Are you suffocating to death, night after night, slowly and by degrees until a catastrophe occurs?  Meanwhile, are you always tired, drowsy, and maybe even depressed as a result?

    You may be a victim of one of the most common undiagnosed serious medical conditions in America today: Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  If this sounds like just another Madison Avenue advertisement for a medicine, herb, or gismo, read on anyway - and definitely look it up.

    One of the hallmarks of this condition is snoring. But, it may be present even without snoring.  Obstructive Sleep Apnea is actual suffocation, as measured by an overnight Sleep Study in a Sleep Lab.  Tissues around the upper airways collapse, blood O2 declines markedly, the individual stops breathing for long periods while asleep  (e.g., 30-60 seconds), many times during the night.  The results include poorly controlled high blood pressure, heart rhythm problems  (sometimes fatal), strokes, and excessive nighttime urination, in addition to drowsy days and fitful nights, poor quality of life, and a marked increase in automobile accidents.

    Diagnosis requires suspicion.  Answer these  "Questions to Identify Sleep Apnea Syndrome."  Discuss your answers with your physician.  If your answers are suggestive, arrange for an overnight Sleep Study at a certified Sleep Laboratory.  This is the gold standard for diagnosing this problem.

    The good news is that obstructive sleep apnea can be very effectively and generally very easily Treated.  The gold standard for treatment is C.P.A.P.  (“Continuous Positive Airway pressure”), which requires sleeping with a mask or mechanism that pumps room air at an appropriate pressure through the nose to keep the airway open.  Sound terrible?  It’s easy - and it works.  What may also work in milder cases is a tennis ball stitched onto the back of a pajama top to keep the sleeper of f his or her back.  What will not work in most cases is surgery, which is best avoided.

    So, complete the questionnaire (link above) and discuss the results with your doctor.  This could be one of the most important medical self-help efforts you will ever accomplish.

See also the article, "Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders: Current Treatment Options" at the Clinical Pulmonary Medicine web site.

GS