Snoring Clinic
A Snoring clinic offers diagnostic, treatment and advice to those with a snoring problem. No one is immune to snoring. Among adults, it is confirmed that half occasionally snore.
Upon visiting a snoring clinic, a doctor will first try to establish the cause of your snoring.
Such causes can be:
- Overweight – Being overweight contributes to snoring.
- Narrow airway – Having a narrow airway is a major cause of snoring. Narrowing of the airway can be caused by tonsils being large. A long soft palate also contributes to snoring.
- Alcohol – Drinking alcohol leads to relaxation of throat muscles, which in turn leads to snoring.
- Nasal blockage – Defects in the nasal cavity can lead to snoring. a major cause of snoring. Narrowing of the airway can be caused by tonsils being large. A long soft palate also contributes to snoring.
Generally, men are at a higher risk of snoring compared with women and children. It is common for those who snore to experience other medical problems. Such include sleepiness during the day (resulting from inadequate sleep at night), lack of concentration, irregular heartbeats and high blood pressure.
At a snoring clinic, a doctor will try to find out if a patient suffers from these conditions and recommends an appropriate treatment.
Various diagnostic tests are usually undertaken to diagnose snoring.
Some of the tests include:
- Physical examination – A doctor at a snoring clinic will carry out a physical examination to check the presence of visible causative factors. For adults, it is important to visit a snoring clinic with a partner who will be able to answer some of the questions a doctor may ask.
- Imaging – Imaging tests enables a doctor to see the internal structure of a patient’s airway. Such information can be obtained from X-ray, CT scans or magnetic resonance imaging.
- Sensors test – This involves several sensors being placed on the head and other parts of the body. The sensors transmit recordings on a polysomnograph machine. Brain waves, breathing rate, heartbeat rate, and blood oxygen level and body movements are the things that are recorded. This test may require a patient to spend the night at a snoring clinic.
Treating snoring depends on the established cause. A doctor can recommend a patient to change his/her lifestyle, prescribe medications or recommend surgery. Lifestyle changes that a doctor can recommend include losing weight (in case a patient is overweight), avoiding alcohol just before retiring to bed (for those who drink) and change in sleeping position.
The change of lifestyle is the first line of treatment that a patient will receive at a clinic. If a change of lifestyle does not solve the snoring problem, a doctor may prescribe medication. However, certain established causes may not be simply addressed by a change in lifestyle and medication.
A doctor may recommend surgery straight away. Various types of surgery are available that can benefit a snoring patient. Apart from lifestyle change, medications and surgery, a doctor may also recommend other treatment therapies. These are mainly exercising that help to train throat muscles.
For parents with snoring children, it is highly recommended that they pay a visit to a clinic to arrest the problem in good time. This is because other medical conditions associated with snoring may come in and complicate the situation.