- Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - 5:00pm
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Not-so-sound sleep
» Read similar stories filed under: Sleep apnea keeps about 20 million Americans exhausted ... and gasping for air By BRENT SCHACHERER
“When I was on the road with the band, they would try to find a separate room for me,” Greenhow said. “Back then, I thought it was because they were being polite; I was one of the older guys.” Age had nothing to do with it. Age wasn’t a factor, either, when Greenhow became the running joke around his own home. It was his snoring that drew good-natured teasing. “I had a severe snoring problem, which was the joke of the family, to be honest,” Greenhow said. “It was kind of ... ‘Don’t go and sleep at Bob’s house.’” Greenhow can laugh about those things now, because he knows the reason for his snoring — and more importantly, the cause of endless days of fatigue, sore throats and headaches. Eight years ago, Greenhow was diagnosed with sleep apnea — the culprit behind many years of bad snoring jokes and even worse physical and mental fatigue. Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person stops breathing during sleep, often hundreds of times a night. Although the disorder has received more attention in recent years, many believe it remains underdiagnosed. The American Sleep Apnea Association, for instance, says 18 million to 20 million have the condition, but less than 10 percent of that group have been diagnosed. “The number of people seems to be a bit of a moving target, depending on how large a population you’re talking about and the level of severity,” said Edward Grandi, executive director of the ASAA, headquartered in Washington, D.C. “I think the big problem is that people don’t understand it. And, of course, one of the difficulties of understanding sleep apnea is that it happens when you’re asleep, when you’re not aware of what’s happening. The person who is aware is the person who used to be sleeping next to you — and for them, it can be really scary.” The clinical definition of sleep apnea is when an adult stops breathing for at least 10 seconds. This breath cessation is most often due to the collapse of soft tissue at the rear of the throat that closes the airway. The brain recognizes the lack of oxygen and forces the body to work harder to open the airway — causing snoring or a gasping. The constant gasping for air keeps the body from entering normal, deep sleep — leading to fatigue and other fatigue-related problems. Besides snoring, Greenhow exhibited other telltale signs of a sleep apnea sufferer. The biggest issue, he said, was that he felt tired all the time. But he attributed much of that to his lifestyle — as co-owner of KLFD-AM 1410 at the time, Greenhow was up at 4:30 every morning so he could be on the air by 5:30, and often didn’t go to bed until late at night. He also thought his fatigue might be due to the stresses of being a small business owner. But his wife’s concerns finally got him to take another look at his health. Though his snoring had been a funny family story, it was a serious issue to Nan Greenhow. “My wife said for about a year, ‘You know, it’s not just that you snore. You quit breathing,’” Greenhow recalled. That admonishment, combined with a pamphlet about sleep apnea given to him by a friend, convinced Greenhow to see a doctor. His Litchfield physician referred him to the Sleep Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. At the Sleep Center, Greenhow went through a battery of questions at 6 p.m. When he was ready for sleep at 10:30, he was hooked up to several monitors and lay down. A nurse explained that he would be monitored both via machine and visually by staff located in an adjoining room. It was an odd situation, Greenhow said, but he eventually got comfortable enough to fall asleep. About 40 minutes into his sleep, a nurse woke him. “They said, ‘You’ve quit breathing six times,’” Greenhow recalled. “They weren’t going to kill me, but she said each one seemed to be getting longer. “And she said, ‘You really do snore!’” Greenhow added with a laugh. The nurse fitted him with a breathing mask, made some adjustments to ensure it was operating properly for Greenhow’s breathing situation, and he lay down again. He fell asleep quickly and didn’t wake up again until 6:30 a.m. the next day. He remembers it as one of the most restful night’s sleep he had in a long time. Within a week, Greenhow had purchased his own CPAP — continuous positive airway pressure — machine and mask. A CPAP machine uses a mask that fits over the mouth and nose or just the nose, and air gently blows into the throat. The forced air presses on the wall of a person’s airway, keeping it from narrowing or being blocked during sleep. “It works wonderfully,” he said. “I sleep well — and I don’t snore, which makes my wife sleep well, which makes us all happy.” Advertisement. Article continues below.
The ASAA’s Grandi said Greenhow’s story is similar to those he’s heard from others. “The people who are successfully treated tell me that it’s like being born all over again; it’s like they have a new life,” Grandi said. “For so many years they were operating at a significant deficit — they couldn’t think straight, they worried about driving, they were unpleasant to be around, they were concerned about their mental faculties, they felt like they were in a fog. “When I don’t get a good night’s sleep, I’m miserable. Think about maybe 10 years of that every night,” Grandi said. “People feel so much better” after being successfully treated. Sleep apnea Signs and symptoms << Loud, chronic snoring. (Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, however.) << Snoring is usually loudest when sleeping on the back. << Sleepiness during the day, at work or while driving. You might find yourself rapidly falling asleep during quiet moments of the day when you’re not active. << Morning headaches. << Memory or learning problems and not being able to concentrate. << Feeling irritable, depressed or having mood swings or personality changes. << Urination at night. << A dry throat when you wake up. << In children, sleep apnea can cause hyperactivity, poor school performance and aggressiveness. Children who have sleep apnea also may have unusual sleeping positions, bedwetting and may breathe through their mouths instead of their noses during the day. Source: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Who’s at risk? << More than half of the people with sleep apnea are overweight. << Sleep apnea is more common in men. One out of 25 middle-aged men and 1 out of 50 middle-aged women have sleep apnea. << Sleep apnea becomes more common as you get older. At least 1 in 10 people older than 65 has sleep apnea. << African Americans, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders are more likely to develop sleep apnea than caucasians. Source: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Do you know your snore score? Wonder if you might be a sleep apnea sufferer? The American Sleep Apnea Association suggests you take the following quiz: 1. Are you a loud, habitual snorer? If you answer “yes” to any of the above questions, you might want to discuss your symptoms with your physician or a sleep specialist. Or ask the American Sleep Apnea Association, www.sleepapnea.org, for more information on the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea.
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