When should snoring be treated?

I snore frequently and wake up feeling very tired. Do I need treatment for snoring? (Hung, 30 years old, Quang Ninh ).

Reply:

When we sleep, the tissues in the throat, the muscles in the roof of the mouth, and the tongue relax, pressing against part of the airway and vibrating, creating the snoring sound. The narrower the airway, the stronger the vibration of the airflow, resulting in louder snoring.

Almost everyone snores occasionally. If snoring is infrequent, no treatment is usually necessary. However, if snoring is frequent and affects your health, it could be a sign of an underlying medical condition. One of the most dangerous and common diseases among snorers is sleep apnea.

People with sleep apnea often snore loudly accompanied by gasping breaths, causing sudden awakenings. Patients usually experience fatigue, headaches upon waking, difficulty concentrating, daytime sleepiness, and are at increased risk of workplace accidents, traffic accidents, and domestic accidents.

If you experience the symptoms mentioned above, you should visit a respiratory specialist for examination. There, the doctor will perform polysomnography or polyrespiratory testing to diagnose sleep apnea. If you do not have sleep apnea (i.e., just snoring) or have mild sleep apnea, you can reduce symptoms by changing your lifestyle. This may include weight loss (if overweight), regular exercise, limiting alcohol, caffeine, and stimulants a few hours before bedtime; quitting smoking, sleeping on your side, and avoiding sedatives such as anti-anxiety medications or sleeping pills. If you experience nasal congestion or allergic rhinitis, treatment with oral or topical medications to clear the nasal passages can also reduce apnea episodes.

If lifestyle changes are ineffective or the sleep apnea is moderate to severe, your doctor may recommend other treatments. The most effective and valuable method currently available is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The patient wears a mask covering the nose or both nose and mouth, and the ventilator creates a continuous supply of air pressure sufficient to keep the upper airway open, thus preventing episodes of apnea. In addition, depending on the condition, your doctor may recommend other treatments such as: jaw ejector device placement, tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, or palatal reconstruction surgery, etc.

At Tam Anh General Hospital, CPAP (Centralized Airway Pressure) ventilation has been successfully applied, improving 90% of snoring symptoms. The machine has a remote monitoring mode, allowing doctors to know how the patient is breathing at home, how effective it is, or any difficulties the patient is experiencing with CPAP, thus making adjustments accordingly. Using CPAP ventilation helps patients reduce snoring, sleep better, prevent dangerous complications of sleep apnea, improve sleep quality, and improve quality of life.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious medical condition. If left untreated, it increases the risk of many dangerous cardiovascular diseases such as atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, uncontrolled hypertension, and even sudden death.

Master of Science, Doctor Phung Thi Thom
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tam Anh General Hospital , Hanoi

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