Medical Questions » Sleep Questions » Question No. 922
| Question: | My husband snores a lot, and at times during his sleep he seems to stop breathing for ages. Is this dangerous? |
| Answer: | Sleep apnoea is a condition that affects one or two in every hundred people, and males are more commonly affected than females. ' Apnoea' means ' no breathing' , and patients with sleep apnoea stop breathing for periods from 10 to 60 seconds on many occasions during the night. There are two reasons for sleep apnoea developing.
The most common cause is due to the small muscles at the back of the throat and in the roof of the mouth relaxing completely, and allowing this tissue to become very soft and flabby. The airway tends to collapse as the patient breathes in, closing it off, and preventing breathing. Snoring is also caused in the same way. Most patients with this form of sleep apnoea are overweight, middle-aged men.
The other far less common cause is an effect in the brain, whereby the urge to breathe is suppressed during very deep sleep. Elderly men with high blood pressure most commonly fit into this category.
Patients complain of tiredness during the day, morning headaches, personality changes, poor concentration, failing memory, bed wetting and impotence. These may become bad enough to cause car accidents and job loss. The sleeping partner complains about the other person' s loud snoring, and thrashing restless sleep.
Treatment involves weight loss, and avoiding alcohol, sedatives and smoking. These steps alone may be sufficient to cure the problem. In persistent cases, surgery to clear the nasal passages and/or shorten the soft palate at the top of the mouth may be performed. This surgery performed by ear, nose and throat surgeons, is very successful in selected patients as the slack tissue that falls back to block the airway is temoved.
Other treatments include, a rather cumbersome but effective face mask and machine that supplies air at higher than notmal pressure to force open the airway. A number of other devices that can be inserted into the mouth to keep the airway open have also been devised.
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