Snoring and Choking in Your Sleep: How to Watch Out for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Have you or your partner in Singapore been snoring loudly when asleep? Sometimes, loud snoring may also be accompanied by strange breathing sounds, choking or gasping noises punctuated by sudden silences due to pauses in breathing. In the daytime, tiredness and fatigue due to poor quality sleep may be a problem, with headaches in the morning too. Memory loss and feeling as if your mind is cloudy or unclear are all typical symptoms of poor sleep which may be due to underlying obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

We see many patients with snoring problems due to obstructive sleep apnea or OSA at our ENT specialist clinic in Singapore. Although weight gain with obesity is a common cause and risk factor for OSA in the United States, obstructive sleep apnea in Singapore often tends to be related to other reasons such as nasal congestion or nasal blockage, enlarged tonsils, deviated nasal septum. Other snoring patients whom we see at our ENT Clinic in Singapore may have a narrowed airway due to a floppy soft palate and long uvula (yes, that long dangly structure you can see in the mirror when you open your mouth). Some other snoring patients seen by our experienced ENT specialists in Singapore may also have rather bulky tongue base tissue which cause further airway narrowing or airway obstruction when they lie down in their sleeping position. A few snoring patients in Singapore may suffer from a smaller lower jaw (mandible) so that the jaw tends to fall backward when they are asleep, to block/narrow their airway.

So why should we be concerned about obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Singapore? OSA can be a rather insidious condition which many people may not be aware of, as they may have been snoring for a long time and just dismissed their snoring as “normal”. Clearly, this is not true as snoring itself represents turbulent airflow moving in and out of a narrow airway, leading to vibration of the surrounding soft tissue inside the nose and throat, which then makes the loud snoring noise. Breathing through a narrowed airway means the airflow is affected, leading to reduced oxygen delivery to your vital organs such as the heart and brain. Think of these obstructive episodes happening multiple times every night over a prolonged period of time like years and you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with a much higher risk of developing a heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias) and even sudden death in your sleep, precisely because of these reasons. OSA with poor quality sleep is also well-linked to hypertension (high blood pressure), itself a risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. OSA may also present with reduced libido in men, who may not even be aware of the association with OSA.

As an ENT specialist in Singapore, I have seen a few snoring patients who were diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) a few years ago elsewhere with a sleep study and who then ignored the diagnosis, not bothering to seek treatment for their OSA. When they eventually came to see me, they had already developed heart disease, whether in the form of a heart attack or an arrhythmia, or had suffered a stroke. So this then begs the obvious question: Would these patients have been able to avoid developing their heart disease and stroke complications if their obstructive sleep apnea had been treated much earlier at the time of its diagnosis?

Food for thought indeed but at the end of the day, prevention is always better than cure, so it would be wise to be screened carefully for OSA to reduce the risk of serious life-threatening complications from occurring before it is too late. The treatment options for OSA are pretty straightforward and include CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), surgery and a special mandibular advancement device (like a retainer mouthguard to wear at night when asleep). Read the following link below for a concise clear summary on these treatment options. Breathe well, sleep well 🙂

https://www.drannabelle.com/sleep-apnea-and-snoring-specialist-singapore.html

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