INSIDE

Health Matters

By Virginia Lester,
RN, MSN, ARNP

Zzzzz’s – Snort – Zzzzz’s
Sleep apnea, absence of spontaneous breathing, affects over 15 million people in the US. It is frequently under-diagnosed with 70 percent of practicing clinicians ignoring questions regarding sleep problems. The hallmark symptom of apnea is excessive daytime sleepiness. Other notable signs are restless sleep, loud snoring (with periods of silence as breathing stops for 15-20 seconds) followed by gasps, snort or choking, morning headaches, trouble concentrating, irritability, forgetfulness, mood or behavior changes, anxiety and depression. Most people do not know they have sleep apnea. The best source of information comes from their bed partner. Anyone who has even a few of these symptoms should report them to their clinician and an evaluation should ensue. If appropriate, a referral can be made to a sleep specialist for a formal sleep study.

Sleep deprivation is a known, often fatal, syndrome. Normal sleep patterns allow the body to recover from the stress of the day through sleep-state patterns occurring many times each night. Interruption in normal sleep patterns leads to sleep fragmentation caused by repetitive arousals with the ensuing effect of daytime sleepiness.

Daytime sleepiness is the most common presentation of sleep apnea. In 61% of affected patients, there is a coexisting medical or psychiatric disorder: High blood pressure, heart or lung disease, diabetes, arthritis, heartburn, anxiety and depression. Other factors contributing to sleep disorders and sleep apnea are overweight, decreased size of the airways in the nose, throat, and mouth, family history of apnea, large neck size and being male.

Untreated, sleep apnea can be life threatening. Excessive daytime sleepiness can cause people to fall asleep while driving, poor work performance with increased absenteeism, decreased quality of life, poor judgment and fatal accidents. The risk for strokes or mini strokes, coronary heart disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeats, heart attacks and high blood pressure are increased. When apnea occurs during sleep blood pressure can be elevated to a very high level. Health consequences of sleep apnea are still a subject for further studies. Many theories support the effect of sleep apnea as the underlying causes of chronic illness.

The diagnosis of sleep apnea is a painless procedure and most often made in a sleep center. Your brain activity, eye and muscle movement, breathing, heart rate and oxygen concentration in the lungs will be recorded during sleep. The sleep specialist evaluates the results and makes treatment recommendations on an individualized basis. Often a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) apparatus is prescribed.
Some important points to be made: Not all sleep disturbances are caused by sleep abnormalities such as sleep apnea. Not all people who snore have apnea. Not all people who are overweight have apnea; even thin people can be afflicted with the problem. Mild apnea can be caused from alcohol consumption, smoking and some sleep medications. Often weight loss – even as little as 5 percent – can improve sleep. Sleeping on one side or the other may be better tolerated than on your back. Do not hesitate to discuss any sleep concerns with your health care clinician.

Please Note:
The clinic will be closed on October 31. All staff will be attending a meeting in Bellingham. We will however, be open on Wednesday, November 1st to accommodate patients who need to be seen. Remember our normal days of operation are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Thanks for your patience.