the throat, fails to open. Thus, this projection produces the obstruction. The sufferer is therefore unable to breath, stops breathing and awakens gasping for breath.
The doctor, upon review of the evaluation from sleep study, as an option to surgery, may order CPAP, a machine which provided positive air pressure that has been compressed, providing the pressure essential to let the uvula to remain open and will not block the oxygen necessary to breath while asleep. This process applied may work for a short time. However, many patients complain about the obvious CPAP side effects. The sufferer decides he doesn’t need to be constricted mainly because of the straps around his head. He gets tangled of the wires overnight. He does not desire to use a nasal canula. He might have a hypersensitive reaction to the latex from the materials within the mask.
The difficulty of restlessness while asleep remain. Sleep Apnea surgery must certainly be performed to eliminate most of this tissue at the back of the throat which is causing this blockage. With surgery as an elective, the surgeon will perform Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. In this procedure the doctor provides surgery that will repair the uvula, palate, and throat. Excess tissue from this area is removed to eliminate blockage. Due to this tissue being removed, there is certainly no more constriction, and also the patient can breath because the opening has been produced to give the space necessary for oxygen to circulate. The sufferer is likely to sleep. There are no machines, no noise, no constriction towards the head. Just sleep.
Sleep Apnea surgery is definitely the final elective to the other alternative methods to get the sleep essential to maintain health. It is actually a condition that will tax the heart as well as raise blood pressure. Treatment modalities may include:
- Prescriptions for antidepressant
- A regiment to lose excess weight
- Tracheotomy
No matter what the modality, the necessity for Sleep Apnea surgery becomes a necessity. Nasal passage must be opened that individuals may breath.
If you are a sleep apnea patient and would like more information on treatment options for sleep apnea, then you must read the write-ups on this SleepApnea101.net website.
Snoring: Why Do We Snore?
Most of us snore at one or another, if not all the time. Some snore loudly, some just purr. Surveys have produced different results, but it is probable that about half of us over the age of 30 snore. The probability of snoring increases with age and obesity and about 60% of men and 40% of women do it regularly, even more do it infrequently.
Snoring is caused when there is an obstruction to the free flow of air in the back of the throat and or nose. This area is ‘collapsible’, so the noise is usually produced by the flapping of the uvula against the soft (upper) palate. Therefore, weak throat muscles or a ‘fat neck’ can aggravate the condition. Consumption of alcohol in the late evening increases the chances of snoring because it relaxes the throat muscles and sleeping on one’s back allows the tongue to slip back and partially block the airway. Also, not everyone is built to exactly the same proportions - some have a longer, narrower palate, which is more collapsible and others have a longer uvula, which is more flappable.
Acupuncture
Some say wearing a ring on one of the little fingers helps because it puts pressure on a relevant acupuncture point. Others put a tennis ball in a sock and sew the sock to the back of their pyjamas. One doctor even suggested that playing the didgeridoo could cure snoring by tightening up and toning the throat muscles.
Consume Less Alcohol
Drinking less the evening, losing weight and sleeping on your side are the best ‘home’ remedies. However, there are also surgical appliances on the market and surgery is available too. The appliances vary, but they range from adhesive strips to hold the nostrils open to ‘mandibular advancement splints’, which, worn in the mouth, ’set the jaws to their optimum position’ [!].
The Social, Psychological, Physical and Medical Problems Cause By Snoring
Snoring can cause serious social, psychological, physical and medical problems and should not be taken too lightly. Socially, families may suffer from having a heavy snorer in the household. Friends and colleagues may not invite a heavy snorer to ’sleep over’ or go on holiday or on business trips together. Psychologically, a snorer may feel ostracised, embarrassed or even victimized for something that is really totally beyond his or her control. Physically, snorers suffer from lack of sleep and all that that entails; for example, daytime drowsiness and the inability to concentrate for log periods of time, which in turn can cause problems at work and in the car - a high proportion of road accidents is caused by the driver dozing at the wheel. Medically, a recent Australian survey reported that, after treatment, heavy snorers were 64% less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, because heavy snoring, which can also be sleep apnoea, puts extra stress on the heart. Obstructive apnoea is the condition where a snorer stops breathing due to complete obstruction of the airway for up to ten seconds seven times an hour while sleeping. This can happen between 30 and 300 times a night. After years of apnoea, hypertension and an enlarged heart may result.
Light snoring is not really serious but even that means obstructed breathing, which is not a good thing. Heavy snoring can be a sign of a problem or a warning of problems to come. A doctor can help; snoring is neither funny nor hopeless.
By: Michael Russell
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