Death By Snoring

  


Snoring can be very irritating especially for bed partners of snorers but many are oblivious to the fact that snoring may be a symptom of a serious health problem known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). The American Thoracic Society says “Obstructive Sleep Apnea increases a person’s risk of having a heart attack or dying by 30 percent” however in Ghana, not much is known about the disease and may be silently killing a lot of people.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a clinical disorder in which a patient experiences frequent pauses in his sleep due to blocked airways and is mostly accompanied by loud snoring. These pauses cut off oxygen supply to the brain for a few seconds. Since the brain is not receiving air, it wakes the patient up in order to reopen the airways and starts the breathing process all-over. This may happen to the patient many times during the night and makes proper sleep impossible. Unfortunately, the patient may not be aware that all these is going on. Obesity, males over fifty years, family history and people with thick neck are more susceptible to the disease. Symptoms and effects of the disease are loud snoring, , extreme daytime sleepiness, gasping in sleep, lack of concentration and morning headache.

CPAP Machine

Obstructive Sleep Apnea can be diagnosed by using a machine called Sleep Studies and is often treated using Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy CPAP) to enable the patient sleep normally.

According to a research conducted by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information in Ghana, one out of every two stroke survivors attending a Neurology clinic in Ghana is at high risk for undiagnosed sleep apnea.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea caters for an increased risk in heart related diseases such as heart failure, hypertension and stroke. It also increases the risk of Motor Vehicular Accidents due to daytime sleepiness. In some countries like the UK, OSA patients are not given driver’s licenses to prevent accidents.

Speaking to an Obstructive Sleep Apnea patient undergoing treatment, he described how tired and sleepy he always was at work. He cited an incident that occurred at his workplace before his treatment. “I was being asked to go and do something and I got there and I felt as if I’m weak and wanted to sleep so I left what I was being asked to do to go and sleep and my director got angry at me”. He also explained that he thought the symptoms he was experiencing were normal so he did not bother to report them to a physician until the pressure from his partner led him to seek help.

A general practitioner at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr. Daniel Acorlor says few people have been diagnosed of the disease due to the fact that victims of the disease do not take its symptoms seriously. He also added that since people afflicted with the disease do not report at the hospital, health authorities are unable to make policies to help curb the disease.





By Edjeani Sika Dei

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