HEALTHLINE
Sleep of Death
Zzzzz. He snores softly. He smiles and whispers your name. You’re so sure that he savors your sweet love in his dreams. And as he wakes up feeling refreshed, he stretches and then kisses your cheek. Then he thanks the Lord for a wonderful sleep.
FAST FORWARD
But that was 20 years (and kilograms) ago. Now hear this: “Shngorrk… Ngorkkk… gooorrkkk!!” Sometimes you wish thunder would roar to mask his deafening snore! Ever heard of wailing pig being slaughtered? Relief is felt when silence starts as the poor pig is killed.
Deadly Silence
Beware: loud snorers! When silence starts, God forbid, breathing could have been permanently stopped! People actually die in their sleep. Ever heard of “bangungot”? Of known celebrities and friends discovered dead on their bed? Explosive snoring is as treacherous as it makes a snorer dead.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
This is common among middle-aged and overweight men. It is destructive when a person stops breathing even for at least 10 seconds because of an airway obstruction during sleep. Apnea pauses, scatters between loud snores and occurs from a dozen to a hundred times per night. During breath stoppage episodes (that may last up to more than 60 seconds) blood oxygen drops to dangerous levels. This causes the heart to beat irregularly and, in worst cases, stop.
High Blood Pressure, Etc.
One’s blood pressure shoots up when the heart struggles during breathlessness. Sleep apnea is also linked to Metabolic Syndrome (diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, and cholesterol problems) due to an increase in the body’s bad chemicals caused by low oxygen supply. Snoring children are not spared (Down’s syndrome included), leading to growth failure.
Daytime Sleepiness
A person wakes up feeling tired and with a headache. Memory suffers. At work, sleep apneic individuals always feel sleepy and sluggish. And at the end of the day, they feel “low-batt” and need recharging. Prolonged sitting (travels and boring meetings) produces uncontrolled sleepiness. Work related accidents (vehicular too) could be dangerous. Personality changes are common (irritability, overeating, depression) plus, more sadly, erectile dysfunction.
Sleepless, Breathless, Restless
How could they soundly sleep when, as they go deep, the mind commands them to panic? Being breathless for ten seconds makes the mind and heart suffer the pain. Patients regularly snort and gasp as they try to breathe “again”.
Obstruction: Where? How? Why?
Upper airways (nose, tonsils, uvula, tongue, palate, soft structures surrounding the throat) are affected. Muscles surrounding the back of the tongue collapse during sleep. The surrounding structures “touch” each other resulting to a small air opening. It gets worse when these structures expand courtesy because of the added fats (in obese individuals). Allergy of the nose and nearby areas down under can cause an obstruction, more so with big tonsils and nasal septal deviation.
What To Do?
By all means, lose some weight! No smoking. No alcohol before bedtime (avoid sedatives too) for they worsen the Apneic spells. Avoid lying at your back (upper roof of throat collapses); airways open somehow while lying at your side. Put a tennis ball inside a sock: sleeping in your sides will put breathing to the max when you pin the ball at your pajama’s back!
Sleep And We’ll Do The Rest
Sleep laboratories doing polysomnography confirm the diagnosis. Monitors are attached to the patient for respiratory efforts and flow studies, pulse oximetry, electrooculography, ECG, EEG, EMG. You are watched overnight as you sleep because your sleep pattern and breathless cycles are studied.
Cpap – Not A Dance Step
This is a portable machine that “blows” air regularly to a sleep-apneic patient. Once sleep apnea is confirmed, the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine is attached while the patient sleeps with the same monitoring parameters.
Time Bomb Ticking
We’ll never know when stroke or heart attack strikes. It could be biblical like “A thief in the night”! So if you are obese, with 17 inches (16 for women) of neck diameter, with big tongue, or small jaw, and snore like thunder, consult your doctor now.
And Sleep test I did! I looked like an astronaut as I donned the wirings in the sleep lab in Manila. I was positive! The longest time that I stopped breathing was 69 (of all numbers) seconds. My lowest oxygen saturation was 67 percent (normally: above 90%).
Thank God I’m Back!
With my CPAP around I sleep like I never did before. I now have lots of sweet dreams. My memory improved. My blood pressure normalized. I now manage my midlife crisis well (and Denise loves it). My energy improved tenfold! Before, I can only manage one round in one setting. Now, I can easily make five! Five hospital rounds of course! You… you!!
(Our writer is a member of the The Kapisanan ng Mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas. You can catch Dr. Yap every Sunday morning at Bombo Good Morning Philippines 900 MHz, and Fridays at “Health Line” Wesfardell Budyong Kapihan TV Show simulcast with dyjj with Rexam Laguda. Saturdays at Pulso sang Banwa with Glenn Beup channel 5 Alto Cable 8 am. DYWB Bacolod “Hutik sa Kab-ihon” 9:30 pm. Dr. Yap’s book “Joyful Life…& Sex? GO TO HEALTH!” is now available in all National Book Stores outlets nationwide.)
