Snoring Treatments

 

Do you often hear your partner or roommate complain that they didn’t get enough sleep the night before due to your loud snoring? Do you sometimes wonder why this happen and why there are nights when they sound worse than on others? Though you may not be alone in this problem if it only happens occasionally, habitual snores may need to look deeper into the cause of the problem as sometimes, it can pose some serious health problem.

According to researches, almost every one of us snore at some point in our lives. Snoring is established to be more predominant in men, though many women also snore prevalence becomes more common as one gets older.

Knowing this facts, don’t we all want to know what may be causing our snoring problem and more importantly, how do we solve them?

 

WHY DO PEOPLE SNORE?

You’ve probably been told that you should not lie flat on your back if you want to avoid loud snoring, or you should be more relaxed before you go to sleep and not directly when you are very tired. While these notions are true (based on experience), they still do not answer the question as to why people snore.

Basically, when we sleep, the muscles of our throat relax, our tongue falls backward, and our throat becomes narrow. As we breathe, the walls of our throat begins to vibrate – especially when we breathe in, these vibrations lead to the production of the sound we recognize of term as snoring. The narrower the airways become, the greater the vibration and the louder our snoring. This is the reason why lying flat on our back when we sleep increases the chance of louder snoring. If, by any chance, the throat muscle completely relax, this the condition called sleep apnea and this is a very dangerous condition.

 

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT TRIGGERS OR WORSENS SNORING?

As mentioned above, sleeping on your back can worsen snoring as Lying on your back makes the base of your tongue and soft palate collapse to the back wall of your throat. Other factors include aging, as one of the physiological effects of aging is relaxation of the muscle.

Anatomical abnormalities of the nose and throat are also one of the most common factors that leads to snoring, enlarged tonsils or adenoids, nasal polyps, or deviated nasal septum cause exaggerated narrowing or even blockage of the airway causing snoring at night. Alcohol and other muscle relaxants taken at night can also significantly worsen your snoring problem.

 

HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF YOU SHOULD TREAT YOUR SNORING PROBLEM?

Since occasional snoring is very common, not everyone is eager to remedy this problem, however, for people whose partners (roommates) are already complaining, you may have to consider the treatment options.

Since you will not personally hear your snoring, you may not be able to see the extent of the problem, but if you are experiencing waking up at night trying to catch your breath, it will be best to consult your doctor.

During consultation, your doctor will take your comprehensive history then recommend an xray, a sleep test, or both.

 

WHAT ARE THE SNORING TREATMENTS AVAILABLE in Thailand?

There are surgical and non-surgical options to treat snoring. For those who only have occasional snoring without obstructed sleep apnea, lifestyle modification is the first recommendation. Lifestyle modification may include losing weight or maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising, reducing alcohol intake, avoiding sleep inducing tablets, stopping smoking (if you do), and changing your sleeping position.

For women who experience snoring after menopause, hormonal replacement may aid in treating the snoring problem.

In cases where lifestyle changes still don’t help, there are devices that can help snorers and even those who have mild sleep apnea. Though our center do not manufacture these devices, we are affiliated with companies and manufacturers who we can contact to supply us with the device that will fit your need. There are Oral Guards and PAP devices such as CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure), VPAP (Variable Positive Airway Pressure). These devices are also available in our center from our trusted manufacturers.

For those who are looking into a more permanent solution without the need to use a device for a lifetime, surgery is the best option.

 

WHAT SURGICAL PROCEDURES DOES YOSKARN CLINIC OFFER FOR SNORING TREATMENT in Thailand?

Being a certified ENT surgeon, and a Professor for the Department of Otolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery, Prof. Kunachak is very well versed in performing snoring treatment surgeries in Thailand depending on the need of the patients.

We do offer Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) for patients whose soft tissue in their mouth (excluding your tongue) is responsible for the snoring. During this procedure, Prof. Kunachak will remove your uvula, soft palate, excess tissue around the base of the throat, and in some cases, the tonsils and adenoids.

Prof. Kunachak also performs Uvulopalatoplasty (UP), a lesser invasive option but not as effective as UPPP for snoring correction. The procedure will involve removing the uvula. The technique usually involves vaporising the free edge of the soft palate and uvula using a laser. With this technique, a second or even a third session may sometimes be necessary to achieve the desired result but recovery is definitely faster.

Radio Frequency, probably the least invasive approach to correct snoring, involves the use of radio frequency to reduce the volume of the enlarged soft palate and uvula. Unlike the other surgical procedures mentioned above, RF makes use of low energy to control coagulative zones therefore minimizing bleeding and pain.

Another  procedure which Prof. Kunachak performs is the Tonsillectomy with our without Adenoidectomy. In many cases, enlarged tonsils and adenoids also causes snoring, though its incidence is lower with older patients.  Tonsillectomy is also quite an invasive procedure that will require at least 1 week recovery period.

Lastly, we also offer nasal surgery for patients whose main cause of snoring is nasal obstruction or nasal deviation. For nasal obstruction, the usual reason will be polyp growth or for deviated septum which can also cause nasal obstruction, our surgeon can perform septoplasty.

 

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER SURGICAL CORRECTION OF SNORING in Thailand?

Though different techniques are available to correct snoring, it is always standard that our patients rest for at least 1 week before coming back to work. Depending on the technique, the first few days after the surgery may cause some difficulty in swallowing or breathing through the nose (due to swelling) but it definitely resolves in just a few days.

Tough complete resolution of the snoring problem is expected, there are cases when snoring may still persist (for those patients with multiple cause of snoring) but at a lesser intensity.