Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder where one stops breathing continuously for 10 seconds or more during sleep. It can be cause by many factors. Generally, it is categorized into the following two according to the cause:
a.) Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Caused by blockage/occlusion in the upper airway. Mostly due to structural problem (i.e. big tonsils, weak muscle tone, etc.)
b.) Central Sleep Apnea
- Mostly linked with neurological disorder. Means the body actually doesn't receive signal from the brain to breath. It 'forgets' to breath during sleep.
I've read an article that says that there is a new category of Sleep Apnea called the "Mixed Sleep Apnea" which, as the name would have suggested, is actually caused by a mixture of the abovementioned two category. Normally the person will have a blockage in the airway and then the brain will 'forget' to send out signal for the body to breath.
Do you know what is really happening when you snores?
The sound of snoring is actually caused by vibration of the muscles. It can be muscles in our nose or our throat. Snoring is not just some noise that you make to annoy people or to make people laugh. It is actually an indication that you might have some serious health problem.
Normally when we are in our deep sleep (when we are dreaming), our body are paralysed. We will not be able to move our muscle during this stage of sleep (otherwise we will all be sleep-walking!). So what happens is our muscle will relax and if those muscle in our nose/throat are too heavy or big, it will collapse and block the airway.
Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) is a term used to describe those who have partial blockage in their upper airway. The partial blockage prevents smooth airflow and reduce the amount of air that is breath into the lungs. As a result, the person will have a drop in their blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2).
Sometimes, an arousal will occur. Arousal is an event where the brain sends signals to the body so that it will wake up from its paralysed stage. Although the person is still unconscious at this stage, the muscle is actually working hard (i.e holding up the airway to let air pass through). After the oxygen level is back to normal, the body start to fall asleep again. The cycle will repeat until the person is awake from sleep, often feeling very tired.
The fluctuation of our blood oxygen saturation level have a bad effect on our body, our heart in particular. Just imagine this, the oxygen in your blood drop, your heart will have to pump harder so that more blood can run in the circulation to ensure that enough oxygen is sent to the body system. Then when your oxygen level goes back to normal, the heart goes back to normal pace. But then, in as short as a few seconds, your oxygen level drops again, and the heart have to work hard again.
This is a tough job for a healthy heart, not to mention if you already have a heart condition!
The number one killer in Malaysia is Cardiovascular diseases. I wonder if this is an underlying contributing factor.
A) Disclaimer
Sleep Apnea Club ("The Club") is an independent online community started by a group of people with the aim to increase awareness of Sleep Apnea in Malaysia. The group consists of sleep apnea sufferers, individuals with experience in sleep study, and will grow to include people from the health care industry.
The administrator would like to advice that, although highest level of effort has been committed to ensure that information posted on The Club are as accurate as possible, users should seek consultation from their health care provider or physician before making any decision to undergo any treatment option provided.
Some of the articles posted in The Club might be copyright protected. If you wish to put them somewhere else (for example, your own website). To avoid misunderstanding that might lead to legal issues, please email the moderator for permission to use.
Comments on articles can be made by anyone from the public. However, the administrator reserve the right to remove any comments with foul or offensive language, or those that they think are not suitable for viewers of this website.
Registration is needed to participate in discussion in the forums. The administrator reserves the right to restrict the access of those they think violated the rules and regulations of the forums.
The administrator, and The Club shall not be held responsible for any loss of health or life of any viewers as they have been reminded to seek professional advice before undergoing any surgical or non-surgical treatment option.
For questions, inquiries and comments on The Club, please do not hesitate to forward them to sleepapneaclub@gmail.com.
THIS IS NOT A MEDICAL WEBSITE. IT IS A CLUB FOR PATIENTS TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. INFORMATION IN THIS WEBSITE IS FOR INCREASING AWARENESS AND SHALL NOT BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.
I've also set up an Online Forum for the Sleep Apnea Club.
Click on this link to Enter the forum:
http://www.absoluterage.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=34
Click on this link to Register at the forum:
http://www.absoluterage.com/forum/profile.php?mode=register
You're most welcome to come in and talk about anything at the forum.
There are quite a few options out there to treat Sleep Apnea, depending on what is the real cause.
One of the most popular option is CPAP (pronounced see-PAP) treatment. CPAP is an acronym for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. It is widely used for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. It involves the use of a Flow Generator, together with a face mask, that delivers room air with regulated positive pressure into the airway to hold up the muscle and prevent them from collapsing and disturb the normal airflow.
Some people might be suitable to undergo surgery which removes part of their structure in the airway that causes obstruction. For example, tonsil removal is quite common for patient with large tonsils that impedes breathing.
Recently, the "Pillar implant" treatment option is introduced to the Malaysian Sleep Apnea poplation. It involves the implant of several pillars that are less than one inch long into the soft palate to restore or stiffen the palate so that it would not collapse and block the throat while sleep.
There are also mouth guard that is created by dentists to help snoring problems.
Treatment that works on your friend will not necessarily work on you. Treating Sleep Apnea requires the understanding of one's daytime symptom and severity of the apnea. Some people can be helped by weight lost or changing of sleeping posture, or even a changes in diet can significantly lower the occurance of apnea.
Read more about each treatment. Related articles can be found under the "Treatment Options" category.
Sleep study is often ordered when your doctor / physician suspect that you have sleep apnea. You can find more about sleep study in this category. Articles in the "Sleep Study" category will explain to you the procedures of the study, what to expect, how to prepare yourself for the study and etc.
