Sleep Apnoea: How To Prevent Sleep Apnoea From Ruining Your Relationship And Your Health

If you or your partner is affected by sleep apnoea, you're probably used to endless nights of broken and unsatisfactory sleep. The freight-train-type snoring that tends to characterise this breathing disorder has broken up many a marriage. Not only that, but the condition means you're also exposed to a higher risk of heart complications and even sudden death.

Mainstream doctors like to solve problems with surgery, and their treatment approach to sleep apnoea is no exception. A common surgical procedure carried out to correct sleep apnoea is Laser Assisted Uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) - more commonly known as laser surgery. It scars the tissue of the soft palate (back part of the roof of your mouth) to help stiffen it and open up your airway - so helping to prevent snoring. However, it can cause severe post-operative pain and discomfort, infection and can also produce a change in voice.

In their rush to get people under the knife, hormonal imbalances and a malfunctioning thyroid gland - two underlying causes of sleep apnoea - often get completely overlooked by doctors, despite the fact that they can be successfully corrected without surgery.

The three ways sleep apnoea leaves you breathless
There are three types of sleep apnoea. The most common is 'obstructive apnoea', which is linked to obesity. Fat in and around the windpipe (along with a relaxed tongue that falls to the back of the mouth) narrows the airway as you rest, obstructing your breathing and causing snoring.

Another type is called 'central apnoea', which is prevalent among people suffering from congestive heart failure. This form of apnoea doesn't always cause snoring and sufferers are not necessarily overweight either. In this form, your airway isn't blocked, rather your brain fails to signal to your muscles to breathe. The third form of the condition is 'mixed sleep apnoea' - a combination of both obstructive and central.

No matter what type of apnoea you're suffering from, heart disease remains a high risk, as a result of oxygen deprivation. For the same reason, your risk of developing high blood pressure and stroke also increases.

The word apnoea literally means 'without breath', and throughout the night sufferers actually stop breathing - for up to two minutes at a time in some cases. During each of these episodes, blood-oxygen levels plummet, which causes the heart and brain to become starved of air. This deprivation triggers a surge of adrenaline, which awakens the sufferer with a breath-startling jolt - signalled by the typical loud snort.

Sufferers can wake up with a start like this as many as 200 times each night, although they don't always remember doing so in the morning. Even if this is the case, sufferers know something is wrong by the fact that they're constantly tired, which can cause concentration and memory problems, as well as irritability and depression.

How to prevent snoring and improve the quality of your sleep
The first step to preventing apnoea from disrupting your sleep is to lose any excess weight. Following a low-carbohydrate diet can help you achieve this. Plus, quit smoking or drinking - especially in the evening - as they can cause or aggravate the condition. Alcohol relaxes all the muscles in your throat that vibrate, which can soon lead to snoring once you've nodded off. Smoking causes swelling and inflammation of the throat tissues, making them more likely to vibrate and, again, result in snoring.

Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) is another cause of sleep apnoea. Taking dry extracts of the thyroid gland in supplement form can completely eliminate night-time breathing disruptions and associated problems - including fatigue, weight gain, personality changes and cognitive problems (symptoms shared by both apnoea and hypothyroidism).

Extracts are taken from the thyroid glands of animals (usually the thyroid glands of pigs are used). And, unlike synthetic variants, these extracts are almost identical to human thyroid hormones. It is important to take a high-quality product that guarantees standardised extracts. Armour Dessicated Thyroid and other forms of dry thyroid powder such as Thyroplex are available on prescription.

Could a hormonal imbalance be to blame for your symptoms?
Apnoea is far less common among women than men, a fact that some research has attributed to hormonal differences - especially the presence (or lack) of the female hormone progesterone, which promotes respiration.

Several small studies suggest that giving men progesterone supplements can help. Most of these studies involve overweight people, most of them men, who took about 50mg of progesterone a day for at least a week (American Review of Respiratory Disease, vol.139, pp.1198-1206, 1989).

All found that the hormone improved breathing and relieved symptoms of apnoea.

The breathing disorder can also develop when a higher-than-normal testosterone level upsets the body's natural balance between male and female hormones (Epidemiologic Reviews, vol.16, no.2, pp.210-227, 1994).

Hormonal needs differ from person to person, so it's important to get a blood test carried out to measure your levels. If a hormonal imbalance is found to exist, you would need to speak to your doctor about the possibility of supplements and the correct dosage for your individual needs.

Your doctor may also recommend that you use a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine, which can be extremely beneficial. This instrument is a small fan that pumps a continuous stream of air through a hose to a nasal mask, which you wear while you're asleep. This can help prevent apnoea episodes and snoring.

Ultimately, you may need surgery to correct your sleep apnoea, but it should be the last and not the first resort.