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WHAT CAUSES SNORING & OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA?
Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), are caused by the tongue and other soft tissue blocking the back of the throat. This reduces your ability to breathe efficiently. OSA is also associated with excessively loud snoring which affects your partner’s sleep considerably, leading to excessive tiredness and grumpiness during the day. Many partners move to another room to escape the relentlessly disturbing snoring.
Sleep apnea can be caused by the following reasons:
Most often it is a combination of the above. Eliminating one of the above causes may not fix the problem.
COULD YOU BE SUFFERING FROM OSA?
Symptons of OSA can vary greatly. Below is a series of questions to ask yourself and you bed-partner.
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OSA Primary Indicators
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Often
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Sometimes
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Never
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Do you snore?
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Do you wake tired or with a headache?
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Does your partner report that you stop breathing?
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Are you restless at night?
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Do you fall asleep straight away?
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Do you find it hard to concentrate?
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Do you feel sleepy/drowsy during the day?
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Do you feel tired most of the time?
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Do you fall asleep; driving, sitting in a quiet place,
watching TV, reading or at the computer?
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If you answer 'often' or 'sometimes' to some of these questions, you may be suffering from OSA.
HOW CAN I FIND OUT IF I HAVE OSA?
Traditionally a sleep study or test, correctly called; polysomnography, is undertaken in a sleep laboratory at a hospital. For a sleep study, your General Practitioner or GP Doctor will refer you to a Respiratory Specialist, specialising in sleep medicine if he or she thinks that there is a chance you may have OSA. Studies carried out in this setting allows a Sleep Scientist to be in attendance to monitor the progress of the sleep study and rectify any problems with the sleep recording equipment.
In years gone by, the monitoring equipment was bulky, complex and required monitoring to ensure correct calibration and signal quality. Medical equipment companies have developed increasingly sophisticated, small and user friendly sleep monitoring devices which record the same data obtained in the sleep laboratories. Home sleep testing is becoming more available as a means of testing for OSA.
Ring us for more information on 1300 650 752 or email us. We have several locations across Victoria.
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