Generally, sleep study is done by PolySomnoGraphy (or PSG). It is a multi-parametic study which involve the recording of several body functions. Some or all of the following might be recorded during a PSG session:
a.) Brain wave - EEG (ElectroEncephaloGram)
b.) Muscle activity - EMG (ElectroMyoGram)
c.) Eye Movement - EOG (ElectroOculoGram)
d.) Heart rhythm - ECG (ElectroCardioGram)
e.) Airflow - Nasal and oral (nasal cannula and oral thermistor)
f.) Blood Oxygen Level - SpO2 (Pulse Oximetry)
g.) Snoring - Nasal Cannula / Vibration sensor
Recording from the above will generate the following data, which enables your doctor / physician to assess the quality of your sleep, and whether or not you suffer from sleep apnea.
a.) Sleep Stage (Stage 1 - 4; REM; Wakeful...)
b.) Flow Limitation
c.) Apnea / Hypopnea Index
d.) Oxygen Desaturation Events
e.) Snoring events
f.) Heart Rate
g.) Arousals
PSG study is often done in hospital setting. However, a partial PSG which monitors less parameters is also a popular choice for those who are very busy or feel uncomfortable to sleep overnight in hospital. Partial PSG only monitors the few parameters such as snoring, flow limitation, blood oxygen level, heart rate, and etc.
Read more about Sleep Study. Related articles can be found under the
"Sleep Study" category.
American Sleep Apnea Association (ASSA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing injury, disability, and death from sleep apnea and to enhancing the well-being of those affected by this common disorder.
There are a lot of useful information regarding Sleep Apnea. They also have a support group called A.W.A.K.E and they have establishments in different states in the US.
The forum session may be helpful to some of you, although viewers have to keep in mind that the health system in US is different from Malaysia and some of the information are not applicable to us.
Please feel free to visit our own forum and discuss about issues that concerns you. All you have to do is spend less than one minute to register and its free.
Click on the blue words to access to the link. If there are any websites that you would like to introduce to other fellow viewers, please post it in the forum or email it to the administrator.
The Epworth Sleepiness Scale was developed by Dr. Murray Johns of the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. It is a scale widely use by many sleep clinics worldwide to assess the daytime sleepiness of a patient.
A score that is higher than 9 suggest that the person is not getting enough sleep, indicating that he/she might have some form of sleeping disorder. Try this and if you get a high score, you should check with your doctor if you have any sleeping problem.
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EPWORTH SLEEPINESS SCALE (ESS)
How likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times. Even if you have not done some of these things recently try to work out how they would have affected you.
Use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation:
- 0 = no chance of dozing
- 1 = slight chance of dozing
- 2 = moderate chance of dozing
- 3 = high chance of dozing
| Situation | Chance Of Dozing |
|---|---|
| Sitting and reading | |
| Watching TV | |
| Sitting inactive in a public place (e.g a theater or a meeting) | |
| As a passenger in a car for an hour without a break | |
| Lying down to rest in the afternoon when circumstances permit | |
| Sitting and talking to someone | |
| Sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol | |
| In a car, while stopped for a few minutes in traffic |
To check your sleepiness score, total the points:
- 1 - 6: Congratulations, you are getting enough sleep!
- 7 - 8: Your score is average
- 9 and up: Seek the advice of a sleep specialist without delay
I’ve work out a list of hospital and medical centers that are providing sleep study service. This is not a full list and if anyone knows of any centers that do sleep study, please leave a comment and I’ll update the list.
Call up the individual hospital for further information on their service and pricing.
A) Private Hospitals / Medical Centers
- Damansara Specialist, Damansara
- Tawakal Hospital, K.L.
- Arunamari Specialist, Klang
- Selangor Medical Center, Shah Alam
- Damai Heart and Medical Clinic, Melaka
- Adventis Hospital, Penang
- Klinik Medijaya, Kelana Jaya
- Kelana Jaya Medical Centre, Kelana Jaya
- Sabah Medical Centre, Kota Kinabalu
- Island Hospital, Penang
- Assunta Hospital, Petaling Jaya
B) Government Hospitals
- Institut Perubatan Respiratori, K.L
- Hospital UKM, Cheras
- Hospital Queen Elizabeth, Kota Kinabalu
- Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya / Universiti Hospital, Petaling Jaya
- Hospital Sungai Buloh, Sungai Buloh
C) Private Sleep Laboratories
- Not available
Well, if you do think snoring is funny, its time to start worrying. Snoring is a symptom of a disorder named Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Whats that you say? Never heard of this in your life? Well its time we start being aware. Here's a tip on how popular is sleep apnea. Try Google and you'll get 7,250,000 results for the search "sleep apnea", and the number is growing.
"Apnea" means "without breath" in Greek. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (also known as OSA) is a sleeping disorder where one stop breathing for more than 10 seconds during their sleep. Sometimes the apnea might last as long as a minute and could happen more than a hundred times throughout a night. It is caused by either partial or complete obstruction of the airway.
Sleep apnea affects about 20% of the US adult population and that would be about 18 million Americans. Although sleep apnea is as prevalent as diabetes or asthma in Malaysia the shocking truth is that only a few thousand people are aware that they have this problem. Many didn't even know what sleep apnea is!
Sleep apnea could eventually lead to various cardiovascular and heart diseases, stroke, hypertension, and much more. As you can see these are diseases that you should be worried about.
If you (or your family) have any of the following symptoms, please read on for further information or visit your doctor for advice.
- Always sleepy during daytime
- Did not feel refreshed even after a long night sleep
- Loud snoring
- Poor short term memory
- Wake up with headache or a dry throat
- Frequent wake up in the night
Well, as a health-conscious youth, I believe it is time for you to read on and test your "Risk index" for sleep apnea.
