In the sleep disorder unit of a hospital, a patient is telling a nurse about his sleeping difficulties. They are discussing the causes and treatments.
Nurse: Good morning. What can I do for you?
Patient: Good morning. To put it simply, I think I’m insomniac. And I can only go back to sleep by using nasal breathing strips!
Nurse: Ok. I’ll ask you some basic questions and we’ll try to sort things out. Do you have any difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night, and if you wake up early in the morning?
Patient: It’s hard to breathe and to sleep at times, and I wake up abruptly. And I was told that I snore!
Nurse: This may indicate something else. Now let’s go deeper. Do you experience daytime sleepiness, unrefreshing sleep and fatigue?
Patient: Yes I do.
Nurse: Do you ever wake up with a choking sound or gasping for breath?
Patient: Yes, often.
Nurse: Do you feel the urge to go to the bathroom and thus wake up? Do you experience morning headaches, have difficulty concentrating, memory loss and irritability?
Patient: Sometimes it’s so.
Nurse: Do you think you have any nasal polyps?
Patient: I don’t know, but it feels as if my nasal ?passage is narrow.
Nurse: Ok. Do you have high blood pressure, any heart problems, mood disorders, or any family history for sleep apnea?
Patient: My blood pressure is a bit high and I guess I have some mood disorders. And my father used to have sleep apnea and snore a lot. He also had some silent breathing pauses and choking and gasping sounds sometimes!
Nurse: Right. Now according to what we have just explored and your family history, you seem to suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, which is a common and serious sleep disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. The lack of oxygen may have negative long-term consequences like high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and depression.
Patient : Is there anything that can be done about it?
Nurse : There is. But first I’ll write a report so that you can be admitted in an in-lab sleep study or home-sleep apnea test. If the diagnosis is confirmed, you can get what we call continuous positive airway pressure therapy, oral appliance therapy or even surgery.
Patient : What are these ? I really don’t want to get any surgery!
Nurse : Continuous positive airway pressure therapy keeps your airway open during the night by gently providing a constant stream of air through a mask that you wear while sleeping. This eliminates the breathing pauses caused by sleep apnea so you will no longer snore or make choking noises in your sleep. You’ll be able to sleep through the night without your body waking up from any lack of oxygen. Oral appliance therapy involves wearing a removable oral appliance in your mouth as you sleep. The device fits much like an orthodontic retainer.
VOCABULAIRE
Breathing pauses: pauses respiratoires
Choking sounds: bruits d’étouffement
Daytime sleepiness: somnolence diurne
Family history: antécédents familiaux
Nasal polyps: polypes nasaux
Snore: ronfler
Sleep disorder: troubles du sommeil
Unrefreshing sleep: sommeil non réparateur
Common phrases
Do you experience daytime sleepiness, unrefreshing sleep and fatigue?
→ Ressentez-vous une somnolence diurne, un sommeil non réparateur et de la fatigue ?
Do you have morning headaches, difficulty concentrating, memory loss and irritability?
→ Avez-vous des céphalées matinales, des difficultés de concentration, des pertes de mémoire et ressentez-vous une certaine irritabilité ?
Do you wake gasping for breath?
→ Vous réveillez-vous en haletant ?
Do you have silent breathing pauses and choking and gasping sounds?
→ Avez-vous des arrêts respiratoires et l’impression de vous étouffer et de haleter ?
The lack of oxygen may have long-term consequences like stroke and depression.
→ Le manque d’oxygène peut avoir des conséquences sur le long terme, comme un AVC et une dépression.
You will get continuous positive airway pressure therapy.
→ On vous prescrira une thérapie par ventilation à pression positive continue.