Imagine waking up each morning feeling exhausted rather than refreshed, imagine going to bed every night knowing you are not going to actually get any sleep. Patients with sleep apnoea have to deal with these problems and more every day of their lives. Sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder in which patients experience difficulty in breathing during sleep. There are abnormal pauses in their breathing patterns and the oxygen that reaches the brain is very less compared to that of a normal person. T V Jairaj, a photographer by profession, suffered from the disorder. “During the nights I couldn’t sleep and I would feel like I was choking or rather, somebody was strangling me. When I woke up in the mornings, I would be irritated, angry and even upset. It was beginning to affect my social, personal and professional life. I would perspire throughout the night and getting good sleep was out of the question,” says Jairaj. He began to get worried and consulted a family doctor, Dr K Jayan. “He asked me to visit Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and get a thorough diagnosis done because sleep disorders are slowly becoming very common today. Males that are above 45, are alcoholics or smokers and are obese are at a higher risk. “Sleep apnoea is a relatively common problem but is definitely under-diagnosed. We get around 20 patients a month suffering from sleep apnoea alone,” says Dr Suresh Kumar, the doctor at the sleep clinic at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences.At Amrita, a patient suffering from any kind of sleep disorder is asked to spend a night in the hospital. They have to sleep in an AC room rigged with video cameras. The camera would then record every movement. This clip is then watched by doctors and the disorder is diagnosed after some amount of study. Patients suffering from sleep apnoea snore abnormally loud, shift their head continuously and sometimes even snort or groan in their sleep. Jairaj had almost all the symptoms and was diagnosed with sleep apnoea. “They gave me a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Pump (CPAP) that I was to fix to my mouth. This pump helped me breathe easier. “The CPAP machine will help prevent the blockage of oxygen. The pressure that is produced by the pump will force more space for the air to travel and eventually the patient can breathe normally during sleep,” says Dr Suresh. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OCA) is the most common type and it not only causes emotional upheaval but also affects your health. “If not diagnosed at the right time the disorder may cause major complications. The patients can even have a stroke or a cardiac arrest,” says Dr Suresh. “The major symptoms are chronic headaches, a constant need to urinate in the middle of the night, daytime tiredness, laziness and inability to perform or concentrate. Those with hypertension or diabetes are definitely at a higher risk.”Obesity is one of the major causes. “Other than the CPAP machines, there is also the option of throat surgery, where the surgeon tries to make more space inside the throat so that there is enough space for the oxygen to pass. “Bariatric surgery is another option especially for the obese, where the capacity for food intake is diminished and the patient loses up to 30 kg.” “I recommend that any person having at least two of the symptoms should consult a physician first and then visit a sleep clinic,” says Dr Suresh. “Not many people know that there are a lot of people who suffer from this disorder and it is extremely important to consult a specialised doctor if more than one symptom is visible, to avoid problems in the future.”
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