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Snoring May Be Sign Of More Serious Issue

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By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2008

For Maria "Charo" Cruz, snoring was as much a part of sleeping as a soft pillow and comfortable bed.

It took her years to realize her nighttime noises were far more than a simple annoyance that would wake Cruz and her beloved husband, Victor, from deep slumber. The cause of her snoring could kill her.

The Tampa resident is one of the nearly 18 million Americans suffering from sleep apnea — a condition in which breathing stops during sleep. Air entering the nose and mouth is obstructed at the back of the throat, and results in lungs losing air for 10, 20 even 30 seconds at a time. For some, the obstruction happens dozens to hundreds of times an hour, ending only with a loud chortle and a restless night.

"So many people snore that people assume it's normal," says Mac Anderson, medical director of the Tampa General Hospital Sleep Disorders program. Instead, these people lose oxygen and increase their risk for high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.

Also, sleep partners such as Cruz's husband grow alarmed and exhausted as they awake to find that their loved one has stopped snoring and stopped breathing.

A number of treatments, including surgery, are available for people diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Anderson said the most successful option for adults, including Cruz, is "continuous positive airway pressure" or CPAP therapy. The concept is simple: A person wears a nose and/or mouth mask coupled to a long plastic hose. The hose connects the mask and a fanlike device that consistently blows air and opens the obstructed areas.

Two years after introducing the therapy into her nightly routine, Cruz is a different woman. She's rested, and better yet, has lost more than 30 pounds. "It's a part of you," she says of the sleeping device that travels in its own suitcase.

Anderson and sleep lab specialist Robby Beauchamp say snorers are likely apnea candidates if they are overweight or obese, have high blood pressure, a history of heart disease, are sleep-deprived and find their sleep partner waking them up because they can hear that breathing has ceased.

Sleep apnea affects so many Americans because we tend to be sleep deprived and heavier, with fatty build up on our throats, Anderson says. Sleep specialists worry in particular that sleep-deprived persons with sleep apnea are going undiagnosed, and continue to drive cars exhausted.

"That affects not only you, but other people on the road," Anderson says.

Want to learn more?

American Academy of Sleep Medicine: www.sleepeducation.com

National Sleep Foundation: www.sleepfoundation.org

AWAKE — Sleep apnea support group at Tampa General Hospital: Contact Robby Beauchamp at (813) 844-4292

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