Snoring and sleep apnea

More than half of the population snore and nearly 1 out of 4 suffer from sleep apnea.

Snoring in itself is not a sleep disorder, but very often creates many problems to those who sleep near us.

In many cases, however, snoring is a symptom of a more serious disease, the so-called OSAS (Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome), characterized by repeated episodes of upper airway occlusion during sleep: these apnea causes continuous, short, and unconscious arousals, and are associated with a dangerous reduction in oxygen concentration in the blood.

OSAS is a disease not to be underestimated: those who suffer from it have a greater risk of developing hypertension, stroke, as well as obesity and diabetes. In addition, those with this syndrome often experience a continuous sense of fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness, which causes greater risk of being involved in work and road accidents.

Despite this, also because of a great disinformation, only a little part of those who suffer from sleep apnea syndrome is in care to solve this disease. By identifying it quickly you can treat it with the right therapy, reducing the risk of related pathologies and improving your quality of life.

How do you know if you are suffering from sleep apnea?

OSAS is often very difficult to diagnose, because the patient can be asymptomatic or do not recognize the symptoms. How to do understand if you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea? First, with the help of family members, be aware of your snoring: if you are in a habitual, persistent way, and if you have respiratory breaks, you may suffer from OSAS.

In general, the most common symptoms of sleep apnea syndrome are:

Nighttime symptoms: snoring, respiratory breaks, sleep disrupted by frequent awakening, awakening with choking sensation, nicturia (need to urinate overnight) and night sweats.


Diurnal symptoms: awakening fatigue, poor concentration with memory deficiency, morning headaches, mood disorders, and excessive daytime sleepiness.

What is important to know is that only after a specific examination (polysomnography) your doctor will know if you actually suffer from nighttime apnea and establish the correct therapy to follow.

What are snoring and sleep apnea therapies?

Today, snoring and nighttime apnea therapies are extremely personalized and often multi-disciplinary.

For snoring or milder forms of OSAS, your doctor may suggest simple behavioral or positional therapy based on weight reduction and proper sleep hygiene. 

For OSAS medium-severe forms, CPAP ventilation therapy, a small ventilator that helps breathing during sleep, or the use of intraoral devices to apply at night may be needed. In other cases, the best choice is surgery, which may resolves permanently the problems.
In any case, to diagnose the disorder and identify the right therapy, always contact a physician specializing in sleep medicine.

 

Our path for snoring and sleep apnea

Sonnomedica – our sleep disorders center – is specialized in snoring and sleep apnea and allows every patient – adult or child – to be followed by a multidisciplinary team of medical specialists that act in an integrated manner, ensuring a highly customized care pathway.

In our medical center, those who suffer from snoring and sleep apnea are followed throughout the course with special diagnostic activities (also at home), the availability of all the best therapies.

If you think you may suffer from snoring or obstructive sleep apnea, we suggest sleep apnea and snoring in Sonnomedica, consisting of a specialist visit to a sleep nursing specialist who will perform upper airway fibroscopy and analyze the The results of the previous polysomnography. Based on what emerged during the specialist visit, it will be possible to establish an accurate diagnosis and, for those who want it, to set up the most suitable therapy right away.

Thanks to its multidisciplinary approach, Sonnomedica offers all the best therapies for treating obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) .
Contact us!
Ultimo aggiornamento: 24 Maggio 2017|