People suffering from sleep apnea have a hard time to breathe while sleeping. Apnea is Greek for “without breath”. There could be many causes for your sleep apnea so it’s important to discuss it with your doctor to get it diagnosed. With sleep apnea, you can actually stop breathing for as long as ten seconds and it usually happens because brain signals that control breathing are interrupted or because the throat muscles relax enough that the airway narrows.
Many patients don’t even realize what is causing their symptoms and that makes it hard to diagnose. Daytime drowsiness, snoring, headaches and even a sore throat are included in the symptoms. Many people don’t even notice them and they may be just temporary.
If you are considering having any type of surgery, you should find out if sleep apnea puts you at any other risk. Anesthesiologists need to be aware if there is an added problem of sleep apnea as it could be a major concern.
Finding Out If A Patient Is At Risk For Perioperative Sleep Apnea
A questionnaire needs to be completed by patients in order to evaluate their risk for perioperative sleep apnea. An anesthesiologist will conduct an interview with the patient to see if there are any possible risk factors for perioperative sleep apnea.
Perioperative sleep apnea can be a huge problem during surgery as the patient is put to sleep and the muscles in the throat are relaxed causing this condition to occur. If there is some concern in regards to sleep apnea this can be closely monitored to avoid complications from this disorder.
As well as during surgery, the patient will need to be closely monitored after surgery to make sure the throat doesn’t swell and cause the breathing to stop. A Continuous Positive Air Pressure machine is designed to keep the airway open. A mask is placed over the person’s nose and oxygen is pumped directly into the airway. Due to the consistent pressure, the airway stays open and oxygen flows correctly.
If there is the slightest chance that there may be some problems with perioperative sleep apnea during surgery, the medical team will be ready to go into action. You need to be totally honest with them in your interview so that they will know what to expect if anything.
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