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Sleep Apnoea

Think you've got sleep apnoea? Here's how to get diagnosed, what you can do yourself and what to expect in the hands of the experts.

If lifestyle changes don't work, there's a vast array of medical devices built by teams of scientists designed to help you breathe easy again. Some of these - like wearing a huge mask every night - take a bit of getting used to, but it's a price worth paying for waking up refreshed.

So you think you might have sleep apnoea? See your doctor and bring along your regular partner, if you have one. Your doctor will ask about sleep and daytime sleepiness. He or she will look for abnormalities in your breathing passage such as a crooked nose or enlarged tonsils and may order blood tests to ensure your respiratory system and heart are normal.

You may then be referred to a sleep disorders clinic for overnight testing. Here you'll be hooked up to pads and electrodes and spend the night surrounded by sophisticated machinery. While you're in the land of sleep, doctors will be checking your heart rhythm and blood oxygen levels. They'll also measure the effort to breathe by your chest and abdomen and check the airflow in front of your nose and mouth. By the morning they'll have found out how often you're waking up an hour, how long for and how low your blood oxygen levels are dropping when you stop breathing. Now, what to do about it?

HELPING YOURSELF

Your doctor will suggest some self-help remedies to begin with.

Lose weight- fat deposits in your neck tissue can compress the airway and make it more likely to collapse. And a fat stomach can mean your breathing muscles work less efficiently, making it more difficult to breathe when you're asleep. Easier said than done, though. If you're seriously overweight, you've probably been on every diet going which, you probably already know by now, doesn't work. You lose weight quickly but will pile it on again just as fast. The only way to slim down for good is to lose no more than 2lb a week on a low-fat diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables. This demands willpower and a completely new approach to eating.

Give up smoking- this returns lung capacity to normal, making breathing easier. See your doctor about how to give up. And don't drink alcohol or take sleeping tablets, which both depress your breathing reflexes. Try aromatherapy. Put a few drops of olbas, eucalyptus or peppermint oil in a diffuser at night - in one study essential oils reduced sleep apnoea in premature babies by 36%.

BRING ON THE EXPERTS

Oral appliances - these are fitted by your dentist and bring your tongue and lower jaw forward, therefore widening the airway. Make sure you see a dentist who has regular contact with a sleep laboratory.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) - currently the most successful treatment. When you're asleep you wear a mask over your nose, which blows air into your nose through a tube. This is connected to a small device which generates enough pressure to keep your airway from collapsing and open your breathing passage. It's a bit like putting air into a balloon - the walls simply spread apart. Although it's not going to make you feel sexy, it will probably improve your relationship as it usually gets rid of snoring and encourages regular breathing.
Surgery - If the obstruction is caused by an abnormality in your nose or throat, then you may need surgery to fix it - particularly if it's caused by an obvious problem such as enlarged tonsils or adenoids. Nasal surgery opens nasal passages to correct a deviated septum. Jaw surgery is occasionally used to enlarge the lower and upper jaw, to make more room for the airway. Another operation involves getting rid of tissue from the back of the soft palate including the dangly bit at the back of the throat - or more technically the uvula. The success rate, however, is only about 50%.


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