During normal breathing, air passes through the throat on its way to the lungs. The air travels past the soft palate, uvula, tonsils, and tongue. When a person is awake, the muscles in the back of the throat tighten to hold these structures in place preventing them from collapsing into the airway. During sleep, these structures can fall into the airway causing snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is characterized by loud snroing and distrubed or interruped sleep patterns. Sleep apnea can have serious consequences including cardiac problems. Frequently patients will awaken in the morning with a headache. If they become sleep deprived they may feel sleeppy all day, and may fall asleep while driving in the car.

Sleep apnea is diagnosed by a sleep study. During a sleep study, the patient's breathing patterns, heart rhythim and brain waves are monitored.

If it is found that sleep apnea is present, most doctors recommend the use of CPAP. CPAP is a breathing device worn during sleep to help keep the airway open. In some situations surgery is recommended. The uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with or without tonsillectomy are surgical procedurs designed to open the airway. In rare situations, a tracheostomy is necessary. These are procedures designed to circumvent this sleep related collapse of these structures.

Sleep Apnea sleep disorder

In general, surgery for sleep apnea is only about 50% successful. However, you would need to talk with your surgeon regarding your specific situation. Surgery is usually recommended only after medical therapy has failed. If your main concern is the snoring, then either the laser procedure or the new Somnoplasty carries about an 85% success rate for resolution of the snoring.

Sleep Disorders: Sleep problems and nightmares

During a nightmare your body muscles which are under your control (except for eyeball muscles) such as legs, speech, arms, etc are paralyzed--ie you can't run downstairs!! What she had was called a "night terror"--similar to what others do when sleep walking. The person is asleep, may occasionally wake up spontaneously, but until that time has no idea what is going on--night terrors are really most frightening for the observer vs the patient. To learn more about sleep issues pick up a copy of "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems".

Large tonsils and snoring?

Large tonsils, or hypertrophic tonsils, can frequently cause severe snoring, breathing holding, difficulty eating, choaking, and sleep apnea. This can occur as an isolated event or in conjunction with recurrent tonsillitis. If the problem becomes severe, tonsillectomy with adenoidectomy is often recommended.