Losing sleep could be sign of serious health problems

By Bev Davis

BECKLEY, W.V. — Missing one good night’s sleep may throw you off kilter for a day. Suffering from a chronic sleep disorder can either be a symptom of or lead to a health condition such as high blood pressure.

“The study of sleep disorders is an emerging science,” said Dr. Omar Hasan, who is board certified in internal medicine, psychiatry and sleep medicine. “We’re learning more all the time, and there is increasing evidence that poor quality sleep is a health concern that needs to be evaluated by a health care professional.”

Among the most common disorders, sleep apnea occurs when something interrupts normal breathing patterns. The patient literally stops breathing several times during the night. It could be as few as 30 times or as many as 180 times or more.

“It’s usually the bed partner who can give us a better idea of what’s going on,” Hasan said. “They hear their partner gasping for breath, snoring or waking up during the night.”

Technology has made it possible for physicians to do sleep studies that provide a comprehensive analysis of what’s happening in the patient’s body.

The patient spends a night in a sleep lab decorated to look as much like one’s bedroom at home as possible. Sticker electrodes placed on the patient’s body record such vital statistics as heart rhythms, oxygen levels, blood pressure, eye movements, breathing and leg movements. Sleep lab technicians also monitor via video cameras movements and behaviors the patient experiences during the night.

All the information is processed into a computer read-out, which is then interpreted by a physician.

“The sleep study helps us determine whether the sleep disorder is caused by an anatomical problem, such as fatty structures

or abnormalities in the mouth, throat and breathing passages,” Hasan said. “We can determine the level of seriousness of the problem and offer the appropriate treatment options.”

For example, someone’s sleep disorders caused by restless leg syndrome could be helped with a medication that controls leg movements. Oral appliances or surgery can be used to correct physical abnormalities.

Patients with sleep apneas can be fitted with a continuous positive airway pressure device that delivers a consistent level of air into breathing passages throughout the night. In addition to preventing sleep apneas, the device also reduces or eliminates snoring.

“We usually recommend using the C-Pap first,” Hasan said. “It’s very effective, and it doesn’t involve the pain and recovery times that come with surgery.”

C-Pap has been shown to help 75 percent of the patients who use the device consistently.

Hasan conducts sleep studies at the sleep lab at Beckley-ARH, but plans to open a new sleep clinic in the near future.

Depending on patients’ insurance companies’ preferences, patients can be referred to a sleep specialist by their primary care physician or self-refer, he said.



Bev Davis writes for The Register-Herald in Beckley, W.Va.

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