Sleep Laboratory
The most common sleep problem causing patients to consult a doctor is insomnia.However snoring and suspension of breathing during sleep, defined as "obstructive sleep apnea syndrome", is considered more important by scientists because it has serious consequences which may lead to death. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is an unignorable disease which impaires the life quality of the patient as well as the partner. It also threatens human life because of the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications. Sleep is an active process in which we spend about one-third of our lifetime, we physically rested and our brain functions are regulated. Sleep duration varies from person to person, but it is considered necessary for a period of at least 6 hours to be effective.
What are the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome?
In people with obstructive sleep apnea snoring is 3-4 times more than normal and it is very rough and noisy. The sleep of these patients interrupted by suspension of breathing. In addition to snoring there are other signs such as difficulty in breathing, sighs, waking up shaking uncontrollably in the night, frequent and prolonged respiratory stops, and waking up tired in the mornings. fragmented sleep and forgetfulness overnight fall asleep oxygen results in poor sleep and concentration impairment.
Among the symptoms of this disease there are to wake up with headaches and tired in the morning, unwillingness to wake up, forgetfulness, impaired concentration, personality change, social and sexual life problems.
Treatment method
The diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is made after clinical suspicions by a "sleep test" in which the electrical activity of the brain and respiratory events are recorded throughout the night which is called "polysomnography". In mild cases, treatments such as weight loss, relief from the obstructive anatomical obstructions of the upper airway (ENT operations), and intraoral devices are recommended. The treatment of severe cases is performed with a device called CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) which provides upper airway patency.
The quality of sleep returns to normal after treatment; snoring, breathing suspensions, daytime sleepiness disaapear. People soon returns to their normal life again.
If not treated…
If not treated; it can cause enlarged heart, arrhythmia, hypertension, work accidents, loss of sexual desire and death during sleep. There was found hypertension in 30-50% of the the patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and in 20% of the patients with hypertension of unknown origin there was seen obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome increases the risk of traffic accidents by 7-8 times, causes job accidents and it is seen with a frequency of 1-4% depending on societies. If we see that the incidence of diabetes is 3% and the incidence of asthma is about %5 we can better understand the problem that we are dealing with.